Methods of re loading a lever action rifle.

[Scribe]

I sure this question has been asked before and I ask this purely out of curiosity. Apart from being inherently unsafe and a practise that would get you banned from any well run range, was 'spin cocking' in the True Grit manner ever a recognised method?
Never mind how cool it may look, the idea of pointing a powerful gun at yourself while reloading it, and at the same time having a less than secure grip on it seems to me a questionable practice.
All replies, however scornful, received with thanks.

[Hawg]

No. The large loop lever was a hollyweird invention for John Wayne.

[mrappe]

I can't imagine that the large loop would be good for anything except when using a large mitten is cold weather.

[the Black Spot]

i think it had to be doctored to keep the shell from falling out on the spin. or he just spun it with nothing in it.

[Hellgate]

I heard tell by some hollyweird gun technician just what Black Spot said. In an unmodified gun the shell falls out during the spin.

[napp]

Oh no......there goes another of my fantasies ruined by the Internet. :D

[bedbugbilly]

This is probably one of those "which came first, the chicken or the egg" questions but I got to wondering about it . . .

Which came first - John Wayne's large loop lever or Chuck Connor's in the Rifleman? Inquiring minds want to know . . . . . :D

Or . . . is my senility showing and I have it all messed up? :)

[Hawg]

Which came first - John Wayne's large loop lever or Chuck Connor's in the Rifleman? Inquiring minds want to know . .

John Wayne used his in the movie Stagecoach. His didn't fire on closing like the Rifleman's did tho.

[twhidd]

Chuck Conner's 1892 Winchester was actually modified to fire when he closed the lever. I read an article a few years ago about how they did it. They tapped a set screw through the trigger guard that would contact the trigger when the lever was closed. Then you could back the screw out to prevent the "rapid fire" action. Pretty neat for drama albeit impractical.

I kind of liked Steve McQueen's Mare's Leg in the TV show Wanted Dead or Alive.