How much ammo did the average Cowboy carry?

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Well I guess you could just shoot yourself and get it over with. If you were being drug by a horse I don't think pulling your gun would even be possible. If your were hung by your right leg the horse would be stepping on you.If it was your left leg I think your noggin would be taking such a beating you would be unconscious in about ten yards.
 
There is no such thing as an average cowboy. If you mean cowhand, he carried none. A true cowboy carried 20 rifle rounds and 14 pistol rounds. And if he could match them like 44-40, he carried 40 rounds when mounted and riding the range. When traveling he carried four times that amount.


Waste not want not. :)
 
What I have read of Western history (as opposed to dime novels or western movies) it was more Cavalry riding through hostile Indian country, with Cowboys riding cattle trails that avoided Indian territory. I have become to believe that Cowboys'n'Indians was Wild West Show and kids' game stuff, Saturday Matinee melodrama written by Easterners transplanted directly to Hollywood California bypassing the real West altogether.
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From what I read in the autobiographies of men like Uncle Dick Wooten, Charlie Siringo, and others, there were plenty of times both before and into the reservation era, when cowboys (as well as traders, mule or ox teamsters, stagecoach drivers & guards, and many others) were armed against attacks while on or near Indian lands.

However, getting back to the OP, I don't see much mention in these books of how much ammunition they carried in the way of cartridges. Seems in the early days they often carried powder, lead bars, and bullet molds, but when we get into the cartridge era the writers aren't all that specific from what I've read so far.
 
Hogshead, I bet you would get several hits from a google search. Although more times than not they were still drug to death for the reasons you, listed.
 
The guns and ammo primarily kept the cowboy fed. Like somebody said, he wasn't a gunfighter. However, his duty was to protect the herd from rustlers and he needed to be armed for that too. Guns also were a way of signaling or calling out over distances to friend and foe alike letting them know I'm here. 3 shots in the air has long been a signal or 911 call for immediate extraction or reinforcement.


Waste not want not. :)
 
My 44 WCF [.44-40] Winchester '73 is a 3rd model rifle made in 1885 with a 24" octagonal barrel. The magazine holds 15 cartridges.

My 44 CF [.44-40] Colt SAA [Frontier Six] was made in 1883. I also have the original to the gun Royal brand Model 2 holster which is 36" long and could hold up to 36 cartridges.
 
rc,

And, also remember, those fancy single shots they were given, shot the copper cased cartridges. When they got to shooting "hot and heavy" the cases became stuck in the breech, and were being dug out with a pocket knife, rendering these new marvels as totally useless! They'd given up on the Henry rifle, didn't have as much power as the newer models did. I think Custer was hosed no matter what rifle they used! :uhoh:
 
I found it interesting that in past a person could buy cartridges individually.

When I was a kid, (call it the mid '60's..that's 1960's to you wags ), we could still buy individual shotgun shells. I did it many a time
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So did I. It was called "breaking a box" and was common practice in my neck of the woods!
 
I think Custer was hosed no matter what rifle they used!
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Maybe, but he had the Gatling gun. He left them behind believing they would slow his movement. Custer was an old model officer who rejected the value of machine-gun fire.:eek:
 
Special order sporting rifles might be 30", as was the 1873 Musket Model.
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It's probably 30". I was thinking 30" at first, but wasn't sure if it was long enough. The picture looks more or less the same proportionaly. We've been told this was a custom ordered rifle. The end of the magazine went out to the end of the barrel, as I recall.

Thanks, rc.
 
2ifbyC said:
Maybe, but he had the Gatling gun. He left them behind believing they would slow his movement. Custer was an old model officer who rejected the value of machine-gun fire.:eek:
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Custer was a fool that severely underestimated the abilities of his adversaries. He also was too stuck on himself to take advice from his fellow officers. For this, him and his comrades paid the ultimate price.....and history makes him out to be a hero.

But this has nuttin' to do with cowboys and the amount of ammo they traveled with.
 
I imagine the first thing I would do would be to mosey up to a bar. Still trying to picture being drug by a horse and pulling my revolver and shooting it. From what I know about horse's that would only scare them and make them run faster. Horse's are tough don't think a 45 lc in the side would kill them very quick.
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I seem to remember reading somewhere that the .45 LC was adopted by the Army because it would kill a horse. I could see where it would be possible to shoot a horse while being drug, but it would be a lucky shot. I assume that you would try for a head shot.

As to the amount of ammo carried by cowboys, I had never given it any thought. But find the subject very interesting.
 
As mentioned by BSA1 (#14) and Jimmy Ray (#36) buying single rounds was a likely way of doing bussiness. My dad told me he bought ammo that way often as a kid. I even have a Federal .30-30 box with single round priceing. I've wondered about this myself. Never thought the Hollywood way was very close to reality. Hard to imagine that time and trying to live like they did. I bet it would almost kill me to live that hard.

Mark
 
My understanding is they packed enough ammo to shoot up Abeline on a Saturday night ;)

Or so the legend of some of the first gun control laws suggest.
 
Despite popular folklore most "cowboys" weren't wandering vagabonds. Most carried 6 shooters and a rifle and carried about 40 rounds with the pistols and at least as much for the rifle. According to the show Wild West Tech they carried as much as they could carry depending who and where they were. I'd guess the "vagabond" cowboys carried more. Almost had had their rigs which were loaded down with extra ammo anyway.
 
RC Model said:
A U.S. cavalryman fighting Indians with Custer would have carried 24 rounds of pistol ammo and 20 rounds for his 45-70 carbine in a McKeever cartridge box on his belt.

The rest was in the rear with with the gear!
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According to Mari Sandoz’s The Battle of the Little Bighorn University of Nebraska Press copyright 1962

http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-9780803291003-3

The troops with Custer had about twice that and quite a bit of it was found on the field after the battle. Actually, some of it is still being found today

Edited: In Sandoz' book Old Jules University of Nebraska Press copyright 1935

Sandoz notes the her father, Jules Sandoz, was consistantly busy making reloaded ammunition for sale to his neighbors in the pan handle of Nebraska in the mid 1880's
 
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As someone who has been dragged by a spooked horse, I don't see drawing a gun and shooting the horse as reasonable plan for such situations.
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Now I'm curious, what is the preferred method for this situation?
 
I've read many accounts of that czguy. Some are dragged until dead, some live until the horse stops , and some have shot and killed their horse to survive. There is a guy that has now came up with break away stirrups to help prevent that from happening these days.
 
My bet they carried as much as they thought they needed, and as much as they would budget for. Cowboying wasn't exactly a high-paying profession, and guns and ammo tended to be expensive.

When you make $30 a month, saying that a box of shells was less then $1 is equivalent in today's term (assuming income of ca35,000/yr) of saying that a box of shells costly only less then $100 for 20. :uhoh:
 
Real cowboys probably carried very little ammo after metallic cartridges became the norm. Most carried a handgun in their saddlebags, if at all. Unlike in the movies it is much harder to do the work real cowboys did with a gun belt on.

By the time metallic cartridges were commonly used there was much less need to fight off indians. The real job done day in and day out by cowboys was much different than we have been shown in Hollywood movies all our lives.
 
jmr40 said:
Real cowboys probably carried very little ammo after metallic cartridges became the norm. Most carried a handgun in their saddlebags, if at all. Unlike in the movies it is much harder to do the work real cowboys did with a gun belt on.

By the time metallic cartridges were commonly used there was much less need to fight off indians. The real job done day in and day out by cowboys was much different than we have been shown in Hollywood movies all our lives.
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I think you're forgetting about the mall cowboy. His coffee cup was all picatinny'd out for heaven's sake!
 
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