I remember seeing a documentary on TV where archaelogists combed the battlefield charting the type and location of every cartridge case they found, and analyzing the firing pin/hammer strikes to see in what kind of firearm they were fired.
They came up with a very interesting picture of the battle and how it progressed in time and space. While I don't think they accounted for subsequent deposition of cases in non-combat situations (hunting, etc.), I still think it was a valuable exercise, and as I recall, it challenged some established notions both of the course of the battle and how well the Indians were armed.
While they had an amazing variety of firearms, they apparently had a LOT more Spencer, Henry and Winchester rifles than they were originally credited with.
I don't know who Custer THOUGHT he was going to come up against at the Little Bighorn, but it definitely wasn't the force he actually encountered. To me he made the same sort of miscalculation as the Japanese at the Lunga River on Guadalcanal... with similar results.
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