Grandpa Ron
45 Cal.
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2011
- Messages
- 571
- Reaction score
- 10
I never buy into any theory that says the traders made the Indians do anything. The native populous were discriminating and quite good at inter-tribal trading before the first white trader ever appeared on the continent. They knew what they wanted and traders worked to get it for them. Hence the development of the Trade gun; with smallish bore, minimal furniture and large two fingered trigger guard.
The fact is, for most of the native populous the smoothbore was a better fit than the rifle. Coming from a bow and arrow culture; the smooth bore offered greater range, improved accuracy, and more killing power in addition to the use of shot. With a powder/wadding/bare ball/over wad combination, a ball size could vary .050” and still be accurate enough for the native hunting techniques.
The Indians traded for balls just as they did for powder and other staples. Sitting around the campfire casting ball from iron pots and ladles you had to haul from place to place may sound romantic but it was not part of a nomadic life style. Neither was cleaning and maintaining firearms and the rifle suffers much more from abuse than does the lowly smoothbore.
There were tribes that seemed to prefer rifles, particularly the southern and western tribes, but the majority of the tribes saw the advantages of the smoothbore and stuck with them into the cartridge age.
It was also true that in times of war, the increased accuracy of the rifle would offer a definite advantage in the frontier type fighting in America. That is why there was such concern over arming enemy tribes. Still if the natives had wanted rifles, their allies would have supplied them.
The fact is, for most of the native populous the smoothbore was a better fit than the rifle. Coming from a bow and arrow culture; the smooth bore offered greater range, improved accuracy, and more killing power in addition to the use of shot. With a powder/wadding/bare ball/over wad combination, a ball size could vary .050” and still be accurate enough for the native hunting techniques.
The Indians traded for balls just as they did for powder and other staples. Sitting around the campfire casting ball from iron pots and ladles you had to haul from place to place may sound romantic but it was not part of a nomadic life style. Neither was cleaning and maintaining firearms and the rifle suffers much more from abuse than does the lowly smoothbore.
There were tribes that seemed to prefer rifles, particularly the southern and western tribes, but the majority of the tribes saw the advantages of the smoothbore and stuck with them into the cartridge age.
It was also true that in times of war, the increased accuracy of the rifle would offer a definite advantage in the frontier type fighting in America. That is why there was such concern over arming enemy tribes. Still if the natives had wanted rifles, their allies would have supplied them.