Handgun Carry in the Old West

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Can't live without a good pocket knife, but anything hanging on a belt is a hazard for a working cowhand in 1880's or today.

I don't even wear any rings. I was stretching a barbed wire fence and the wire snapped.
A barb caught my wedding ring and nearly tore my finger off. My social finger on my other hand is scarred and misshapen as a result of the same incident, this is while wearing heavy work gloves.

Bein' a cowhand ain't all the glory it's cracked up to be.:cool:
 
Relative to picture #2

During 1910 and into the 1930's a revolution was going on in Mexico, and the U.S./Mexican border country (not to mention inside Mexico) could be a very dangerous place to go unarmed. The two pictured gentlemen are not what would be considered ordinary cowboys in that time period.

That said, the chaps-pocket is an interesting mode of carry.
 
When I was a kid, we had a hired hand that served on the jury of the Tom Horn murder trial. He was put there by the Stockman's assoc in Wyoming in an effort to tip the jury in Tom's favor. It didn't work.

He was a friend of Tom, but that didn't matter in the political tempest of SE Wyoming back then.

He had a pair of chaps with a holster sewed in to carry a small gun like a break top of some kind inside next to his leg. It most likely would have been pretty uncomfortable to wear and it was obvious that it had been a long time since any gun had ever been in the pocket.
 
I don't even wear any rings. I was stretching a barbed wire fence and the wire snapped.
A barb caught my wedding ring and nearly tore my finger off. My social finger on my other hand is scarred and misshapen as a result of the same incident, this is while wearing heavy work gloves.
Click to expand...

I ain't a cowboy, but I don't wear rings, either.
My agency had a little monthly safety leaflet and every once in a while they would show pictures of fingers yanked off, or the flesh stripped off the bone by rings snagged in machinery. Then there was the electrician who was electrocuted when his ring wore through the rubber glove he wore to work on hot equipment.
 
During 1910 and into the 1930's a revolution was going on in Mexico, and the U.S./Mexican border country (not to mention inside Mexico) could be a very dangerous place to go unarmed. The two pictured gentlemen are not what would be considered ordinary cowboys in that time period.
Click to expand...
And during the same period, there were more and more "gun control" laws being passed.

J Frank Dobie (The Mustangs, The Longhorns, Coronado's Children and so on) wrote that his father was of "the six-gun generation" and that men in Texas carried habitually. That would be up into the 1890s.

The era of the trail drives coincided with the most violent plains wars and the great trails led through the lands of some of the fiercest tribes (Comanche, Kiowa, and so on.) A man riding flank or drag, maybe half a mile from the next cowboy, would be a fool to go unarmed.
 
I agree with your observations - at least so far as Texas is concerned.

Cowboys (the real kind that worked cattle) practice of carrying firearms was proportional to the threat level at the time and place. When "civilization" eventually came in to place, the practice was reduced and sometimes almost eliminated. But this did not happen in all places, or at the same time.

For example, today along the U.S./Mexican border those tending fences are more likely to be riding an ATV then a horse, but given the potential threats they still go armed.
 
Heck, even today when I go wanderin' about the ranch on an ATV I hang a .357 or a .41 mag on my hip, you never know when you might run across a wild and suicidal pasture poodle or an injured heifer or something.

BTW, the southern part of the ranch at one time was a part of the far northern extremity of the Texas panhandle back in early territorial days. I always kinda figger Texas is a southern suburb of Wyoming.:evil::D
 
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Well, I'll tell you what, the ol hoss I was on when we rode off the bank and into that mess didn't stay long. He bucked like crazy, but I told him there warn't no way I was comin' unglued that day!!:what:
After he quit buckin' and lined out, I don't know whether an ATV coulda kept up with him or not.:cool:
 
Iggy said:
Well, I'll tell you what, the ol hoss I was on when we rode off the bank and into that mess didn't stay long. He bucked like crazy, but I told him there warn't no way I was comin' unglued that day!!:what:
After he quit buckin' and lined out, I don't know whether an ATV coulda kept up with him or not.:cool:
Click to expand...

LOL... that is freakin hilarious!! I've got 4 QH's... each of em is a reeeeeeeeeal character.
 
This ol pony was an Albino QH named Alpo. The was the only time he ever bucked on me in his life and I can't say as I blamed him a bit.
 
Iggy,

Thanks for posting all that you have, a real pleasure for sure. You've got some nice guns, pictures and memories, I truly appreciate your taking the time to share with us, a blessing to your generation!
 
Best thread I have read in a loooong time. I just moved to Sheridan, WY last year so I am loving the stories, Iggy!
 
danweasel,

Howdy neighbor. You picked the second best place in the state next to Davy Jackson's Hole.

It's sure better than SE Wyoming by a big ol bunch, but if you was planted in a place and growed up there, that's where you're liable to stick.
 
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Can't find the gross picture but a bud of mine is missing a finger.

He was wearing a ring under a heavy glove. He jumped out of a MRAP http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2007/mrap/ wearing all his combat gear, and left his glove, ring, and finger on the door sill!

I can imagine a rope loop, or saddle edge catching on a ringed finger.

Does that explain such nick names as "Three finger Jack"?

Found it:

MRAPringunderglove.jpg
 
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Lots of cowboys that "dallyed up" instead of tyin' "tight and fast" lost fingers. On the other hand lots of hands got banged up purty bad when their horse got tipped over cause the cowboy couldn't get loose from an oncomin' train wreck.

That's kinda like Chevy and Ford and S&W and Ruger arguments. Ain't nobody gonna give an inch either way.
 
Lots of cowboys that "dallyed up" instead of tyin' "tight and fast" lost fingers.
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I always tied Texas-style. Of course, one time I roped a big cow and spent about six weeks in terror while the loop floated out and settled around her neck. But the girths held, and I had a good horse under me.:D
 
Iggy said:
Well, I'll tell you what, the ol hoss I was on when we rode off the bank and into that mess didn't stay long. He bucked like crazy, but I told him there warn't no way I was comin' unglued that day!!:what:
After he quit buckin' and lined out, I don't know whether an ATV coulda kept up with him or not.:cool:
Click to expand...
So...did you go back to get the picture, or did you take it with one hand while rolling a smoke with the other, calmly astride your bucking horse? I'll be disappointed if you say Door #1...

If my mare ever saw that, she'd probably melt into a pool of fear. I'd have to swim for the shore...
 
Vern,

Been there, done that....There was always that "pucker factor" thing until the dust cleared and you was still vertical.:uhoh:
Then there's that "OK, now that I got you, how'm I gonna git loose?"

Here's a tale you can probably relate to.

http://home.bresnan.net/~buflerchip/woppers.htm

bsms,
Afraid I'm gonna burst your bubble.. Went back in a pickup with a camera, a bucket of used motor oil, and a shotgun.:cool:
 
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Iggy said:
Can't live without a good pocket knife, but anything hanging on a belt is a hazard for a working cowhand in 1880's or today.

I don't even wear any rings. I was stretching a barbed wire fence and the wire snapped.
A barb caught my wedding ring and nearly tore my finger off. My social finger on my other hand is scarred and misshapen as a result of the same incident, this is while wearing heavy work gloves.

Bein' a cowhand ain't all the glory it's cracked up to be.:cool:
Click to expand...


I love my wife, I don't wear a ring. I'm not a cowboy, but I work on stuff and they just get in the way. I did have it catch on something once and it made me think.
 
Iggy said:
On the other hand lots of hands got banged up purty bad when their horse got tipped over cause the cowboy couldn't get loose from an oncomin' train wreck.
Click to expand...

I hear that! I had to bail out once when my mustang spooked and was going full speed straight into a barb wire fence. Could not stop him so it was either my face in the dirt at 40mph or under the horse tangled in wire!
 
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