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As a kid I watched former baseball star Chuck Conners rapid fire his Winchester 92 from the hip on the TV once a week and then spin cock his carbine. I had a metal and plastic toy version of his carbine that did the same thing with caps. I was the coolest kid on the block. John Wayne spin cocking his carbine in Stagecoach and True Grit were other iconic images. The fact that both actors were pretty tall dudes with long arms that had enough clearance to do the fancy work with their carbines was beside the point for me; I've always wanted my own version of their little carbines.

Recently I traded my regulation lever from my Rossi 92 .357 carbine for the oversized loop from a Rossi Ranch Hand repeating pistol thing (hard to catagorize exactly what it is) and now have my very own Ringo Kid special. I won't attempt to spin cock it though as I'd rather not shoot myself or break the pin that connects the lever and the bolt!



Took it to the range today for some short range testing (steel plates at 30-35 yards). Once I got the hang of it, the oversize loop is pretty comfortable and fast acting. I no longer get my fingers pinched and twisted when working the action quickly.

I would only be impressed if you did it from the back of a galloping horse with the raines in your teeth anyway !!

I have some absolutely cringe worthy Westerns with captions on 9.5mm Cine film along with Mickey Mouse and still haul them out to watch from time to time. They never were on par with the proper Westerns however always fun to watch.

The Rossi is a good looking rifle. I have watched spin cocking numerous times and despite being tall I have never plucked up the courage to try it with an empty rifle, let alone loaded, forget about shooting myself, I would probably manage to bash myself around the head!

actually had a one in .44 which someone had cut down to about 12 inch barrel, not the big ring though just the normal one and of course I gave it a try (empty I hasten to add), nearly broke my bloody fingers
plonker, but that's why you have to do it at home, that and the fact you would be ejected head first from your club of course.
(DONT TRY THIS ON THE RANGE KIDS)

Those oversize loops - I assume they were for use with gloved hands originally ?

Just rub it in with the pool in the background will ya!

Have fun with it! You MUST try and spin cock it at least once!

breacher wrote:Those oversize loops - I assume they were for use with gloved hands originally ?

Yes, that was their original purpose.

breacher wrote:Those oversize loops - I assume they were for use with gloved hands originally ?

The oversize loop was never a factory option, it was movie prop built especially for John Wayne because it was said he had large hands. So this a case of real life imitating art.

DaveB wrote:

breacher wrote:Those oversize loops - I assume they were for use with gloved hands originally ?

Yes, that was their original purpose.

Wrong see my post,

I was fairly sure I had once seen a genuine old Winchester with a larger than normal loop, however thinking back, that loop was nowhere near as large as the movie/TV ones (just a bit larger than stock). If it was never an option then it was probably some local gunsmith's work. Having spent quite a bit of time in very cold winters - making use of the folding trigger-guards on the C1A1 (SLR) - it seemed a pretty good idea to me.