Butt ammo cuffs?

M

Model12Win

Moderator
Hello all!

I've got a question knockin around this 'ol brain of mine. Something I've wondered for years.

I see the cowboy (and cowgirl) shooters with their lever guns and whatnot on the trail, and some of 'em have contraptions like this on the buttstock:

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They are a leather thing you strap onto your rifle's butt with some leather cordage, and they hold several shells on the side of the gun. They look cool and very handy, but I've got to wonder...

Did the cowboys of the 1800s really have such things? Is there any historical evidence to show that these really existed back when the buffalo roamed and "look at that Indian" meant more than looking at a motorcycle?

Seems like a mighty fine thing to ride the trails with. Someday very soon I'll have me a single-shot cowboy gun, either a Sharps or a rolling block, and I'd like one of these leather buttstock cuff ammo carrying things... but only if it's historically accurate!

If it ain't so, and it's a modern deal, when did these become into invention?

Thanks so much all! :D
 
Handsome but need watching !!!

Did the cowboys of the 1800s really have such things?
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My understanding is that yes, there were "similar" wrappings added and many did not hold ammo. I've seen such on Native American applications.

Now then, these are certainly handsome and I have made a few, in the past but one thing to watch out for is the leather rubbing on the stock finish. You won't like the results if left too long on the stock. ...... :(

Be Safe !!!
 
"...Did the cowboys of the 1800s really have such things?..." Most 'cowboy's' didn't own a firearm at all. Too expensive when you're making $30 a month. An SAA is rumoured to have cost the U.S. government $13.50 each in 1874. A Winchester rifle(that no more 'Won the West" than I did) was similar in cost.
Everybody running around carrying a firearm is a Hollywood invention.
Nobody would carry ammo like that either. Same reason. Too expensive to lose even one.
Natives decorated their assorted firearms with brass tacks.
 
I've always wrapped doo-dads on my rifles this is the only handy pic I have available at the moment. I have one with a boar tusk hanging from it. It is not unlikely that folks did it in the past


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I have the modern version, elastic. I like the leather ones a lot and maybe one day I'll have one. But when hunting I have realized a light rifle is your friend. Having a half box of ammo on the stock just makes it weigh that much more. I just keep an extra two bullets in my coat pocket. I can break the gun down with my right hand and grab the next round with my left.
 
"...Did the cowboys of the 1800s really have such things?..." Most 'cowboy's' didn't own a firearm at all. Too expensive when you're making $30 a month. An SAA is rumoured to have cost the U.S. government $13.50 each in 1874. A Winchester rifle(that no more 'Won the West" than I did) was similar in cost.
Everybody running around carrying a firearm is a Hollywood invention.
Click to expand...

You're pretty much spot on here, but many settlers carried their muskets that were given them upon discharge after the Civil War. That was probably the real gun that won the west.
 
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