Without The Rifle
McCain was reliant on his rifle since it was his weapon of choice. He was powerless without it. Micah was beaten up badly in one episode, but so were Mark and McCain. It was because McCain did not have his rifle. Things only looked up for them when he got his rifle. The bad guys paid for what they did.
Another Shot
In the opening credits, McCain fires 12 shots. Seven of these were shown in a close-up shot, while the rest were shown as the camera changes angles. The rifle came with blank cartridges so the magazine can hold more blanks than usual. The soundtrack had a 13th dubbed shot so the firing would go well with a section of the theme music.