8.1/10131 votes#1 - Trail of Hate
Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 9/27/1960
Lucas is out for vengeance when Mark is used as a pawn in a bank robbery scheme.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: N/A
- 8.4/10140 votes
#2 - Woman From Hog Ridge
Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 10/4/1960
Lucas shoots a horse thief who turns out to be a member of the Boyle clan, and now Ma Boyle is after him.
Director: William Claxton
Writer: N/A
- 7.8/10126 votes
#3 - Seven
Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 10/11/1960
Seven condemned murderers escape and take over the town of North Fork.
Director: Ted Post
Writer: N/A
- 7.6/10125 votes
#4 - The Pitchman
Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 9/18/1960
When Mark finds gold on their property, a fast-talking salesman who tried to sell Lucas a new lightning rod offers instead to buy the ranch's mineral rights.
Director: John Rich
Writer: N/A
- 7.9/10136 votes
#5 - Strange Town
Season 3 Episode 5 - Aired 10/25/1960
Lucas tracks an escaped prisoner to a town that turns out to be run by the gunman's brother, notorious for shooting people in the back.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: N/A
- 8.3/10140 votes
#6 - Baranca
Season 3 Episode 6 - Aired 11/1/1960
When an outlaw leader lures Marshal Torrance out of town, Lucas is the only one who can stop him from lynching a local man who killed one of the members of his gang.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: N/A
- 7.6/10124 votes
#7 - The Martinet
Season 3 Episode 7 - Aired 11/8/1960
A former army captain comes to North Fork to kill the man who shot down his son in a gunfight - Lucas McCain.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: N/A
- 8.0/10140 votes
#8 - Miss Milly
Season 3 Episode 8 - Aired 11/15/1960
A new store owner upsets the town by demanding that all credit accounts be paid off.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: N/A
- 8.4/10123 votes
#9 - Dead Cold Cash
Season 3 Episode 9 - Aired 11/22/1960
The widow of a bandit killed by Lucas plots a grotesque revenge.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.8/10127 votes
#10 - The Schoolmaster
Season 3 Episode 10 - Aired 11/29/1960
Mark and his friend become trapped in an old mine.
Director: Arthur Hiller
Writer: N/A
- 7.9/10131 votes
#11 - The Promoter
Season 3 Episode 11 - Aired 12/6/1960
Lucas and Mark attempt to reform a con-man.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.6/10114 votes
#12 - The Illustrator
Season 3 Episode 12 - Aired 12/13/1960
Lucas encourages a drunken artist charged with murder to use his talents to identify the true killer.
Director: Don Medford
Writer: N/A
- 8.2/10131 votes
#13 - The Silent Knife
Season 3 Episode 13 - Aired 12/20/1960
Lucas and Mark try to persuade a persecuted young mute to return stolen money.
Director: Don Medford
Writer: N/A
- 8.0/10154 votes
#14 - Miss Bertie
Season 3 Episode 14 - Aired 12/27/1960
A lively old lady arrives in town hot on the trail of a notorious bandit—and the reward money for capturing him.
Director: James Clavell
Writer: N/A
- 7.7/10129 votes
#15 - Six Years and a Day
Season 3 Episode 15 - Aired 1/30/1961
A doctor seeks revenge on the man he blames for ruining his practice.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.2/10139 votes
#16 - Flowers by the Door
Season 3 Episode 16 - Aired 1/10/1961
Lucas unmasks a killer posing as a door-to-door seed salesman.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: N/A
- 7.9/10120 votes
#17 - Long Trek
Season 3 Episode 17 - Aired 1/17/1961
Lucas and Marshal Torrance run in trouble transporting a captured killer back to face trial.
Director: Lamont Johnson
Writer: N/A
- 7.8/10132 votes
#18 - The Actress
Season 3 Episode 18 - Aired 1/24/1961
A deathbed request from an old friend sends Lucas to a neighboring town in search of the man's long-lost sweetheart.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: Lawrence Dobkin
- 8.4/10162 votes
#19 - Face of Yesterday
Season 3 Episode 19 - Aired 1/31/1961
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.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: N/A
- 8.3/10139 votes
#20 - The Wyoming Story (1)
Season 3 Episode 20 - Aired 2/7/1961
Lucas agrees to take a job as a federal undercover agent and goes to Wyoming to investigate rumors of sales of arms to renegade indians. His life is endagered by the town drunk who stumbles onto his true identity and purpose. (Part 1 of 2)
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: N/A
- 8.4/10134 votes
#21 - The Wyoming Story (2)
Season 3 Episode 21 - Aired 2/14/1961
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)
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: N/A
- 8.4/10144 votes
#22 - Closer than a Brother
Season 3 Episode 22 - Aired 2/21/1961
Lucas looks for answers when recovering alcoholic Micah Torrence returns to the bottle—and turns in his badge.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: Cyril Hume
- 7.6/10122 votes
#23 - The Lost Treasure of Canyon Town
Season 3 Episode 23 - Aired 2/28/1961
In a ghost town, Lucas, Mark and Micah tangle with the Newman family and learn the secret of the town's 20-year-old mystery of a lost gold mine.
Director: Don Taylor
Writer: N/A
- 8.0/10118 votes
#24 - Dark Day at North Fork
Season 3 Episode 24 - Aired 3/7/1961
Blinded in an explosion, Lucas fights despair as he prepares for a meeting with a gun-toting enemy.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.9/10112 votes
#25 - The Prisoner
Season 3 Episode 25 - Aired 3/14/1961
Two ex-Confederate officers seek revenge on Lucas, who served as prison guard during their internment.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of The Rifleman Season 3
Every episode of The Rifleman Season 3 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Rifleman Season 3!
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...
Genres:Action & AdventureWesternFamily
Network:ABC
Season 3 Ratings Summary
"Trail of Hate" is the best rated episode of "The Rifleman" season 3. It scored 8.1/10 based on 131 votes. Directed by Joseph H. Lewis and written by N/A, it aired on 9/27/1960. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "Woman From Hog Ridge".