"Nevada Smith" Rifle

[W.T.]

Been wondering for almost 40 years what that rifle is that Steve McQueen is carrying in the opening sequences of "Nevada Smith".  Is that a "real" rifle or a made-up prop?

[Silver Creek Slim]

I asked the same question almost 3 years ago. I didn't get a definitive answer.  Maybe this time we'll get the answer. 
http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,554.0.html

Slim

[Mustang Gregg]

Heck, I don't recollect what.
You ain't talkin' about the lever rifle----Are you?

MG

[W.T.]

Well, I got the doggone movie coming from Netflix again so I can try & pause it, but the last time I did that there weren't any real clear shots.  It just didn't look like any kind of configuration I'd ever seen...the movie poster looks like some kind of Plains rifle...

[The Elderly Kid]

It looked to me like a German Schuetzen - stubby, thick-barrelled, deep-curved buttplate and super elaborate trigger guard. Not typically what you'd find out on the frontier, they were specialized target rifles.

[W.T.]

Yeah, it was the trigger guard that caught my eye.

That would make it either European or one of the Schuetzens produced by the German gunsmiths who immigrated to Pennsylvania.  That'd make it a pretty old rifle at the time of the movie, eh?

[St. George]

What you describe sounds like a swivel-breech rifle.

Without seeing the one in question - there's no way to tell - but they photograph as 'different' - and as such - they have a value to a film as being 'custom-built' - much like the very special gun carried by Johnny Yuma in 'The Rebel.

Remember?

The LeMat inside the Model 1879 Trapdoor Springfield Carbine Boot that magically appeared as he made his way home from the battlefields?

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[The Elderly Kid]

St. George:
I remember Johnny Yuma with a sawed-off shotgun on his belt. Was this maybe in the pilot? Sometimes those are very different than the later series. Johnny Ringo had a LeMat, the first time I ever heard of it.

[St. George]

You know - that was a very long time ago - and was probably the pilot.

I don't remember it having a long series life - or maybe it didn't with the local broadcasting station so I never saw more than a couple episodes.

It was like 'Shotgun Slade' - as soon as you blinked - it was off the air...

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[W.T.]

"Shotgun Slade"!

And another: "Yancy Derringer".  I liked his sidekick Paiute, who always had - and used at every opportunity - a sawed-off shotgun under his blanket.  That was one silent, grim Ind..., uh, Native American; lotta dudes got plastered up against the walls of riverboats on that show.  Just the very thing for bloodthirsty twelve-year-olds...loved it.

[St. George]

'Shotgun Slade' had the unique distinction of being the only Western to have a jazz score.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Silver Creek Slim]

Wasn't that a superposed shotgun?

Slim

[Coop Trawlaine]

You Bet!  Yancy Derringer was one of my favorite shows........We had a lot of good westerns, and some mighty bad ones back then and really didn't care as long as it as a true Shoot'em Up.

[22lr]

Been wondering for almost 40 years what that rifle is that Steve McQueen is carrying in the opening sequences of "Nevada Smith".  Is that a "real" rifle or a made-up prop?

The following information is copied from here: http://www.littlejohnsauctionservice.com/

LOT 94
Over/Under combination rifle-shotgun, by "F.WEISS PORT JERVIS N.Y." and so marked on .44 cal. rifle barrel which now appears smooth at the muzzle, both barrels are faceted at the breech for 9" then turn round, the rifle barrel with a large, added ramp sight and an adjustable rear sight. The walnut stock, with checkered wrist, mounted in German silver, backaction locks with very graceful hammers. A well-crafted piece. Used by actor Steve McQueen in "Nevada Smith" (Paramount 1966), "S318". Est.: $5,000-$10,000.

[W.T.]

The Quest of a Lifetime answered!

[Silver Creek Slim]

Thanks, Arkansaw Deadeye. 

Slim

[22lr]

Someone posted a link to that auction on the wire.  And after a couple of hours  of browsing the catalog, I saw the Nevada Smith gun.  I immediately thought of this thread.  I figured someone else would have posted it already, but i guess not.

If you have time browse through that auction catalog, I has some incredible guns and pieces of television and movie history!!  I hope when it over, some of the good ones make it to a museum somewhere so us Regular Joes can see 'em live.  But they will most likely be sold to collectors, and we'll never see 'em again.  (So I just saved a copy of the catalog. It will make a great reference book later on.)