

Welcome to right now’s Picture of the Day! Within the late Fifties, an worker on the Bellemore-Johnson Device Firm named Robert Hillberg designed two prototype .22LR youth firearms impressed by Western motion pictures/TV exhibits – a single-shot revolver and single-shot lever-action rifle. Savage acquired the revolver design that grew to become the Mannequin 101, whereas Ithaca bought the rifle prototype and launched it because the Mannequin 49 “Saddlegun” in 1961. Although resembling a standard lever-action Winchester ’94, the Ithaca 49 was truly a single-shot falling block motion with an 18″ barrel and dummy journal tube. Designed as an inexpensive $20 plinker, it featured fundamental open sights and an aluminum receiver inclined to complete put on. Capitalizing on cowboy craze recognition, the straightforward, nostalgic Mannequin 49 vastly outsold Savage’s revolver model, with over 500,000 produced via 1979. The Saddlegun stays an iconic, if quirky tackle kid-friendly .22s evoking the TV-inspired Western fantasies of its period.
“Producer: Ithaca Gun Co
Mannequin: 49-Rifle
Sort: Rifle
Gauge: 22 S L LR
Barrel: 18 inch roiund
End: matte black
Inventory: hardwood”


Lot 942: Two Lever Motion Rifles – B) Ithaca M-49 Single Shot Rifle. (n.d.-b). Rock Island Public sale Firm. {photograph}. Retrieved March 31, 2024, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/element/2058/942/two-lever-action-rifles.