Maw-Maw and I were in town on Hallowe'en and decided to give that a miss this year. I normally like the whole costuming and handing out candy to the kids, but they're gettin' fewer and fewer and mom and dad these days are more likely to take em to church in the mini-van for a small bag of candy and such, so we decided to find our own entertainment.

Bein' a country boy, I don't like crowds much. When I come into the city I tend to avoid the denser areas, I just see my kin and get what I need. Stay with kin in a little part just outside the perimeter called Decatur, where they made a little movie called Zombieland with that feller from Cheers.

So bein' that that film was finally out, I persuaded Maw Maw to come see it with me, it being a hoot to see Georgia on the big screen. But that's not what this here writins' is about.

Anyhow, the main character's totin' a gun that I smiled at the rememberance of, and the few younger people in there were mutterin' to each other about how cool it looked.

Can't blame em. In the late 50s Steve McQueen, and by God there was a movie star, toted a cut-down lever action rifle made by Winchester, the Model 1892. Character's name in the show Wanted: Dead or Alive was Josh Randall, and he was a bounty hunter. All these cowboys had some kind of gimmick, and his was this cut down rifle as a pistol he called a Mare's Leg, but was also called the Winchester Randall by some folks, after his character.

Lookin into this more for this node, I find out they made a few of these, cuttin' the barrel length to about nine inches and takin' off most of the stock. Naturally the BATF won't let you do that any more, regulations out the yazoo, but apparently with proper Papal dispensations and payin' taxes, it's not a bad thing to be carryin' around a sawed-off rifle.

There's also a controversial loophole about buildin' one as a pistol, given that these guns used .44s if you build em from the ground up as a lever action pistol, you're good to go. James Buchanan makes a working replica and apparently it's a nice, accurate little gun. He builds it with a 12 inch barrel, and apparently it will outshoot your abilities.

A caveat - don't go playin' fancy tricks with it like the cowboy types did, spinnin' it. Holdin' a shotgun by the pump and shakin' the gun up and down isn't as dangerous a trick, but re-levering the pistol by spinning it on the lever's a good way to get someone shot that don't need shootin', and spoil your chances at shootin' someone or something that does need shootin'.

It was fun to see Georgia and especially the little gas station we get gas from on the way out on the big screen, but also the Mare's Leg again. Brought me back to the Cowboys and Indians of my youth (before it became evil raping Colonists and Native Americans), Wanted: Dead or Alive and the toy Mare's Legs we had or ahem customized with Paw's hacksaw. Looks like there's a new generation of folks goin' to associate cool with that hacked up little rifle.

And that's alright by me.

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