Its 1905, You're a Small Town Sheriff, Whatcha Packin?

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The long guns would most likely be in a rack and joint property. The Sheriff would likely own a rifle and shotgun but they most likely stayed at home. In 1905 Texas they'd most likely be a 30-30 lever and a varmit single shot shotgun that sits leaned next to the door off the kitchen.

Remember, the Ford Model T was still a half decade in the future. Primary transportation was still foot, horse, stage or train. 1905 was the first oil at Spindletop and the very start of the boom. Houston was still just a town and not yet really a city. The Houston Ship Canal was still being created.
 
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We'd also have to keep in mind that back
then ammo usage and a reasonable supply
was different than the way we think today.
In my dad's and his dad's time, there were
not that many individuals that even had
half of the ammunition that one person in
2021 would keep in a drawer. IIRC, when
my dad passed away, he might have had
20-30 regular shotshells, and 3 or 4
00 buckshot shells. Probably 4 or 5 for
each of his rifles and nothing for at least
1. He had enough to fully load a handgun.

Not being able to stop at a gun or hardware
store and buy ammunition like has happened
to us this past year wouldn't have even been
thinkable in any way. They used to be able
to stop in the dry goods store in town and
by ammo by the individual piece.

I don't imagine back then that any small
town law enforcement personnel had
much more extra pieces of ammo
other than what the firearm held, maybe
a reload's worth in a pocket. I may not be right,
I'm thinking that WW1 soldiers carried
100 rounds + - , and it was a for sure
certainty that they'd be shooting at
people steadily.
I wonder how many rounds the soldiers
in Cuba carried? Or the soldiers at
Little big horn? I don't think I've ever
seen that in anything I've ever read.
 
So for this game we CAN create a scenario where our "coin" regenerates, but we can't create more (i.e. putting it in the bank)?

The Sheriff in 1905
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OK...so I have arrived somewhere in southeast Texas, in the year of our Lord nineteen-hundred and five.

Seems that I've just been elected the sheriff. My deputy Hank (he's a tall fellow, blue eyes and blond hair, and has a trace of a Norwegian accent, so his given name is probably Henrick or something similar but anyhoo...) tells me he's awfully sorry to have to tell me this, but my uncle Howard has just died.

I don't have an Uncle Howard. I don't know whose Uncle Howard just died, and I completely, utterly don't care, because I just got here from 2021. A couple of minutes before, I was browsing The High Road...WAIT A MINUTE! I'M STUCK IN ANOTHER HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION!

"Hank," I ask after a few seconds "did Uncle Howard...did he leave me anything?"

"Funny you should ask that, boss," Hank says, "because an envelope and a canvas bag just kind of showed up on your office desk, a couple of minutes before you did. Dropped right out of the sky, they did, lightning and all!"

Yeah...sounds like the time-space warping thing I'm becoming familiar with by now!

So I go into my office and lock the door. Sure enough, there's an envelope on the desk with my forum name on it. I open it, extract a sheet of paper, and read.

JRMIDDLETON425:

Thanks for playing! By now, you know the deal.

It's 1905, and you're in a one-horse town in southeastern Texas. For this game, you're the sheriff, and your rich uncle died and left you some money. You can use it to buy all the guns and gear you need for your job. Your coin regenerates when your bag is empty, but you can't create more (i.e. you can't put it in the bank).

There's also a town map in your bag, with everything marked. Good luck, and post what you bought when you get back!

NIGHTLORD40K


I check the bag. It's heavy. It only takes a few seconds to realize why. This bag is FILLED with 1900-date, twenty-dollar Liberty Head gold pieces! HOLY CRAP!

I open my office door. "Hank?"

"Yeah, boss?"

"Hank, I need the Sears catalog."

"I wouldn't do that here, boss. They haven't moved the outhouse in a year or two. There's a nice flush toilet in the hotel, though. They got nice toilet paper and everything. The big cattle men insist on indoor plumbing, when they're in town from Dallas."

They probably order it out of the Sears catalog, too, I think to myself. Come to that, it probably came from the Burroughs Paper Company just a couple of miles from home. 1905 is eleven years before the big fire, and the mill was still running.

"No, I don't mean that. I mean, I need to buy some guns."

"Oh! Go to the general store, boss! See my brother Johnny. Anything he doesn't have, he can order for you."

"Thanks, Hank. I appreciate it."

I make my way to the general store. Hank wasn't kidding. His brother has every gun I can think of that existed in 1905. I decide to buy a matched set of Winchester lever actions, an 1895 in .30-40 Krag and an 1894 in .30-30. I remind myself that .30-40 would have been called .30 Army at the time.

Then, since no sheriff worth his salt goes without a shotgun, I buy a Browning Auto-5. Just like you could have a Model T Ford in any color you wanted as long as it was black, I can only get a 12-gauge. FN didn't make these guns in 20-gauge until 1949, 44 years in the future from where I am now.

Now, I am a pistol man. I realize that Czeska Zbrojovka won't exist for another 31 years. In 1905, One-Horse-Town, Texas, that's going to leave me with Smith & Wesson, Colt, and, well...anything that came before 1905! I groan inwardly, AND THEN I SEE THEM! Side by side in a glass display case, a .45 Colt Bisley, and a Colt 1903, which I know is a .32 ACP. You better believe I buy them both!

I pay for my guns, and exit the store with my guns in flannel-lined canvas cases (dang if old Johnny didn't sit right down and MAKE them for me on the spot). It's hot, dry, and dusty, the middle of summer. Just about as I am wishing I had a Dr. Pepper and some ice, there's a flash and a bang, and you guessed it...I'm back in front of my computer.

Next to my elbow, still ice-cold and fizzing in a glass, is that Dr. Pepper I so badly wanted just a minute before. That was weird, I think. But what's even stranger, is that on my bed is a small canvas bag. I allow myself a moment of sheer disbelief before I open it. I'm not surprised at all...it's a nickel-plated Colt Pocket Hammerless.

I look at it for a moment...it's a nice little gun. Guess I'll call my FFL guy to do the 4473, and cough up eight bucks to the county to put it on my license.

(Yes, the last line was a straight up dig at New York State. No, I do NOT actually own a Pocket Hammerless...but if I could have coughed up the cash for one in 1905, I would have!)
 
In 1905 Mexico was relatively peaceful and prosperous but under the rigid political and military control of Porfirio Díaz. The US Panic pf 1907 and the Mexican Revolution were still in the future but times were rapidly changing and rural areas along the border were still pretty much unregulated on both sides. For most of the border passage in either direction was unrestricted as was commerce. Banditry was still an issue on both sides of the border even while relations between the too nations were improving. Teddy Roosevelt was still the US President and when Taft was elected as his successor plans were arranged for a historic meeting between Díaz and Taft between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez.

One sign of the growing discontent in Mexico that would lead to the next series of Mexican revolutions and governmental overthrows was that a potential assassination attempt was thwarted from a man with a palm pistol who was apprehended withing feet of the two Presidents.

But the average farmer or rancher on either side of the border was likely unarmed unless on horseback and then he would likely have a lever carbine in a sheath. Most folk probable didn't even own a handgun much less carry one. Paved roads and motor cars were still the oddity in most of Texas and for most areas life was governed by the sun. Folk woke up with the sun and went to bed shortly after the sun went down.

For most Texas Sheriffs in 1905 their biggest threat was getting the drunks home and that was usually delegated to another drunk likely able to get the person home.
 
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The movie "The Wild Bunch", supposed to have taken place a little later in 1913, had an interesting mix of old style and more "modern" weapons.
 
For me, nothing too fancy.
12 ga. Winchester Model 1897
94 Winchester
S&W M&P model of 1905 .38 spcl.
Medium size Bowie knife
I'd feel well covered with these tools even in today's world.
 
I would also go with Armored farmer's choices: Winchester Model 1897 12 gauge shotgun, Winchester Model 94 .30-30 Carbine, and a Colt Single Action Army in .45 Colt with a 4 5/8" barrel. Off duty I might tuck one of those newfangled Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless .32 pistols into an H. H. Heiser holster I carry on my belt.
Love that choice.
But I see all that is missing from most of the choices is a good 'coach gun' in 12 or 10 bore and with 12 or 14" barrels.
The kind of gun that you can walk about on duty with and it wont get in the way.
And since your "back up" is likely a LONG,LONG,LONG way off ----- at least 2 pistols and a long gun at ALL times.
 
Just for fun!

The year is 1905 and you are a rural Sheriff whos well-heeled uncle has left you a small inheritance- enough to equip yourself any way you like.

Most of your "encounters" are belligerent drunks, but cattle rustlers, horse thieves, and the occasional train and bank robbers are in the offing.

As you are required to provide your own kit, what would you get? Long guns, sidearms, backup....whatever you like, as long as it was available in 1905.


Double-barrel shotty backed up by my
twin Colt .45s. 24” Winchester lever gun in the same caliber. On a new job I’d want familiar tools; the ones I’d been using already for a long time.

For longer shots, well that’s what I have deputies with 23 year old eyes for.
 
Just for fun!

The year is 1905 and you are a rural Sheriff whos well-heeled uncle has left you a small inheritance- enough to equip yourself any way you like.

Most of your "encounters" are belligerent drunks, but cattle rustlers, horse thieves, and the occasional train and bank robbers are in the offing.

As you are required to provide your own kit, what would you get? Long guns, sidearms, backup....whatever you like, as long as it was available in 1905.

Fun question. Sorry I missed it when first posted.

My answer: Lumber. Hand carved. In the style of Sheriff Buford Pusser. (aka "Walking Tall")

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I know where there is one of those for sale. Tempted to buy it. $800 with a box of ammunition
Star line still sells the brass and there's a company that sells lubed 200 grain hollow based bullets. tomorroow I'll search for both web sites and post for you.

Me mine;s an army special, I;ve got maybe 4 boxes of factory fresh ammo and dies and bullets and half a mold
 
Colt 1892 Army .38LC
Win 1894 .30 WCF
Winchester M97 12GA

Those 3 guns should sort out any problems you might have encountered, then and now. Maybe one of those new Colt 1903 whiz bang things as a BUG.....

Eta: Oh and if I'm well off because of uncle Henry's passing, maybe a bolt action rifle of some sort for long range, bank robbers escaping on horse.....etc....
 
The OP says the money is for buying "kit"; well to me, a good horse is an essential piece of "kit", so I'd likely spend the biggest part of the money on a good horse and an even better saddle. When you think about it, your posterior is gonna be planted in that thing for 10 or 12 hours a day, so you'd want to be comfortable right? Same goes for the horse; in rough country and hard going, you'd want a horse that was sure footed, level headed, and had a somewhat comfortable gait. After I'd found a horse and saddle that suited me, then I think I'd feel really good with a SAA 45 and a Winchester '94 in 30-30. I'd for darn sure have a good belt/holster and saddle scabbard made, too. Might also have a confiscated double barrel shotgun sawed off and kept handy around the office should the drunks get too rowdy in the saloon, or in the event of a mob getting out of hand. I'd probably have some sort of pocket revolver for back up. Maybe one of the little Iver Johnson 38's stuck in my hip pocket, or even better, a Merwin Hulbert Pocket Army 44. Nickle plated if I could stand the extra cost. All in all, I think everything I've listed above would be suitable for any situation that would arise in 1905. The only thing I might change would be ordering an 1897 Brush Gun, otherwise I'd be satisfied with what I listed. Heck, I'd be pretty satisfied with what I've listed in 2021!

Mac
 
The OP says the money is for buying "kit"; well to me, a good horse is an essential piece of "kit", so I'd likely spend the biggest part of the money on a good horse and an even better saddle. When you think about it, your posterior is gonna be planted in that thing for 10 or 12 hours a day, so you'd want to be comfortable right? Same goes for the horse; in rough country and hard going, you'd want a horse that was sure footed, level headed, and had a somewhat comfortable gait. After I'd found a horse and saddle that suited me, then I think I'd feel really good with a SAA 45 and a Winchester '94 in 30-30. I'd for darn sure have a good belt/holster and saddle scabbard made, too. Might also have a confiscated double barrel shotgun sawed off and kept handy around the office should the drunks get too rowdy in the saloon, or in the event of a mob getting out of hand. I'd probably have some sort of pocket revolver for back up. Maybe one of the little Iver Johnson 38's stuck in my hip pocket, or even better, a Merwin Hulbert Pocket Army 44. Nickle plated if I could stand the extra cost. All in all, I think everything I've listed above would be suitable for any situation that would arise in 1905. The only thing I might change would be ordering an 1897 Brush Gun, otherwise I'd be satisfied with what I listed. Heck, I'd be pretty satisfied with what I've listed in 2021!

Mac

Excellent post! It has been 40 years, or so, since I rode a horse, but, yes, a most excellent saddle, and a really good horse, in that order, are where one should start.
 
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