Your loadout, circa 1897?

[CountryGent]

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So, it is Halloween season again. I normally read at least one, often more, horror novels during the month, and binge watch films in the same genre. My wife enjoys the old horror films as much as I do, so it is a fun diversion when the weather goes caca. I'm running way behind this year for a variety of reasons though.

Whilst looking through the home library on that section, I passed the shelf full of Bram Stoker novels, including his most famous work, Dracula (1897). Towards the end of the book, the chief protagonists arm themselves with "Winchesters":

"I understand that the Count comes from a wolf country, and it may be that he shall get there before us. I propose that we add Winchesters to our armament. I have a kind of belief in a Winchester when there is any trouble of that sort around. Do you remember, Art, when we had the pack after us at Tobolsk? What wouldn't we have given then for a repeater apiece!"​

"Good!" said Van Helsing, "Winchesters it shall be. Quincey's head is level at all times, but most so when there is to hunt, metaphor be more dishonour to science than wolves be of danger to man. In the meantime we can do nothing here; and as I think that Varna is not familiar to any of us, why not go there more soon? It is as long to wait here as there. To-night and to-morrow we can get ready, and then, if all be well, we four can set out on our journey."​

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The book makes reference to the employment of said rifles later in the text, including holding off a band of Roma (called "gypsies" in the original text) who were in the employ of the Count. The model is never mentioned, but in my mind's eye they were always Winchester 94s or 92s. The book is often cited as an example of fin de siècle work and featured then cutting edge technologies, such as travel typewriters, wax recording cylinders, et al., so I've always thought the 94 would have been the one, but who knows.

Which brings us to our fun question: what would your load out be circa 1897? It could be within that fictional work, where you are right now but in that time, or some other place. Enjoy!

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[The Heretic]

It would be either a '94 or '92

The '94 in.30-30 would be more powerful, be smokeless and have more range, but the '92 would have more capacity and the ability to use the .44-40 in a revolver. S&W made a DA revolver in .44-40 in that era, there were also top-break revolvers in that chambering too. The downside would be this was a BP cartridge at that time, and the .44-40 did not have the range or power of the .30-30.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Well then, taking a trip down the historical lane, I would have to choose my Colt M-1855 MK-IV .50 cal 5 shot repeater, a brace of 1858 Remingtons or LeMat's and a single Colt pocket side hammer .36 along with one of Jim Bowies finest in practical cutlery!

The year actually makes my 1895 Winchesters a possibility, especially Big Medicine, the .405, but then I would need a Colt Walker or a Scofield both in .45 Colt to make for that perfect load out!

Then there are the Sharps rifle's, a nice .45/90 would be pretty slick to have as well!

Oh, the possibilities such a fun adventure this could be!

Move it up a few years, and a 1898 Mauser commercial magnum bolt action would be a nifty and powerful addition, especially in something big bore!
Add the funky and cool Luger to that for that most German of load outs! Could also go all American and go Springfield 1903A3 and M-1911A1, that would not leave me wanting in any way at all!

 

[CountryGent]

To answer my own question, probably:

• Primary rifle: a Winchester 94 in .30/30 WCF.
• Handguns: a pair of brand new Mauser C96 in 7.63㎜.
• Hideout gun: probably a Remington 95 in .41 Short.

 

[CountryGent]

Trying to think of what would be a good fit for the big-bore revolver fascination. There was no Model 29 back then, but there was a revolver in .577 that launched a 400-grain slug.

 

[TTSX]

Couldn't tell you who made 'em, just that I'd have a good 'ol SxS 12ga.

 

[CountryGent]

Couldn't tell you who made 'em, just that I'd have a good 'ol SxS 12ga.

Always a good way to indicate "hell's coming".

 

[Stomper]

My lysdexia made me read 1987…. Was all ready to type 400-800 rounds of belted 7.62x51 or 210-300 rounds of 5.56, AND 36 rounds of .45ACP or 75-300 rounds of 9mm, or 100 rounds of 12ga 00-buck, and/or 20 rounds of 40mm thumper rounds……

I suppose that'd be a bit overkill for fighting vampires….

 

[41mag]

I'd be satisfied with my favorite cowboy action match gear: couple 45 Colt 73s, preferable a decent era-correct Marlin lever in same, a decent SxS12g coach gun & maybe a buffalo single for the longer shots. 45-70 was enough for this fantasy. Sure not gonna mention the hide out piece.

 

[fstdraw]

Model 1886, Model '92 14" trapper across the back , Colt SAA in .44-40 AND loaded by me with a tiny bit of silver in the mix!

 

[Knobgoblin]

Always a good way to indicate "hell's coming".

3 trigger Stevens??

 

[Knobgoblin]

Don't forget some "real" steel.

 

[Nosferatu]

The nostalgic and romantic in me wants to say a Winchester '92 and 1897. But those, I believe, were pretty expensive in the day. I'm not sure your average farmer/rancher/horse mechanic could actually afford them.

It would likely be a single shot rifle, probably 45-90, a double-barrel shotgun and whatever wheelgun I peeled off the body of a wannabe gunslinger while I happened to be in town picking up some flour and, if I had the scratch, some cornmeal. We was having some grits and fried cracklins that weekend!

 

[rangerstx4]

R.B. Rodda & Co. 4 bore double rifle seems sufficient.

 

[Cardinal]

I was thinking Mauser C96, too, especially if cavalry. Although supplied to militaries and civilians starting in '96 (so legit for this posting), here's a great example of cavalry use in September '98 by young Winston Churchill at Omdurman (in modern-day Sudan):

"The Mauser C96—which Churchill admiringly dubbed a "ripper"—was the first efficient self-loading pistol. It was very reliable, since the frame was manufactured from a single solid forging with a ten-cartridge magazine of 7.63 mm ammunition, loaded from in front of the trigger guard. Upon discharge of its ten shells, one had only to reload by inserting a new clip.

On 2 September 1898, Kitchener's forces were outside Omdurman and Churchill and the 21st Lancers were positioned along a nearby ridge. Ahead of them was a dry wash or khor, which later measured to be about twenty-five feet wide and four feet deep. As the Lancers slowly advanced on orders to "annoy them as far as possible on their flank and head them off if possible from Omdurman," the regiment came upon what were thought to be a Dervish force of perhaps 150 warriors. Unbeknown to the Lancers, there were in reality nearly 2600 warriors concealed in the deep ravine. The British cavalry advanced at a walk, Churchill in command of the next-to-last troop. As he described the charge:

"Before we wheeled and began to gallop the officers had been marching with drawn swords. On account of my shoulder I had always decided that if I were involved in hand-to-hand fighting I must use a pistol and not a sword I had practiced carefully with [the Mauser] during our march and journey up the river. This then was the weapon with which I determined to fight. I had first of all to return my sword into its scabbard, which is not the easiest thing to do at a gallop. I had then to draw my pistol from its wooden holster and bring it to full cock….

The scene appeared to be suddenly transformed. The blue-black men were still firing but behind them there now came into view a depression like a shallow, sunken road. This was crowded with men rising up from the ground where they had hidden. Bright flags appeared as if by magic and I saw arriving from nowhere Emirs on horseback among and around the mass of the enemy. The Dervishes appeared to be ten feet deep at the thickest, a great grey mass gleaming with steel, filling the dry watercourse.
Straight before me a man threw himself on the ground…. simultaneously I saw the gleaming of his sword as he drew back for a hamstringing cut. I had room and time enough to turn my pony out of his reach, and leaning over on the off side I fired two shots into him at about three yards. As I straightened myself in the saddle I saw before me another figure with uplifted sword. I raised my pistol and fired; so close were we that the pistol actually struck him….

Suddenly in the midst of the troop up sprung a Dervish. How he got there I do not know. He must have leaped out of some scrub or hole. All the troopers turned upon him thrusting with their lances: but he darted to and fro, causing for the moment a frantic commotion. Wounded several times, he staggered toward me, raising his spear. I shot him at less than a yard. He fell on the sand and lay there dead….I found I had fired the whole magazine of my Mauser pistol so I put in a new clip of cartridges before thinking of anything else."

 

[The Heretic]

The nostalgic and romantic in me wants to say a Winchester '92 and 1897. But those, I believe, were pretty expensive in the day. I'm not sure your average farmer/rancher/horse mechanic could actually afford them.

It would likely be a single shot rifle, probably 45-90, a double-barrel shotgun and whatever wheelgun I peeled off the body of a wannabe gunslinger while I happened to be in town picking up some flour and, if I had the scratch, some cornmeal. We was having some grits and fried cracklins that weekend!

That's the funny thing about westerns - you see bad/good guys disarming their opponents (with or without shooting them), but unless they are poorly armed themselves, you almost never see them taking those very valuable firearms with them; they throw them away or whatever. Me, I would be stuffing them in my belt and pack/etc., then if nothing else selling them to someone else, or hoarding them. Ditto with the ammo. Relative to typical income of the day for the typical everyday man, yes, guns were pretty expensive and not easy to come by - not sure about ammo, but I assume it was somewhat the same.

 

[mrblond]

That's the funny thing about westerns - you see bad/good guys disarming their opponents (with or without shooting them), but unless they are poorly armed themselves, you almost never see them taking those very valuable firearms with them; they throw them away or whatever. Me, I would be stuffing them in my belt and pack/etc., then if nothing else selling them to someone else, or hoarding them. Ditto with the ammo. Relative to typical income of the day for the typical everyday man, yes, guns were pretty expensive and not easy to come by - not sure about ammo, but I assume it was somewhat the same.

to true, remindes me of one of my favorite westerns

 

[03A3Sporter]

1897 Load out that is easy ..

1895 Chilean Short rifle 7x57




C96 Broom Handle




Winchester 1893 or 1897 Pump Gun

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Winchester 1894 Saddle Ring Carbine in .30WCF...
1873 Colt SAA 5 1/2 barrel in .45 Colt....
Bowie Knife...'cause I gotta out do Quincey and maybe get to the good Count first...
Andy

 

[Bon Sauvage]

1897 Load out that is easy ..

1895 Chilean Short rifle 7x57

View attachment 1048553


C96 Broom Handle

View attachment 1048554


Winchester 1893 or 1897 Pump Gun


View attachment 1048555

I love the way you think!