Cowboys

[thorborg]

How long can a black powder revolver stay loaded and still reasonably expect the all chambers to go boom? I can see doping the working end with wax or fat to keep your powder dry but the cap nipples doesn't present the highest of integrity.
It would seem our forefathers had a real challenge keeping in the "ready for action" mode.

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[Martini_Up]

Cowboys aint easy to love and they're harder to hold.... and if you need to be ready for action and by action I mean something where stakes are your life, get yourself a modern firearm.

 

[thorborg]

Cowboys aint easy to love and they're harder to hold.... and if you need to be ready for action and by action I mean something where stakes are your life, get yourself a modern firearm.

Gee, Ya think? Who da thought.

 

[The B]

I wonder if war was a weather-dependent activity

 

[Just Jim]

They were big on holsters that covered the gun in those days but still had a lot of misfires.

 

[RicInOR]

Some of the guys took to shooting their guns every day, typically the cap/ball type. I doubt many. I think I heard one was Wild Bill, but I can't find the reference just now ...
(These guys might be the source: http://www.truewestmagazine.com/)

In the early Cowboy period, the SAA was not widely available and many would have carried the pistols which they got for or during the war of Northern aggression. So, there should be a number of verifiable accounts.

Once you get to cartridges, black powder or otherwise, I don't think the moisture is nearly as much of an issue.


"Trust in God and keep your powder dry" is a maxim attributed to Oliver Cromwell, but which first appeared in 1834 in the poem "Oliver's Advice" by William Blacker with the words "Put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your powder dry!"[1] The poem is a dramatic representation of Cromwell addressing his army during the invasion of Ireland. Edward Hayes, who edited the anthology in which the work first appeared, calls it a "well-authenticated anecdote of Cromwell."[1]

The second half the phrase is often used by itself, and forms the title of the 1945 film Keep Your Powder Dry as well as Margaret Mead's 1942 book And Keep Your Powder Dry: An Anthropologist Looks at America."

 

[RicInOR]

Of course, minutes after I post I find a reference:

<broken link removed>

"The late Hickok biographer Joseph G. Rosa, who died earlier this year, told me that the gunfighter was afraid his guns would not be fight-ready unless he fired and cleaned them regularly, so he shot each pistol every day."

 

[Martini_Up]

Gee, Ya think? Who da thought.

around here, you never know.

 

[thorborg]

I'm sure thankful for the self contained cartridge. Ball and cap is fun to shoot and just ok for hunting but for self defense, having a Bowie back up might wise

 

[jbett98]

When in doubt, you could remove the cylinder, carefully unscrew the nipple and shake out the powder. Then use a brass rod to tap out the ball.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Kramer probably woulda used those little dessicant packs for an over powder wad. lol
I think full-flap holsters and oilskin slickers were quite big back in the day.. and Bowie knives. as has all been said

 

[Bon Sauvage]

If properly loaded and placed in a dry area I believe that the"shelf life" of the cap would be the limiting factor.