Native American preference for rifles?

[wahkahchimaol.com]

On the David Crockett rifle thread elsewhere, it was mentioned that Native Americans prefered a certain kind of rifle. My question is, what was the ratio of rifles to smoothbores in Native American use? And from what sources do we get this information? Thanks.

 

[Squire1]

I'm under an opinion completely unsupported by any scholarly references that Indians tended to shorten the barrels of their firearms both to make the gun more practical in use and recycle the recovered metal into other tools or weapons.

 

[Extranero]

I'm of the opinion that we make to much of shortening guns. I suspect most shortened rifles were cut off at the muzzle only if they were fired with a short-started ball. I've seen some that were shortened at the breech apparently because of extreme wear and corrosion when they were converted. I suspect the number of original rifles that were shortened for convenience only was quite small. If you want to talk NW guns, I think the pattern is the same but they lived a much harder life running bison on the plains.

Sean

 

[Extranero]

On the David Crockett rifle thread elsewhere, it was mentioned that Native Americans prefered a certain kind of rifle. My question is, what was the ratio of rifles to smoothbores in Native American use? And from what sources do we get this information? Thanks.

Where, when and who will determine your answer. An awful lot of tribes that were displaced from the east preferred rifles and refused NW guns as treaty arms. Hanson's book "The Northwest Gun" has a pretty good chapter on treaty rifles. His son James' new book also has a ton of info.

Sean

 

[BrownBear]

All the lists I've seen of guns recovered following battles or surrenders showed great diversity. You could probably spot trends as time passed from early to late in the era, but I've formed the impression that they shot what they could get. Kinda like comparing firearms in a modern neighborhood today, I bet.

 

[Bill Hall]

I agree with Brown Bear, at least out west in the Rockies and plains. I just can't imagine an Indian turning down any opportunity at a firearm because he didn't like the style. I've never seen an example of an actual collection of Indian firearms, but I've seen enough single examples to think it was usually a hodge podge of what ever they could get their hands on.

They did seem to do alot of impromptu repairs though, so much so that firearms were nearly unrecognizable. Lots of rawhide and antler, and yes, lots of shortened barrels. Bill

 

[Birdwatcher]

I don't belive anybody knows the ratio of rifles to smoothbores in Native hands. As a good general concept to get you started, here what the folks at Americanlongrifles have to say...
http://www.americanlongrifles.com/american-longrifle-kentucky-rifle-story.htm

It is generally accepted that the American longrifle evolved from the Jaeger rifle brought to the colonies by German gunsmiths in the early 1700’s and most certainly imported in some quantity along with English arms up until the American Revolution.

The Jaeger was a short, stocky, usually large caliber, flintlock rifle designed for hunting by the well to do in the fields and forests of Europe. At one time, some thought that rifling and a patched ball were innovations unique to the American longrifle. They weren’t. These things were known to European gunsmiths for at least two centuries before the American longrifle and were incorporated into the Jaeger. Some also have the impression that the Jaeger was heavy and hard to handle. They were not. From personal experience, I know that Jaegers were surprisingly light and easy to handle. In fact, I would much prefer to carry a Jaeger in the woods than a typical longrifle.

That begs the question, why were changes made? Well, the standard answer has been something along the lines that the American longhunter needed an economical, accurate, and long range gun to put food on the table, take skins for cash, and protect their families from Indian raiders. The Jaeger rifle was accurate but it was not necessarily a long range gun or economical in terms of lead. It has been thought that in order to accommodate the needs of the longhunter, the early gunsmiths started to elongate the barrel and reduce the caliber of their rifles. These two design changes did three basic things; increase accuracy and range, and decrease the amount of lead used for bullets.

While no one denies the influence of the Jaeger on the development of the American longrifle, Peter Alexander proposes that the English trade gun had as much influence as the Jaeger. The argument goes that there were not enough white longhunters to account for all the rifles we know were made and most frontier settlers did not have guns of any type. Who then, owned all those early longrifles. The answer, according to Alexander, is the Indians. He contends that, as the primary harvesters of furs and skins on the North American continent at the time, the Indians had the most need of rifles and the wealth from the fur trade to buy them. This argument has the ring of truth to me.

According to Alexander, the real reason for the longer barreled American rifle, was that the Indians had become accustomed to the long barreled English trade guns and wanted rifles of similar form. The German gunsmiths here, and possibly in Germany, supplied what their customers wanted. There may have been more style than substance at work in the evolution of the American longrifle.

More later....

Birdwatcher

 

[troutabout]

I've been reading "The History of America" by Bancroft - published in 1852. I'm up to the year 1758 and there have been several references to the French sponsored Indian raiders killing and capturing British and continental troops. I just read today of the Indians returning from a raid with "146 scalps and three prisoners". That's 149 long guns and no telling how many pistols with powder and ball. This even was just prior to the British taking the fort at Ticonderoga. Most likely those guns were smooth bore. My speculation is that the Indians used what they could get. They were supplied at the outset by the French. This publication of 4 volumes is available online from the Library of Congress for free downloading in PDF form. It is slow and laborious reading but very informative.

 

[wahkahchimaol.com]

Wow Birdwatcher! Great stuff! Thanks.