The Rifleman backdrop
The Rifleman poster
Action & Adventure
Western
Family

The Best Episodes of The Rifleman

Every episode of The Rifleman ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Rifleman!

The Best Episodes of The Rifleman

The Rifleman is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was...

Seasons5

  1. Background image for Two Ounces of Tin
    8.8/10(218 votes)

    #1 - Two Ounces of Tin

    S4:E21

    Sammy Davis Jr. stars as Tip Corey, son of a man allegedly murdered in North Fork.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  2. Background image for The Sheridan Story
    8.7/10(274 votes)

    #2 - The Sheridan Story

    S1:E16

    Frank Blandon, a man with only one good arm, wanders on to the ranch. Lucas gave Blandon a job to ""hire him and Mark a clear conscience"". General Sheridan and his patrol wandered by and Lucas offered to let them stay the night at the ranch. Blandon pulled a gun on General Sheridan, as it turned out Blandon was a confederate soldier, who once had General Sheridan in his gun sight during the war. Blandon hung fire, but Sheridan did not hesitate and blew out Blandon's shoulder. General Sheridan shamed Blandon out of exacting his revenge, then lifted Blandon's spirit by praising Johnny Rebs' fighting spirit. Sheridan ordered that Blandon be taken to a hospital to have his shoulder properly mended, carrying out his Commander in Chief's last order to ""Bind up the Nation's wounds.""

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Cyril Hume
  3. Background image for The Fourflusher
    8.6/10(115 votes)

    #3 - The Fourflusher

    S2:E32

    A sharecropper enters his colt in a horse race, hoping to win enough money to buy his farm from the owner, who has bet on Mark McCain's entry.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Writer:Unknown
  4. Background image for Death Trap
    8.6/10(162 votes)

    #4 - Death Trap

    S3:E33

    Lucas recognizes Dr. Simon Battle as an ex-gunslinger with whom he once traded shots.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for Death Never Rides Alone
    8.6/10(182 votes)

    #5 - Death Never Rides Alone

    S5:E5

    A gunslinger rides into North Fork for a meeting with Lucas.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for The Sharpshooter
    8.5/10(474 votes)

    #6 - The Sharpshooter

    S1:E1

    Lucas McCain and his son Mark arrive in North Fork, New Mexico. Looking to start a new life, they come across a ranch to their liking, which is for sale. Lucas enters a Turkey Shoot in hopes of winning the down payment for the ranch. Jim Lewis, the man who runs North Fork, has bet on Vernon, a young gun he brought in, to win. When talk of Lucas' reputation back in the Nations circulates around town, Mr. Lewis gets nervous and he makes trouble for Lucas by threatening Mark's life.

    0 Comments
    View all
  7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 WORST Episodes of The Rifleman

    READ
  8. Background image for The Deadly Wait
    8.5/10(175 votes)

    #7 - The Deadly Wait

    S1:E26

    Dan Nowry, released from Yuma prison, arrives in North Fork intent on getting even with Marshal Torrance,who helped send him to jail.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Writer:Unknown
  9. Background image for The Money Gun
    8.5/10(184 votes)

    #8 - The Money Gun

    S1:E33

    When his employer begins to suspect him of embezzlement, bookkeeper Asa Manning decides to hire a professional gunman to take care of the problem.

    0 Comments
    View all
  10. Background image for Face of Yesterday
    8.5/10(174 votes)

    #9 - Face of Yesterday

    S3:E19

    Lucas thinks he has seen a ghost when a young man, eerily similar to a man he killed in the Civil War, challenges him to a gunfight.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for Stopover
    8.5/10(191 votes)

    #10 - Stopover

    S3:E31

    Trouble brews at Lucas's when a whisky salesman and a gunfighter fall for the same woman.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for The Marshal
    8.4/10(319 votes)

    #11 - The Marshal

    S1:E4

    Micah Torrance, a once famous lawman, is introduced as a drunken derelict, who stumbles into North Fork. Micah, nursing an arm crippled in a gunfight, is hired by Lucas to help out at the ranch. Three outlaws ride into town looking for revenge against Micah. When they kill the sheriff, it's up to Lucas and Micah to protect North Fork. Micah becomes North Fork's full-time Marshal.

    0 Comments
    View all
  13. Background image for The Sister
    8.4/10(228 votes)

    #12 - The Sister

    S1:E9

    Rebecca Snipe is returning to North Fork after a long visit away. Before her stage left, she over hears a man saying he's going to North Fork to kill a big man with a big mouth. Upon Rebecca's arrival in North Fork, Mark is smitten with her and gets it in his head to play matchmaker between her and his pa. Thinking Lucas has intentions on their sister, the Snipe brothers come looking for Lucas to see if he measures up to their standard of being good enough for her.

    0 Comments
    View all
  14. Background image for Young Englishman
    8.4/10(216 votes)

    #13 - Young Englishman

    S1:E12

    Lucas accuses the young foreman of a neighboring ranch of rustling one of his calves.

    0 Comments
    View all
  15. Background image for The Indian
    8.4/10(198 votes)

    #14 - The Indian

    S1:E21

    U.S. Marshal Sam Buckhart arrives in North Fork in search of renegade Indians suspected of the brutal killing of a Texas Ranger and his family, but the townspeople are suspicious of him when they discover that he too is an Indian.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Cyril Hume
  16. Background image for The Visitors
    8.4/10(178 votes)

    #15 - The Visitors

    S2:E18

    Lucas is drawn to a young widow passing through town on her way to claim an inheritance, but others who covet it are trying to kill her.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Writer:Unknown
  17. Background image for Woman From Hog Ridge
    8.4/10(161 votes)

    #16 - Woman From Hog Ridge

    S3:E2

    Lucas shoots a horse thief who turns out to be a member of the Boyle clan, and now Ma Boyle is after him.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for Dead Cold Cash
    8.4/10(139 votes)

    #17 - Dead Cold Cash

    S3:E9

    The widow of a bandit killed by Lucas plots a grotesque revenge.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  19. Background image for The Wyoming Story (2)
    8.4/10(149 votes)

    #18 - The Wyoming Story (2)

    S3:E21

    Mark heads for Wyoming to search for Lucas, who's on the trail of a gang illegally selling weapons to the Indians. (Part 2 of 2)

    0 Comments
    View all
    Writer:Unknown
  20. Background image for Closer than a Brother
    8.4/10(156 votes)

    #19 - Closer than a Brother

    S3:E22

    Lucas looks for answers when recovering alcoholic Micah Torrence returns to the bottle—and turns in his badge.

    0 Comments
    View all
  21. Background image for Gunfire
    8.4/10(137 votes)

    #20 - Gunfire

    S4:E16

    When an expected lawman doesn't arrive from Denver, several gunfighters arrive in North Fork and cause trouble.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Writer:Unknown
  22. Background image for The Most Amazing Man
    8.4/10(182 votes)

    #21 - The Most Amazing Man

    S5:E9

    Fast-draw artist Wade Randall is less than anxious to display his prowess.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Writer:Unknown
  23. Background image for End of a Young Gun
    8.3/10(311 votes)

    #22 - End of a Young Gun

    S1:E3

    Lucas is forced to give refuge to Will Fulton, a young bank robber, who was injured while saving Mark's life. While staying at the McCain ranch Will gets a taste of a life better than the one he's been leading. He's met a girl and grows tired of a life on the run. Will this young man have a change of heart before his brother returns for him and the stolen money?

    0 Comments
    View all
  24. Background image for Duel of Honor
    8.3/10(222 votes)

    #23 - Duel of Honor

    S1:E7

    When an Italian Count arrives in North Fork, his strange attire attracts the attention of Groder, a town bully. Groder trying to have fun with this stranger, destroys some of the Counts currency, mocks him, and tries to humiliate him. Eventually the Count challenges Groder to a duel and asks Lucas to be his Second. They meet at dawn and the Count, the offended party, brings his single shot dueling pistols, something Groder is unaccustomed to. Lucas as second must see that all rules of the duel are adhered to.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Writer:Unknown
  25. Background image for The Safe Guard
    8.3/10(220 votes)

    #24 - The Safe Guard

    S1:E8

    Floyd Doniger comes to North Fork, looking to start a new life. He's got a steady job as the guard at the new bank and he's entertaining ideas of settling down on a spread of his own. Also arriving in North Fork are three men who followed the bank's new safe, figuring any town needing a safe like that must have money to put into it. At the grand opening celebration of the bank, the three men discover the new bank guard is their old pal, Floyd. The three men try to convince Floyd to join them in robbing the bank, after all with a man working inside it should be easy.

    0 Comments
    View all
  26. Background image for The Second Witness
    8.3/10(171 votes)

    #25 - The Second Witness

    S1:E23

    Lucas puts his life in jeopardy when he agrees to testify in a murder case where the first witness was killed before he could testify, and the killer is still at large.

    0 Comments
    View all

Best Episodes Summary

"Two Ounces of Tin" is the best rated episode of "The Rifleman". It scored 8.8/10 based on 218 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 2/19/1962. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Sheridan Story".