Arnold's reply.....Both Arthur and I tried to zero in on the details regarding Joe Benson...best we can remember (going back sixty years) is that he was a professional carpenter and jack-of-all-trades when it came to working on homes...and that he did a lot of work for Chuck on his house...as a result Chuck asked if we could find a small part for Joe on some of the episodes...I'm not sure, but I think Joe told Chuck of his interest in acting...which led to our finding small parts for Joe on the episodes you mentioned...as I remember, Joe was not much of an actor, but he was an awful nice guy....neither Arthur or I are sure whether or not we used Joe as one of the townspeople in different episodes...my guess is that we did...as I seem to remember Joe became part of The Rifleman atmosphere during the latter years 
Thanks Arnold & Arthur!

This is what Jeff had to say about Joe.....Joe was a good friend of Chuck's.  He lived not too far from Chuck.  He had helped Chuck build a tree house for the boys and also help build the addition onto the house which was later called the den.  (I do have pictures of this)   Thanks Jeff!