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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 set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show was filmed in black-and-white, half-hour episodes. "The Rifleman" aired on ABC from September 30, 1958 to April 8, 1963 as a production of Four Star Television. It was one of the first prime time series to have a widowed parent raise a child.

Genres:Action & AdventureWesternFamily
Network:ABC

Season 3 Ratings Summary

The best episode of "The Rifleman" season 3 is "Trail of Hate", rated 8.1/10 from 126 user votes. It was directed by Joseph H. Lewis and written by N/A. "Trail of Hate" aired on 9/27/1960 and is rated 0.3 point(s) higher than the second highest rated, "Woman From Hog Ridge".

  • Trail of Hate
    8.1/10 126 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

  • Woman From Hog Ridge
    8.4/10 136 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

  • Seven
    7.8/10 124 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

  • The Pitchman
    7.7/10 120 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

  • Strange Town
    7.9/10 131 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

  • Baranca
    8.3/10 136 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

  • The Martinet
    7.6/10 120 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

  • Miss Milly
    7.9/10 137 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

  • Dead Cold Cash
    8.4/10 118 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

  • The Schoolmaster
    7.7/10 124 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

  • The Promoter
    7.9/10 126 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

  • The Illustrator
    7.5/10 109 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

  • The Silent Knife
    8.2/10 123 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

  • Miss Bertie
    8.0/10 151 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

  • Six Years and a Day
    7.7/10 127 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

  • Flowers by the Door
    8.2/10 134 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

  • Long Trek
    8.2/10 115 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

  • The Actress
    7.8/10 129 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

  • Face of Yesterday
    8.4/10 157 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

  • The Wyoming Story (1)
    8.3/10 133 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

  • The Wyoming Story (2)
    8.4/10 129 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

  • Closer than a Brother
    8.4/10 136 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

  • The Lost Treasure of Canyon Town
    7.5/10 116 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

  • Dark Day at North Fork
    8.0/10 112 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

  • The Prisoner
    7.9/10 108 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