Published in GUNS Magazine January 2008


By John Taffin
Photos Joseph R. Novelozo
Winchester Remembers
John Wayne
Duke’s singular lever action rifle
helped him attain stardom.
Special engraving including a portrait of the Duke is found on both sides of the receiver of the Custom Grade John Wayne Winchester. The gold fill is nicely contrasted by the deep, rich bluing. The checkering on the figured walnut stock is nicely executed in a fleur de lis pattern.
That wonderful year 1907. Theodore Roosevelt was in the second half of his second term as president, the engineers at Smith & Wesson were hard at work creating the .44 Special Triple-Lock and in Winterset, Iowa, on the 26th of May, Mary Brown Morrison and her pharmacist husband Clyde Morrison welcomed their first born. Marion Robert Morrison weighed in at 13 pounds!
A gold medallion with an image of the Duke is
inlaid into the right side of the stock.
Apparently grandfather was not happy with the middle name so when a younger brother arrived he was given the name of Robert while the first boy became Marion Michael Morrison. He was destined to become the largest presence to ever appear on the silver screen using a name recognized and loved by countless millions of fans — John Wayne.

In 1912, due to health reasons, Clyde Morrison moved to California to farm and his family followed two years later. In 1916 the farm failed and the Morrison family moved to Glendale. Young Marion would go to Glendale Union High School and then on to football fame at USC. Marion now stood 6’4” and earned extra money while attending college as a laborer on movie sets. His path soon crossed that of director John Ford and he began doing bit parts and became friends with men whose names would become familiar fixtures in his later films — Ward Bond, Victor McLaglen, and George O’Brien.

By 1929 Marion had become Duke Morrison and he was selected by director Raoul Walsh to play the lead in the 1930 epic The Big Trail. Talking pictures were only a few years old at this time and this was to be a major production. Walsh gave the young actor a new name, John Wayne, however audiences found the movie too slow and stardom eluded him. For the next nine years John Wayne would find himself relegated to fast-moving action-packed “B” Westerns. Then John Ford re-entered the picture casting Wayne as the Ringo Kid in what would prove to be one of the great Westerns of all time, Stagecoach.

The Duke’s Battery

All through the 1930s John Wayne packed a Colt Single Action in a typical Hollywood Buscadero holster rig. He was about to become a major star with a different co-star. The opening scene of Stagecoach finds John Wayne not with a Colt, but a Winchester — a very special Winchester. Someone in the prop department came up with a unique idea. Ringo carried a Winchester Model 1892 with a special large loop lever so it could be twirled. The barrel was cut back from 20" to 18.5" and when Wayne cocked his Winchester by twirling it, a star was born. That special Winchester also became a part of many of John Wayne’s movies such as Hondo and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

Thirty years after the John Wayne Winchester appeared in Stagecoach it would help Wayne win his one and only Oscar in True Grit. Who can ever forget the memorable scene as Rooster Cogburn faces the Ned Pepper gang? Hopelessly outgunned, Rooster takes his reins in his teeth, his sixgun in his left hand, twirls the Winchester in his right hand, and rides to his Oscar. He should have won a second Oscar as the dying gunfighter John Barnard Books in his last movie in 1976, The Shootist. Wayne himself was suffering from a re-occurrence of cancer at the time. He died in 1979.


1892 John Wayne
High Grade
 
Manufacturer: Miroku
Importer: Browning/Winchester
One Browning Way
Morgan, UT 84050
(801) 876-2711
www.winchesterguns.com
 
Action:
Lever action
Caliber:
.44-40
Capacity:
9 + 1
Overall length:
36"
Barrel length:
18.5"
Weight:
6 pounds
Stock:
Walnut
Price:
$1,999, $3,499
Price:
$2,875
Custom Grade
Commemorating the 100-year anniversary of the birth of filmdom’s greatest Western Star, Winchester is offering two versions of the John Wayne Commemorative Rifle. The Custom Grade, pictured, features gold embellishments with 1,000 examples being offered at $3,499. The High Grade version will be offered for $1,999 with 4,000 units being manufactured. As somewhat of a connoisseur of grand leverguns, I must say Winchester has really come up with a most fitting tribute to John Wayne. This is one great-looking rifle!

High Grade

Manufactured by Miroku in Japan and offered by Browning, the High Grade Winchester 1892 features an 18.5” blued barrel, very nicely grained walnut stock and forearm, and a silver nickel nitride receiver. The barrel bands and large loop lever are also satin nickeled. The rear sight is of the ladder style and is matched up with a brass post front sight, and a silver dollar-sized John Wayne medallion is set into the right side of the buttstock. What really makes this levergun special is the engraving found on both sides of the receiver.

On the right side we find The Duke holding his rifle with the words “Courage,” “Strength,” and “Grit” along with the initials “JW” surrounded by “John Wayne Centennial” all on a scroll engraved background. The left side carries out the theme with two pictures of Wayne on the engraved background and the inscription “1907 John Wayne American 2007.” One of the best indications this whole project was carried out correctly is the fact it is chambered for the historically accurate .44-40. Over the past few years, many replica Winchester and Colt Lightning rifles have been introduced and almost always in the .45 Colt cartridge which was never found in the originals. Winchester, Miroku, and Browning have teamed up to do it correctly.

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