The man at the top link was my great great great grandfather. He was a Mormon pioneer from England who lived through that entire period. From what I understand he didn't even own a gun, he just had a sword from when he was in the British army and a couple times he had to use it to get drunks or angry Indians out of his way-station inn.
Back then only about half the Mormons owned guns and they were usually older obsolete percussion or even flintlock rifles from the pioneer period.
http://www.heartslinked.com/burridge/george_history14.htm
Other Mormon relatives from that same period did own guns and from what I've seen it was usually military surplus percussion and flintlock rifles.
If there were handguns around they were usually percussion pistols. Some were cut down to make them more concealable to in a pocket.
http://californiapioneer.org/for-hi.../11-the-mormon-battalion-and-military-weapons
Musket
Standard military issue in the 1840’s to the infantry was the Model 1816 (M1816) Harpers Ferry, 0.69 caliber, smooth-bore, flintlock musket with a leather sling. Muskets issued to the Battalion were stamped 1827 on the lock plate, indicating the year of manufacture at the armory. The Type II 1827 muskets had the barrel chemically browned to resist rusting. The Type III (1831-1844) M1816 muskets had unbrowned shiny barrels and locks. The M1816 musket was equipped with a lug atop the muzzle for fixing the triangular socket bayonet. The muskets weighed nearly 10 lbs (9 lb. 2 oz-14 oz). The stock was made out of a dense wood like walnut.
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The other side of my family were all from the South (Alabama, then Texas and then the Indian Territory in Oklahoma) and they were better armed. One wrote a short book describing his four years of service in the Confederate Army (11th Alabama Infantry - Army of the Northern Virginia) and there are several diaries from the women of my family. The diary entries continually refers to hunting and various guns, but doesn't mention make, model or caliber. I just know what some of the types are because of what my father or relatives owned and verbal family history.
Almost all the men on my fathers side of the family served in the CSA Army and out of those most brought back their rifles (my father had a Springfield .58 that had been handed down that my great great great uncle took off a Union soldier).
He also had a Damascus barrel breech-loading double hammered black shotgun from the same relative. I believe that it was 16 Gauge. It was referred to as a '
pot gun'.
When the newer revolvers and lever action rifles came out in the 1870's and 1880's my fathers side apparently made it more of a priority than my mothers side of my family did. Since most of them were Confederate veterans who lived through a war, Reconstruction and the occasional lawlessness of the Indian Territory I guess they figured it was important to be well armed. After the War of Northern Aggression they moved from Perry County Alabama to Bell County Texas and then into Indian Territory (now Harmon Co. Oklahoma) via ox-cart in 1873.
The other side (mothers) were Mormon pioneers where some knew the importance of having a gun around from dealing with anti-Mormon mobs in Illinois and Missouri, hunting while going across the plains in covered wagons and occasionally fighting off Indian attacks their experience wasn't from outright war. Others were like my great, great, great, great grandfather didn't really own any guns and relied on his sword.
At several of my cousins houses (dads side) there were old Winchesters of the 1866 and 1873 variety, a couple 1851 Colt Navy revolvers in .36 and a S&W Schofield revolver displayed on the walls, in shadow boxes and in glass paneled gun cabinets.
At any rate that's what both sides of my family owned and used back then.