Most common firearms of the Wild West?

Money was scarce, I would bet the do-it-all shotgun should have gotten more notoriety than it has.

Don't know of a definitive source off the top of my head. I'm quite sure that many small caliber rifles and shotguns were prevalent for putting food on the tablea and ridding the homestead of varmints.
I agree there were probably fewer SAA. They werenot introduced until '73, so earlier periods would have used percussion and converted percussion on there westward migration. The ones from the South would have to have made do with whatever they could grab along the way since their arms would have been taken after the war between the states ended.

Guns in the West in general, or among the cowboys, in particular?

The cowboys would have had handguns as a necessary tool of the trade, to put down injured livestock, protect from predators, etc. But they didn't have much money, so nothing fancy like a Colt Peacemaker, in most cases. Surplus Civil War percussion guns would probably have been more common. Some of these could be upgraded to cartridge guns as money become more available.

Other distinct groups such as lawmen or outlaws would have been armed with the best weapons they could find. But such groups were not typical.

I would say quite a few Springfield rifled muskets were around if they could be smuggled away from the gov.

After the Civil War discharged Union soldiers could buy their rifles for as little as $1.50 each and many were "liberated" surplus. I'm sure many went West.

Supposedly the 1859 Sharps percussion breech loader was the real buffalo gun, which makes sense because by the time the 1874 came out the herds where down.
Just read a great book on the first trans continental RR. The Henrys and later Win 1866s were in great demand by the workers on the Union Pacific to repel the relentless attacks by hostile natives. I imagine many of the workers, and there repeaters stayed out West.

Hey Jim, what was the book? Sounds good.

"Firearms of the American West," by Louis A. Garavaglia and Charles G. Worman is the probably the most comprehensive academic study of firearms from 1803 to 1894. It is a two-volume set. It is very readable, photographs on nearly every page, and has an extensive bibliography. Manufacturer's production numbers and government contract purchase numbers can be found in the text. I suspect if there is an answer to your question it will be found in these two books.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...s=stripbooks&field-keywords=worman+garavaglia


I don't know if Jim and I read the same book, but the best one I have read about the transcontinental railroad is by Stephen Ambrose, "Nothing Like it In the World." (Same guy who wrote "Band of Brothers.") Darn good books.

Hey Jim, what was the book? Sounds good

Click to expand...

"Nothing like it in the world" by Stephen E Ambrose of band of brothers fame. A little slow in the beginning as it's mostly about how the road was financed but as it moves on to actual construction it gets fascinating. Remember this was all built by hand and horse over unmapped terrain full of hostile natives and high mountains as well as dry deserts. The whole effort was monumental-imagine blasting a 1500 ft tunnel though granite with nothing but black powder and hand carts to remove the ruble.

A must read if you like the old West. Many of the names we know today like Cheyenne and Reno where created by the railroad as tent cities-full of whiskey, gambling, prostitution and murder.
I would love to drive 80 West from Omaha to Sacramento. It follows the old grade closely.

Great minds....!

Shows you how slow a typist I am. Your 6:13 post was not there when I started my 6:59 post. I'd never make it in the secretarial pool.

The switch over from flintlock to percussion, single shot pistol to revolver, or percussion revolver to center fire was much slower than most think. Just because the percussion cap was developed in 1820 doesn't mean everyone threw away their flintlocks and bought new guns. As well, in 1873 people didn't throw out their percussion cap revolvers and buy Peacemakers. There was probably a 20 year transition period. Guns were much more expensive back then in comparison to average monthly wages. Most people only owned one gun so they would have just continued to use it for as long as it functioned.

I know of one 1851 Colt Navy that was used for killing hogs up into the 1940s right here in Illinois.

Native Americans preferred cap and ball revolvers and muzzle loading long guns up until the turn of the century because caps, lead, and powder were available everywhere, including the reservation stores.
Repeating rifles were held for war use and seldom used as hunting guns.

For farmers and rural folks, the muzzle or breechloading shotgun was far and away the most popular go to gun.
City and townspeople leaned towards small concealable revolvers, English made Bulldogs and S&W pocket top breaks for the well moneyed and cheaper versions of each for the less fortunate.

These trends continued well into the 1930s

Onmilo said:

I know of one 1851 Colt Navy that was used for killing hogs up into the 1940s right here in Illinois.

Native Americans preferred cap and ball revolvers and muzzle loading long guns up until the turn of the century because caps, lead, and powder were available everywhere, including the reservation stores.
Repeating rifles were held for war use and seldom used as hunting guns.

For farmers and rural folks, the muzzle or breechloading shotgun was far and away the most popular go to gun.
City and townspeople leaned towards small concealable revolvers, English made Bulldogs and S&W pocket top breaks for the well moneyed and cheaper versions of each for the less fortunate.

These trends continued well into the 1930s

Click to expand...

Onmilo, I don't wish to sound like I am disputing anything you said, but do you have a source for it?
What you said sounds right, but is there a source for it?

we are not amused said:

Onmilo, I don't wish to sound like I am disputing anything you said, but do you have a source for it?
What you said sounds right, but is there a source for it?

Click to expand...

Firearms of the American West
Garavaglia/Worman

Frontier Pistols and Revolvers
Venner

Guns of the Western Indian War
Dorsey

Archaeology, History and Custer's Last Stand
Fox

Plus about fifty other references and articles I'm not going to list....

For a lot of years now I've been a student of Bodie, California. I'm no expert but I have learned a lot.

Bodie was the biggest, the baddest, and the last of the old west mining towns. It was the "original" town that had a man for breakfast every day.

Anyway, I've studied the police reports and other sources of published information and cannot find a single instance where the Colt's 1873 Peacemaker in any of its usually referenced names or descriptions was used.

Those miners and townies didn't wear holsters and if they were so fortunate to have a firearm it was usually some form of "pocket pistol" either stuffed into their waistband or a coat pocket.

"Loose ammunition" was the contemporary name for cap and ball and was common up to the turn of the 20th century. Cartridges were very expensive.

It is my understanding that muzzle loading rifles were generally more available than shotguns. Several of my ancestors would hunt with 30 cal muzzle loaders, game as small as squirrels, which they would "bark".

Yes, the '74 Sharps were latecomers to the game. Tons of Civil War surplus percussion Sharps carbines were converted to cartridge sporting or buffalo rifles, both in the Sharps factory and by competent gunsmiths. Many look at "buffalo Sharps" rifles and dont realize they are holding a cartridge conversion gun. If you know what to look for, it jumps out at you. I've seen many dozens of them. I dont know of any specific ratios or numbers, but the conversions were done for a number of years before the actual '74 model came out. Look through Cartridges of the World, many of the Sharps cartridges came out before the '74 was made.

There were also TONS of surplus Civil war guns of all types that were sold off cheap and ended up in civilian hands as hunting guns or defensive arms. I dont really think large numbers of percussion revolvers were converted to cartridge as many may assume. It was done, but there are vastly more surviving guns that are unconverted. Muzzle loading rifles were still used for hunting for quite a while after cartridge guns were avilable and common. Surplus percussion rifles from the war as well as sporting arms.

The Colt Single Action Army, or whatever other name one chooses, didnt hit civilian markets much for a couple years after introduction. The majority of production the first couple years went to the Army. They were very popular, but certainly werent the only cartridge sidearm around. Smith & Wesson beat them to cartridge guns by several years. They had a 44 single action top break in the late 60's. Hickok is reported to have owned and used one or more of them, I believe he had a pair but am not positive. Just like today, many try to get the newest arms available, many are happy with what they are most familiar with, even if they can afford the newset stuff. Look at forums today. Some are "OK, I have a gun, its fine for what I do", and others are very interested and active shooters and seek various types and try them. I think its always been that way. Some are happy to shoot a box or two of shells every year, some cant seem to get enough. Its well and good to say "cartridges were expensive", but many find a way when the will is there, and will shoot as much as they reasonably can. We know there were some outstanding shots from various accounts, as well as a lot of mediocre ones. Many of the professional hunters (buffalo hunters) were absolutely wicked good shooters. Jim White is one example. Looking at surviving diaries and journals, many shot huge amounts of ammo hunting.

Shotguns were used a lot, many didnt have much use for them. I live in the mountain west and nearly never use a shotgun other than shooting clays for fun occasionally. I think I hunted pheasant in the early 90's a couple times. I shoot everything else with rifles, including grouse. Many today assume that a shotgun is the most useful and practical gun. Many just dont see it that way, then and now. If shotguns somehow disappeared off the earth, I probably wouldnt notice for some time unless somebody told me.

The books mentioned, Firearms of the American West , are excellent study resources, with many references. I've had access to them for about 30 years and still enjoy reading them.

Considering (pre railroad) everything was hauled by wagon, the smaller and lighter a cartridge and gun were the more rounds of ammunition could be carried. Similarly when the general stores bought supplies it was expensive to get things brought in by wagon, so 50 rounds of 45 colt or 50-90 sharps would be a lot more trouble (and expense) than 25-20 or 32 rimfire. Guns were defense tools predominately though except amongst trappers and certain groups like herdsmen or law enforcement. Your typical hunter would have armed himself with a simple bow and arrow setup not at all unlike the ones used by the natives to make that expensive ammo supply last longer. Speared fish, arrow shot rabbits and other small critters, and critters caught in snares would have been the majority of the diet. When the rails got to running costs for shipping were greatly reduced and natives had began trading and were more peaceful. That's when guns would have picked up, even though money was still scarce. More settlers making more of a fuss getting more critters riled up, along with cheaper costs...right in the time frame for the Henry and winchester to make an appearance and make money by the fistful.

Good books posted by Jim.

I have always believed that the amount of firearms people had, carried, etc. in the Old West through the turn of the century has been grossly overstated, mostly thanks to Hollywood. None of us can remember the Pre WW1 years, but the United States was not a rich country. Today while we are kind of taking an unsustainable joyride at the moment, we are the richest country on Earth. Money is plentiful and even our low income citizens have it well off relative to most of the world.

In the post Civil War years this was not the case, especially in the West. There was not a lot of money and bartering was just as common as currency exchanges. Guns, especially expensive guns, would have been extremely expensive, probably more comparable to a car purchase today. That, and the picture other posters have painted about logistics challenges, made guns not as common as people think, especially in the settled lands.

My guess is most homesteaders had one gun per family and most cowboys did not have a gun at all in the areas that without Indian threats.

Very much doubt there is a source that would provide actual numbers. Figures like those were not kept by anybody. The American "Wild West" didn't last until 1899 either. Only lasted about 20 years. Late 1860's to roughly 1890.
The Colt Single Action Army was far too expensive for 'regular' people. Nothing has changed. snicker. Mind you, not everybody, working cowboys included, had a firearm of any kind. The cowboy's '$40 and found' was spent dinking and gambling, mostly.
Suspect most of the TONS of surplus Civil war guns of all types ended up in blast furnaces. Saw a picture, long ago, in a gun rag. of Chicago PD dumping boat loads of Trap Doors etc. into Lake Michigan.
"...by the time the 1874 came out the herds where down..." But not gone by a very long shot. The organized slaughter of American bison started after Custer in 1876.
"...since it is about $70..." It not in your local public library? More firearm related books there than you'd think. Even up here.
Stephen E. Ambrose of plagiarism fame.