Cowboy reloading.

[Nevada Ed]

Just for giggles unless you don't already know this..........

in the lod days , if a cow polk wandered into the town's bar and pulled out a 44 or 45 round from his belt and put it on the bar..........

it was considered enough , for the bar keep, to pour a "Shot" of wiskey for the gent.

Good day.

 

[BabaBlueJay]

I find it difficult to assume that the average cowboy from 1875 -1900 shot his revolver more than a dozen times a month. As such most would buy cartridges from the general store. Reloading might have been done by a curious and adept store owner. Someone with a permanent home and an interest in shooting may have reloaded. The general business of a dawn to dusk workday left little time for shooting, hunting or fun. Cooking was at the ranch or if you were at a line camp well provided for.

This. Or stolen from people they robbed.

 

[Bryan Austin]

Just for giggles unless you don't already know this..........

in the lod days , if a cow polk wandered into the town's bar and pulled out a 44 or 45 round from his belt and put it on the bar..........

it was considered enough , for the bar keep, to pour a "Shot" of wiskey for the gent.

Good day.

What year?

1877ish a 44 cartridge cost about .02 cents ($25 for 1,000...or about $1 for a box of 50), a bottle of whiskey about .25 cents (or two bits). Hard drink in small glass, about .05 cents

 

[Just another 22 shooter]

Watch Quigly Down Under.

Great entertainment, but I have my doubts Quigly ever really existed.

 

[mikld]

I think the picture of a cowboy loading cartridges by firelight while on a cattle drive is pretty much a romantic myth. Every town had cartridges for sale at the general store and/or the gunsmith who was probably a watch repairman, blacksmith and perhaps reloaded too. Yes, some people reloaded for themselves, but I don’t think it was a very big thing, except of course for the Lone Ranger... where else would he have gotten silver bullets?

Froggie

IIRC; In an early (1st?) episode of the Lone Ranger he got a gunsmith to custom cast/load silver bullets in plated cases...

"Oil skin" was used for rain gear back when, so something that needed to be kept dry could have been wrapped in a piece of oil skin...

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Great entertainment, but I have my doubts Quigly ever really existed.

True. When he had a man load his rifle cartridges for him was what I was talking about.

 

[crstrode]

1877ish a 44 cartridge cost about .02 cents ($25 for 1,000...or about $1 for a box of 50), a bottle of whiskey about .25 cents (or two bits). Hard drink in small glass, about .05 cents

Here - I'll fix this for you:

What year?

1877ish a 44 cartridge cost about 2-1/2 cents ($25 for 1,000...or about $1.25 for a box of 50), a bottle of whiskey about 25 cents (or two bits). Hard drink in small glass, about 5 cents.

Oh yes - what is the source for these figures? Lemme guess: Miss Kitty from the Long Branch? If so, which episode?

 

[crstrode]

IIRC; In an early (1st?) episode of the Lone Ranger he got a gunsmith to custom cast/load silver bullets in plated cases...

"Oil skin" was used for rain gear back when, so something that needed to be kept dry could have been wrapped in a piece of oil skin...

Black powder and oil (as in oilskin) do not go well together.

Water - not so much.

When making my own black powder, one of the steps is to get the whole batch wet so it can be mixed perfectly. After it is dried and ground it works great.

By the way, the most widely available and most economical handguns in use up to 1890's were cap and ball.

 

[LostintheOzone]

IIRC; In an early (1st?) episode of the Lone Ranger he got a gunsmith to custom cast/load silver bullets in plated cases...

"Oil skin" was used for rain gear back when, so something that needed to be kept dry could have been wrapped in a piece of oil skin...

Oil skin, or canvas with impregnated paraffin and ''oil skin'' is still used by people who work outdoors in the PNW. Filson Tin Pants and Tin Coats have been around for 100 years and is still the most durable "rain gear" for loggers and construction workers.



You forgot about humidity. Wrap your BP in an oil skin on the Oregon coast and see how well it works after a year, even indoors with no 24/7 AC control.

The old saying ''keep your powder dry'' was a parting wish for your well being and safety.

BP will soak up moisture if it isn't sealed in a cartridge.

Problems of Blackpowder

All this leads me to believe that very few people reloaded brass cases until smokeless powder came on the scene around the turn of the 20th century.

44-40 was a yugely popular BP cartridge in 1880. 44 caliber and 40 grains of BP. If you wanted to load it how did you keep the moisture out of the powder?

 

[Heinz]

Blackpowder was stored in wooden kegs, wooden boxes and in tins. Tins were common by the 1860s. Prior to the tins, powder was stored in horns by the civilian population. Black powder in the 1860s was also kept in flasks with metering spouts. These flasks were rainproof and very handy for reloading. In the 1840s a large number of flintlocks were still in use. Folks knew how to keep their powder dry. A flintlock shooter is not going to be put off by the complications of handloading black powder cartridges.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

True. When he had a man load his rifle cartridges for him was what I was talking about.

He only went to that man because he said his reloading equipment was on the horse that was taken from him. In the movie Quigly loaded his own cartridge until his equipment was stolen.

 

[mtgianni]

I think the point here is to not confuse TV cowboys and Rodeo riders with working ranch hands. I think this would be about the same as 1880 era police officers reloading after their shift. If they had a home and were stable, plenty of free time and an interest in shooting sure. If not, once a year go ask the town council for a box of cartridges.

 

[Johnnu2]

Just to set the RECORD straight: 98% of us NEVER reloaded our cartridges.

J.

 

[Baltimoreed11754]

Life was hard everywhere back then. The things that we take for granted doing today that only take a few minutes or even occur without our involvement such as washing dishes or washing and drying clothes took hours back then. I’ve hung clothes on the line as my mom never had a dryer and cut wood to heat with, never to cook with. I believe that reloading for fun was not something that occurred except for the very well off where formal gun clubs were located ‘back east’. Reloading out west would have been a commercial concern done at the gunshop to make some extra money.

 

[BearBio]

Cap & ball guns were used well into the 1920's in rural areas (Ever know a dirt farmer who wasn't cheap?). Hickock used '51 Navies because they were more reliable than the cartridges of the time (He re-charged them every night=he also shot targets every Sunday that he could). Read "Mari Sandoz's "The Buffalo Hunters"=they reloaded because they may not see a town for months at a time.

 

[Baltimoreed11754]

Buffalo slaughter [would hardly call it hunting] was a business that required ammo to accomplish so naturally they reloaded but it couldn’t have been fun by any means.

 

[LostintheOzone]

The first loaded cartridge that became popular was the 44 Henry developed in 1860. That cartridge was a rimfire so couldn't be reloaded.

I think around 1873 the 44-40 became extremely popular for both the Winchester rifle and Colt revolvers. That cartridge was center fire so could be reloaded.

Tools to reload these cartridges weren't available until the 1880's.

My take on this is reloading BP cartridges was doable but I'm not sure how many people actually did that. I don't think cowboys had the money, time or a place to reload. I'm sure market and railroad hunters did however. I found dozens of 44 rimfire cartridges in an old Santa Fe RR camp near Ashfork AZ in the 70's. That camp was used when the RR was built around 1890. So rimfire was still popular even then.


For many years after smokeless powder became preferred by commercial loaders reloading wasn't popular. Too many things to manage like powder weight.

Here is a good article that explains all of this in detail.

The History of Handloading: Not Just a Fad Anymore | Load Data Article

 

[Buford57]

I think the picture of a cowboy loading cartridges by firelight while on a cattle drive is pretty much a romantic myth. Every town had cartridges for sale at the general store and/or the gunsmith who was probably a watch repairman, blacksmith and perhaps reloaded too. Yes, some people reloaded for themselves, but I don’t think it was a very big thing, except of course for the Lone Ranger... where else would he have gotten silver bullets?

Froggie

I think the fireside would have ranked among the WORST places to be messing with black powder.

 

[LostintheOzone]

Buffalo slaughter [would hardly call it hunting] was a business that required ammo to accomplish so naturally they reloaded but it couldn’t have been fun by any means.

Probably about as much fun as carrying water from a well or river every day.

 

[Jeff423]

I wonder about how "unstable" black powder was/is? 18th century navies used tons of it in their cannons without sophisticated storage.
In the Aubrey-Maturin series Patrick O'Brian makes frequent reference to it and the main problem seems to be price and availability.