What Full Sized Revolver Was Most Carried “In the Old West”

[Peak53]

It's not much help statistically, but my great-uncle bought a Model 3 in 1875, the year he turned 18. He drove cattle from central Texas to Dodge City for years and eventually became the trail boss for massive herds. He then was sheriff in multiple counties, then an enforcer against rustlers on large ranches in the the panhandle. He was in the way of harm all his life and carried the Model 3 .44 Russian until the day he died in 1903 from, wait for it ... a Winchester that appears to be 30-30. I have the gun and the stories. So, it appears that at least some men of the period needed and acquired the best.

 

[kraynky]

Can't leave out all of the saloon sweethearts with Derringers in their garters..........
Or maybe I've seen too many westerns.

 

[BMur]

Women armed?

There are documented shootouts between soiled doves using derringers. Guns were everywhere back then! Just most often they were obviously concealed! Plug in 10 shots of whiskey and out they'd come!

I've seen many antiques with extremely evident holster wear. Especially on the larger heavy framed pistols. Cap and ball guns seem to show the most often.

Mostly on the barrel tip and cylinder. I'd imagine if you carried a pistol on a hip holster on horseback? You'd wear it down very fast!
Unless you had a very snug flap holster. Looking through my antique holster collection? Seems to me that the holsters of that period were pretty light duty. So the gun rubbing on the leather holster would have been a serious issue for a cowboy on a long cattle drive!

You look at Police type holsters beginning in the 1920's? Very thick leather that held the service revolver very snug!

The 1870's to 1900? The leather was for the most part thin and not very durable! Even Express Guns show holster wear so if these large frame guns were actually carried a lot in hip holsters? I would wager that we'd see a lot of them with heavy holster wear.


Murph

 

[Velle]

I have pictures of old cowboys , ranch hands going back to the late 1890's etc . They were carrying a side arm . They weren't gunslingers , they carried for personal protection and protection of the cow herds from coyotes , wolves etc . My wifes ancestors homesteadded the valley in 1879 and the Apache threat was real . I carried a sidearm when ranching in Az and NM for a very good reason . A hundred yrs later I had to learn that " The wild west is not dead " . Regards Paul

Most of those pics were studio prop shots or set up shots in front of a bunkhouse etc. Look at pics where they're actually working and you don't see any guns. Most "cowboys" didn't even own a gun. If they needed one it was supplied by the ranch they worked for.

I don't understand why the Bisley is even mentioned. It didn't come about until 1894 and was a target pistol.

 

[Inusuit]

My vote for the gun that won the west is the Northwest Trade Gun, a smooth bore musket/shotgun with the distinctive dragon side plate and mitten trigger guard. In use in the Americas starting mid 17th century and still carried on Hudson Bay inventory into the 20th century.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I expect there were more Ball-cap and conversion guns used long after the Cartridge Guns became available.
A matter of economics- most of the folks out West didn't have much money.
So a new State of Art Handgun was out reach for most folks

 

[oddshooter]

In the late 40's and early 50's, my brother and I lived with my parents at my Great Grandparents's tiny little house in Albany, Texas. Maybe 600 sq ft for 6 people.

Papa John was half Comanche and the greatest man I've ever known. Their last name was Stockton, after the old Fort Stockton nearby. I guessed that was how a lot of Indians got their last name.

Great grandma told me stories of begging Papa John not to wear his guns to town. I believe the timing was around 1900. So even that late, guys were wearing sidearms into town they didn't normally wear in the country. I don't know what kind of sidearm and NO, I don't know where it went. It would be my most prized possession today.

I know it's just one story, but it's one that I can verify.

Prescut

 

[Biggfoot44]

Main Point - Accurate statistics about how many carried a pistol regularly , or semi regularly do not exist , much less What each of them carried .

To a partial extent , production figures , and ammunition catalogues can give an approximate guess at what in circulation , and in use in certain eras .

You are framing. Your inquiry from revisionist 20th Century viewpont . A more relevant period correct inquiry would be along the lines of : What handguns were carried , or kept reasonably at hand of medium or large size or caliber , with intentions of potentially use for a serious purpose , in percieved occasion of possible need .

Even with my revised parameters , it would be somewhat revisionist to make a cut off of .36/ .38 bore size , as .32's were common , and regarded more favorably then than today . Warm up out of the way , some catagories :

Cap & Ball - They didn't disappear. They were just as effective as every , many people already had them , or the used/ surplus cost was a small fraction of a new fangled cartridge gun .

Colt and Remington factory records exist of total production of Colt Army , Navy , and Remington New Model Army , New Model Navy and millitary purchase contracts . Some more digging of Military records should have at least some partial numbers of guns subsequently battle losses , unservicable , and sold as surplus . Plus post War Colt production .

Conversions of C&B , plus Transitional variants ( ie the Remington 1868 Cartridge gun predated the Open Top Colts , much less the SAA . Factory ammunition for the .44 Remington and .44 Colt cartridges continued well into the 20th Century


" Bulldogs " -Generic nicknames for buncha British and British inspired guns . Actual Webbly calibers include .44 , .442 , and .450 , which then and now would be considered reasonably powerful rounds . In addition to actual Webbly , countless millions of such guns were made in Europe and US , ranging from servicable clones to total junk .

American Pattern DA Revolver ( other than initially mentioned No 3 Variants ) -

S&W introduced the .38 S&W in 1876. It was considered a reasonably serious cartridge , kind of midway between mid 20th Century opinions of .38 Spl and .380 . S&W made a lot of them ( probably more in .32 than .38 , you can each decide how to classify .32 ) . Plus a plethora of mfg , made millions of both Top Break and ( non swing out) solid frame copies and knock offs , both with stubby bbls , and long bbls for belt use . Millions .

And as to the Wildness of the Wild West? Big cities on the coast , and Midwest as a whole had much higher violent crime rates , than the Western Frontier as a whole.

Heavily armed rough & ready frontiersmen , scuffing with each other , and organized and semi- organized groups of them violently taking on other loose groups ? At lot more of them by numbers in the Southern Appalachian region than out West .

 

[Jim Watson]

Fire up the Wayback Machine, Sherman.
And help me think of a nice way to ask "Is that a Bulldog in your pocket or a Lemon Squeezer?"

 

[geeollie]

This Ohio State Univ. article is interesting with several newspaper quotes from the Old West era.

Gun Control and the Old West | Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective

But, alas, it does not answer what type gun might have been most carried.

 

[Oldsalt66]

The inexpensive British Bulldog, the Saturday night special of its day, was perhaps the most common revolver in the old west.



The British Bulldog Revolver; The Forgotten Gun that Really Won the West Hardcover – November 30, 2006
by George Layman (Author)

Generations of Hollywood Westerns have led us to believe that the Colt Single Action Army was the Gun That Won the West.

But could the real honors belong to an inexpensive, yet powerful pocket revolver that is only now beginning to be appreciated by historians and collectors?

In this long-awaited new collector s guide, noted author George Layman tells us the true story behind these diminutive, yet devastating, weapons.

Perhaps ten times as popular as the Colt and Smith & Wesson combined, British Bull Dog revolvers were first introduced by Philip Webley & Co., but were soon duplicated by the American gun manufacturing giant Forehand & Wadsworth and countless Belgian copyists.

 

[UncleEd]

Whatever the statistics are for
service sized handguns, the sales
figures for pocket guns and shotguns
and rifles far exceed those statistics.

As previous posters have noted, the
shotgun and rifle were much more
useful.

 

[Biggfoot44]

Actual Weblys were NOT inexpensive or low quality , the cost and workmanship were on par with top USA makes .

But the Genuine Articles were far out numbered by the copies and knock offs . Bull Dog quickly became a generic term . Just like the probably equally popular Owl Heads ( again both an actual model , and a generic for the copies and knock offs ) .

In the ever so entertaining excercise of What If ...... If a time machine transported you back to certain time period , what would you / a knowledgeable gun person with benefit of hind sight use/ carry ?

In 1880's , I'd happily carry a Webly .450 or .442 for BUG or deep concealment . Next followed by S&W Breaktop in .38 S&W .

 

[Echo40]

Truthfully, it was probably one of the Remington Army/Navy cartridge conversions that they were practically giving away after the Civil War.
Seriously, the market was flooded with a bunch of Remington Revolvers that were part of a huge cancelled order by the Union Army, which were then converted to fire metallic cartridges then sold on the civilian market at extremely low prices, placing more Remington Revolvers in the hands of civilians and Lawmen alike than any other revolver in America.

 

[btvarner]

All good feedback. Great to read all the different points of view. This poses another interesting question. The suicide specials were so prevalent, yet I have seen no actual ideas on production figures.

Anyone seen figures for pocket revolvers not from the major manufacturers?

 

[ReloadforFun]

Is SSA the same as SAA? I'm not used to seeing SSA. What does it stand for?

 

[btvarner]

It was just a fat finger mistake on my part.

 

[lawandorder]

As several posts have stated films & television have greatly distorted

the history of the West.

One interesting study showed the number of Homicides over a 15 year period in the top five Kansas Cowtowns.

Abilene, Ellsworth, Wichita, Dodge City and Cladwell combined from 1870 to 1885 show a total of 45 Homicides.

Remember many towns of the era had firearm regulations and prohibitions in some cases.

 

[Golddollar]

Is SSA the same as SAA? I'm not used to seeing SSA. What does it stand for?

Social Security Administration, which some of us are probably familiar with.

 

[Jack Flash]

...
One interesting study showed the number of Homicides over a 15 year period in the top five Kansas Cowtowns.

Abilene, Ellsworth, Wichita, Dodge City and Cladwell combined from 1870 to 1885 show a total of 45 Homicides.
...

Wow! Only three per year on average, spread over five towns. Less than one per year per town, average. It would be interesting to know what that worked out to per capita.

...
Remember many towns of the era had firearm regulations and prohibitions in some cases.

Was that it, or "an armed society is a polite society"?

...
I don't understand why the Bisley is even mentioned. It didn't come about until 1894 and was a target pistol.

Let's not forget that early cars were pretty rickety and fragile. I believe a lot of cowboying on horseback was done well into the 20th Century. Many years the Bisley could have been a working gun out west. What made it a target pistol other than its distinctive grip?