How much ammo did the average Cowboy carry?

[CajunBass]

Interesting reading. You guys have convinced me that the old guys didn't shoot that much because of costs. I'm sure some did, but for the most part they likely were a frugal bunch, by necessity. How do we expain how so many were so good with firearms if the average guy didn't practice? Of is their legendary proficiency just that, a legend?

I suspect just like today, some were good shots, and some weren't. Some might practice and others never did.

They probably weren't. I have read accounts of two men shooting it out across a saloon and nobody being hit. After standing there watching the smoke clear, they laughed and one is supposed to have said "We'd do better with an ax" or something along those lines, at which point everyone laughed and they were friends again. True? I have no idea but it's a good story.

Bill Hickock is said to have practiced every day. According to the story he fired his Navy Colts every day and reloaded them fresh. That of course was loose powder and ball, not cartridge. Bill Hickock was also sort of employed regular, and was a well known gambler, so he probably had a bit more spending money than most.

On the matter of cost, don't forget that money was scarce in those days. I don't mean just that people didn't make much, the physical money itself was scare. Coins and paper money were somewhat rare everywhere. People might go months or longer without seeing "spending money."

 

[Leanwolf]

RINGOLEVIO - ""Cowboy" likely evolved from a corruption of "caballero", which does literally mean "horseman" (because "caballo" means "horse"). But "caballero" more commonly means "gentleman", from the days when only the gentry rode horses. That's why, in Spanish, "Ladies and Gentlemen" is "Damas y Caballeros".

And the Spanish "caballero" derives from the original French, "chevalier." It meant literally "mounted knight." In medieval or middle ages times, the French "knights" on their feudal estates could be called by their King to come on their horses with arms to fight for the King. The word "chivalry" derives from what became the "nobless oblige" of the chevaliers, or medieval knights.

As for "buckaroo," (vaquero), this term is still used extensively for the "hands" who work the ranches in N.E. Calif., N.W. Nevada, S.E. Oregon, and S.W. Idaho. As noted by others, it's a regional thing.

L.W.

 

[Leanwolf]

GEORGE 29 - "...I also read somewhere that on the border wealth meant many bullets and that Border Rigs were so named for the ability of being capable of carrying mucho ammo. Hence the Border Rig which was wider than a normal rig and carried a double loop ..."

I have a book entitled, The Arizona Story, edited by Joseph Miller, Hastings House Publ., (c)1952, in which is a collection of very interesting stories all taken from early Arizona newspapers. There are a number of pictures, one being of the early Arizona Rangers, with a long line of armed Rangers posing for the picture, 1901. Several of them are wearing the "border Rigs," with double rows of ammo. Another picture shows a couple of Rangers wearing the "Border rigs" in which it appears the top row of loops are holding rifle cartridges. (.30-30 Win., .30-40 Krag, or perhaps the various Win. lever cartridges???)

I can certainly understand why a peace officer of that time, working way out in the boonies of Arizona, would carry plenty of cartridges on his waist. I surely would.

L.W.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

There is another aspect that is being overlooked as well, locality.

If it's a three day trip the nearest place you can purchase ammunition I would think you'd use what you had sparingly

 

[cpileri]

No one yet has much addressed the reloading aspect. i know the buffalo hunters reloaded their paperpatched bullets. And here is what Lewis and Clark (admittedly, not the 'average cowboy') packed with them, at least initially:

15 Prototype Model 1803 muzzle-loading .54-caliber rifles "Kentucky Rifles"
15 Gun slings
24 Large knives
Powder horns
500 Rifle flints
420 Pounds (191 kilograms) of sheet lead for bullets
176 Pounds (80 kilograms) of gunpowder packed in 52 lead canisters
1 Long-barreled rifle that fired its bullet with compressed air, rather than by flint, spark, and powder
15 Powder Horns & pouches complete
15 Pairs of Bullet Moulds
15 d. of Wipers or Gun worms
15 Ball screws
Extra parts of locks & tools for repairing items


C-

 

[ThorinNNY]

Define "average cowboy" please. Also factor in a specific state and the time period.I guess a man working on a ranch and returning to his bunkhouse might need to carry a lot less ammunition than he would if he were on a long cattle drive say from Texas to Dodge City,Kansas.
A Lawman or Gunfighter would probably think he needed to carry a lot more ammunition than a ranch hand would.

 

[mrwilmoth]

His has to be one of my favorite threads, lots of good info and stories!

 

[hang fire]

The cowboy would not need to carry different cartridges after Colt chambered the SAA in .44-40 in 1878, which was also a favorite cartridge for the 1873 Winchester. The rest was history. With one interchangeable cartridge for two guns that could be found in any settlement or trading post, it truly became the cartridge that won the west.

 

[CraigC]

The cowboy would not need to carry different cartridges after Colt chambered the SAA in .44-40 in 1878

He would if he already had a sixgun in another chambering. Or if he had a rifle which had no sixgun counterpart. While it's relatively easy for us to save a few bucks and pre-plan our purchases so we can have a rifle and sixgun in th same chambering, it was probably not quite so prolific in the old days. A new SAA was expensive in 1878, especially for a cowpuncher and I suspect there were probably a lot more percussion sixguns and cartridge conversions riding in holsters at the time than Frontier Sixshooters. They also did not shoot as much as we do so I highly doubt it was all that big of a deal.

No inanimate object "won" the west. Hard working men and women settled it. The Army "won" it in their genocidal campaign against the plains indians.

 

[Old Fuff]

The cowboy would not need to carry different cartridges after Colt chambered the SAA in .44-40 in 1878,

Not really. If they could have gotten away with only two chamberings Colt would have. But the market demanded more so they added to the list. At different times certain cartridges were more popular then others. For example, during the early years of the 20th century the .32-20 (.32 WCF) outsold all the rest. Buyers then, like now, bought what they wanted, not what someone said they should have.

 

[CZguy]

I've always wondered, what was a .32-20 used for primarily?

It always seemed too light for deer, but too big for small game, to me.

Having said that....I've always wanted one.

 

[tarosean]

Regarding being dragged by a horse.... Typically you will come free soon after going limp (loosing consciousness).

 

[mavracer]

I've always wondered, what was a .32-20 used for primarily?

It always seemed too light for deer, but too big for small game, to me.

Having said that....I've always wanted one.

yes but it doesn't do too much damage to small game and it's just big enough to kill deer cleanly if the hunter will do his job. So if you just have one gun it makes a good compramise

 

[hang fire]

Not really. If they could have gotten away with only two chamberings Colt would have. But the market demanded more so they added to the list. At different times certain cartridges were more popular then others. For example, during the early years of the 20th century the .32-20 (.32 WCF) outsold all the rest. Buyers then, like now, bought what they wanted, not what someone said they should have.

Colt & Winchester both chambered several different cartridges, to include .44-40, .38-40, .32-20, etc.

The .44-40 was the most popular as it had the greatest striking power. The .44-40 in its BP loading heyday probably killed more big game like deer, elk and bear than any other cartridge.

As I understand it the .45 Colt was not loaded by Winchester for several different reasons, with #one being straight walled, it did not feed well in the 1873.

The .32-20 later became popular for recreational shooting such as target and small game hunting. In former dangerous times in the west, it would have been considered a pip squeak if one's life was on the line.

http://www.sixguns.com/tests/tt4440.htm

 

[CraigC]

Colt & Winchester both chambered several different cartridges, to include .44-40, .38-40, .32-20, etc.

True, but those were far from the only cartridges available. Like I said, there were a lot of sixguns already available in many other chamberings by the time the SAA became readily available to civilians. Most people probably never even saw one until the 1880's. Percussion guns and cartridge conversions were far more prolific.

The .45Colt was never chambered in any rifles until the mid-late 20th century because of its tiny rim. Something that would've proven troublesome with the early folded head cases.

 

[tipoc]

A note on a point made above...

"Cowboy" is a direct translation of the term "vaquero" which comes from "vaca" for cow and means a cowherd. A person who tends cows or a cowboy. Sometimes a cow hand. Before 1836 the term was unknown.

The term "Caballero" has a very different meaning and origin. An interesting one but off topic. The caballero was not a vaquero. But the vaquero was often a "caballero" to his friends, strangers and peers.

When folks from east of the Mississippi first came west they encountered Mexican vaqueros (actually the first meetings took place before Mexico won
independence from Spain) . They adopted a good many things from them including the name. As J. Frank Dobie has explained they took up wearing the chapparras or "chaps" for riding through brush. They learned to use la reata, the lariat, the lazo or lasso. They took to wide brimmed hats against the rain and sun. They learned to break "broncos" and called themselves, at times "buckaroos". They kept stock in a corral. They organized rodeos. They built rancheros or ranches. When they got in trouble with the law they were tossed in the juzgado or hoosgow. These terms and many more reflect the extent of cultural borrowing and the origins of the term "cowboy".

In the cowboy a brand new "type" was created. New to the world. Part Mexican, part what passed for American in those days, freed slaves and a batch of immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Italy and a lot of other places where the "huddled masses" hung out. They spoke with many accents. They represented a kind of freedom many back east and in Europe longed for.

Being a cowboy was a job, like being a miner or a sawmill worker.The heyday of the cowboy was from the end of the Civil War to about the turn of the century and coincided with the large and long cattle drives. The latter were done in by the railroads. They were permanently romanticized first by novels, articles and short stories and later the movies. Part of the great westward expansion.

By the 1890s they were organizing themselves into unions and striking in Idaho, Montana and Texas.

tipoc

 

[baylorattorney]

Tipoc, that's some good info there. U mentioned Mssisippi, reminds me I was deep in Missisippi all last week and when Mr Sippi came home from the rigs I had to skidaddle.


Waste not want not.

 

[tipoc]

Sure your name ain't Jodie? And did you skedaddle or vamoose?

tipoc

 

[Agsalaska]

Outstanding thread. Exaclty why I finally joined THR.

I have always understood cowboys to be minimalists. I think the most important factor would be location. Cowboys on the Goodnight-Loving probably carried a lot more than Cowboys on the Chisolm or expecially near there ranches. My family is from the city but I married into a family that has ranched Texas since the 1800's. I used to listen to the old timers tell there stories about pre WW2 cattle drives to Fort Hood and none of them ever really mentioned guns. In fact the only gun I know of in the family is an old Winchester 12 gauge that is forgotten about in the spare bedroom at the ranch house. I know there are more because they have talked about hunting a little, but it didnt seem to be a big deal to them. I would imagine that a normal cowboy carried far less than the average person would believe. But, like today, some were probably also gun enthusiasts and spent as much of there disposable income as they could on new Winchesters and ammo. Some probably were almost uncomfortable around guns too.


I have this new found interest in the tecnological advances made after the civil war, specifically the lever actions, revolvers, and the ammo developed for them. As I understand it the 32-20, 38-40, and 44-40 were the cream of the crop and became much more widespread after 1880 or so. What other cartridges would have been used at the time? I would also guess the 30-40Krag was around as well.

 

[blue32]

...

 

[BSA1]

Well at least we know Cowboys worked long hours in all type of weather from the hurricane deck of horse and, at the end of the day, they relaxed with a friendly game of cards with a little betting while enjoying a some whiskey with trusty firearm close at hand in case of attack by Indians or Rustlers...

Well I think we know that for sure...

Then maybe not.

Rules for the XIT Ranch

No employee of the Company, or of any contractor doing work for the Company, is permitted to carry on or about his person or in his saddle bags, any pistol, dirk, dagger, sling shot, knuckles, bowie knife or any other similar instruments for offense or defense.

Card playing and gambling of every description, whether engaged in by employees, or by persons not in the service of the Company is strictly forbidden.

Employees are strictly forbidden the use of vinous, malt, spirituous, or intoxicating liquors, during their time of service with the Company.

Loafers, “sweaters”, deadbeats, tramps, gamblers, or disreputable persons, must not be entertained at any camp, nor will employees be permitted to give, loan or sell such persons any grain, or provisions of any kind, nor shall such persons be permitted to remain on the Company’s land under any pretext whatever.

Employees are not allowed to run mustang, antelope or any kind of game on the Company’s horses.

No employee shall be permitted to own any cattle or stock horses on the ranch.

It is the aim of the owners of this ranch to conduct it on the principle of right and justice to everyone; and for it to be excelled by no other in the good behavior, sterling honesty and integrity, and general high character of its employees, and to this end it is necessary that the forgoing rules be adhered to, and the violation of any of them will be the just charge for discharge.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I think you mis-spelled XIT for NY.

 

[huntsman]

By the 1890s they were organizing themselves into unions and striking in Idaho, Montana and Texas.

A cowboy union? Wow you just killed it for me, so much for the rugged individual image.

 

[returningfire]

The most they carried one full box and the Revolver with five and the rifle full.
Extra ammo was a luxury most could not afford.

 

[Certaindeaf]

A cowboy union? Wow you just killed it for me, so much for the rugged individual image.

Who said what you quoted? Did you find that on the intermet somewhere?