What did the cowboy do?

J

jdc606

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I generally drown my percussion revolvers while cleaning after a day at the range, but the cylinders have all been fired so no concern about wetting loaded chambers.
After a cowboy fires a single shot from his percussion revolver, did he clean the empty chamber before reloading? Was it a quick wipe of the chamber with a damp rag on a stick?
 
From looking at antique examples of pistols that were real working guns, they didn't bother to clean them much anytime. Usually there is lots of pitting around the rear of the barrel, forcing cone and front of the cylinder. I've seen half a dozen original Colt percussion pistols that had barbed wire gouges in the barrel steel, from using the pistol as a lever to stretch wire. Many damaged from use as hammers. To a working cowboy his pistol was just a tool, like a pair a pliers, you didn't have a lot of downtime to do maintenance on your gun. You rode all day, ate supper and hit the sack till up at dawn.
They also likely greased over the chambers, to help seal the charge and also, if you did fire your weapon, the huge amount of Lube would keep the fouling soft for days till you could wipe it off.
 
A local old fashioned store had a wall full of muzzleloading rifles and shotguns, most hideously plated in nickel, chrome, even gold. But the plating was over heavy pitting around the drum, where chlorate caps leaked chloride spray on the steel; seldom cleaned.
 
Hickock reportedly started his day by shooting out both of his Navy Colts, cleaning them, then reloading them and going on with his day.

But he wasn't a "working cowboy".
 
That's what they *say* they did.
But "best practice" statements in a book rarely align with reality and practicality.

I've been doing substantial research into shotgun history, and all it does is reaffirm my belief and understanding of what typical practices were in the BP era:
1. The average owner did not have a fine firearm. They had a cheap, working man's gun. Few cared about cleaning religiously, unless the firearm was truly a prized possession. If it was just a tool, putting cleaning off for a day, or two, or weeks, was not seen as a big deal. The rate of advancement in the field of firearms had many, many people approach the tools as if they planned on replacing their shotgun, rifle, and/or revolver before it could ever corrode enough to be an issue. They knew they could abuse it, because something better would be in the market within 5 years.

-Today, we live in a world that has been stagnant and nearly standing still for the last 135 years. But in the percussion BP era, every week had something amazing introduced. Every year, something truly revolutionary came out. And, often, they were actually affordable.

2. People were busy. They worked (and played) long, hard days, and were dead-dog tired by the end of the day. If a gun was going to get cleaned, it would happen in the morning - or, more than likely while out on the trail, when the hunter/cowboy/prospector decided to bathe.

One of the notable exceptions would be market hunters with punt guns. When they operated on the water, they had easy access and often swabbed the bore for every shot - almost treating them like cannon.
 
Thank you

Thanks to all for sharing. A bit surprised to read a cowboy would neglect a tool, (his revolver) so costly when compared to a $30 per month salary. Also, the thought of lube covered cylinder chambers has me wondering. Any lube on a hot Texas day would probably be a fly magnet puddle in the bottom of a saddlebag, but I'm no expert on the topic.
Can anyone recommend a good book or two on the topic of "real cowboy life"?
 
Accurate histories of American Cowboys are hard to come by as the myth of the American cowboy is so pervasive.

the Log of a Cowboy, Andy Adams, 1903 is getting close to source material and is highly regarded.

Orphans Wanted, the Twisted Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony Express by Christopher starts out very well, then the last quarter of the book slogs in details. It explains how the historical record of these times begins extremely unclear (hilariously so) and the how buffalo Bill got the ball rolling, and then it really got silly.

Get em at the library... librarians are cool. So is history!
 
If he broke a mainspring, he could whittle a wood spacer to keep it going.
 

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jdc606 said:
Thanks to all for sharing. A bit surprised to read a cowboy would neglect a tool, (his revolver) so costly when compared to a $30 per month salary. Also, the thought of lube covered cylinder chambers has me wondering. Any lube on a hot Texas day would probably be a fly magnet puddle in the bottom of a saddlebag, but I'm no expert on the topic.
Can anyone recommend a good book or two on the topic of "real cowboy life"?
Click to expand...

Most cowboys didn't even own guns. If they needed a gun it was supplied by the ranch. Most people that used cap and ball revolvers didn't use any lube. The old pics of cowboys lounging around the ranch wearing guns were staged. The pics you see of cowboys actually working you don't see any guns.
 
Most cowboys didn't even own guns. If they needed a gun it was supplied by the ranch. Most people that used cap and ball revolvers didn't use any lube. The old pics of cowboys lounging around the ranch wearing guns were staged. The pics you see of cowboys actually working you don't see any guns.
Click to expand...

And if they did have a gun it was most likely in the saddle bags.
 
1. The average owner did not have a fine firearm. They had a cheap, working man's gun. Few cared about cleaning religiously, unless the firearm was truly a prized possession. If it was just a tool, putting cleaning off for a day, or two, or weeks, was not seen as a big deal. The rate of advancement in the field of firearms had many, many people approach the tools as if they planned on replacing their shotgun, rifle, and/or revolver before it could ever corrode enough to be an issue. They knew they could abuse it, because something better would be in the market within 5 years.
Click to expand...

I'll agree with some of this, and disagree with some as well. Yes there are a lot of people who didn't care for their tools as well as the should, but I think this is something that became more prevalent during the later 20th century.

What you need to look at are the "poor" people, who didn't have much in the way of cash. Tools cost money, and while it might not be a high quality gun, a "working man's gun" was still a sizable investment, could be a month's earnings, and so they tried to keep it in good working condition.

there wasn't nearly as much of "if it breaks/gets ruined I'll just buy another one" back then as there is today. Not even close. Farmers and ranchers needed their tools to last, could not afford to be constantly replacing them, and generally took care of them so they would last.

It's much more common that while cared for during the original owner's life, it was the sons or grandsons that inherited the "old stuff" that let it rot/rust into uselessness, something we still see today...
 
It's much more common that while cared for during the original owner's life, it was the sons or grandsons that inherited the "old stuff" that let it rot/rust into uselessness, something we still see today...

Totally agree with this statement.
 
stinkeypete said:
Accurate histories of American Cowboys are hard to come by as the myth of the American cowboy is so pervasive.

the Log of a Cowboy, Andy Adams, 1903 is getting close to source material and is highly regarded.
Click to expand...

Hello Pete,
Located and am reading Log of a Cowboy. Also found an interesting website with real cowboys telling their stories, https://tinyurl.com/yf95czxh
Have read a series of books authored by an old gal, Loula Grace Erdman. Her stories are of the settling of the Texas panhandle and the fighting along the western frontier of Kansas/Missouri before and during the Civil War.
Have not found much specific to early gun ownership but those early settlers were all about surviving and "waste not, want not."
 
Here in my country an old "gaucho" (our cowboy) once told me that usual practice his grand grandfather used to do was to let some hot water go thru the barrel of his own Winchester 73 carbine. Such practice was performed at night if they shot the carbine by the day, with the same steel pot they use to heat up water for their coffee or "mate" (a local infusion).
 
I personally did the same with my original 73 saddle ring carbine and the interior of barrel is as well as a hundred years ago, not shiny bright but in very good condition. And it is 134 yo.
 
Centurion said:
Here in my country an old "gaucho" (our cowboy) once told me that usual practice his grand grandfather used to do was to let some hot water go thru the barrel of his own Winchester 73 carbine. Such practice was performed at night if they shot the carbine by the day, with the same steel pot they use to heat up water for their coffee or "mate" (a local infusion).
Click to expand...

Thank you Centurion. Caring for a lever gun is why I got on this topic in the first place. My brother prefers black powder in his lever guns and questioned if pouring hot water down the bore to run out the action would be good enough to neutralize the corrosive residue. You have answered the question but I will continue reading of pioneer life.
 
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