What are you putting your money on. Draw

[smoothshooter]

The Colt M1860 .44 caliber cap & ball revolver.
Like Notchy Bob said, it points better than anything else, except the 1851 Colt Navy.

If it was the immediate post-Civil War West, and the funds were available, I would have two braces of the 1860 Army revolvers hanging in custom saddle holsters in front of the saddle horn. One 1860 Army on my left front hip in a cross-draw high ride holster. And, if REAL trouble was looming, a cut down 1860 Army with a shortened barrel & loading lever in a shoulder holster. Along with the usual assortment of boot knives, at least one hideout .44 caliber Derringer, and the ubiquitous Bowie knife on my belt.

Then, you'd be braced for trouble.

That is a lot of weight, and a lot of extra work to maintain that many guns and still deal with all the work related to tending one or more horses and tack. If you had a horse.
No more than two guns for me.

 

[Bad Karma]

My vote goes to the Adams and Tranter double action revolvers of the 1850s, fast, powerful , thoroughly modern although percussion and ln the case of the 1858 Tranter, designed for combat, being a point and shoot pistol.

Yeah, great revolvers, but I’m more of a, put the sight on it and make a big hole right there, school of thought and deed…

Inquiry: What is a New York reload? Preloaded spare cylinder?

Grab your next gun.

That is a lot of weight, and a lot of extra work to maintain that many guns and still deal with all the work related to tending one or more horses and tack. If you had a horse.
No more than two guns for me.

This is something most people don’t know. Horses and horse transport takes a lot of time and work. Besides all of the extra work, there’s the weight factors. Your horse won’t appreciate being loaded for bear nearly as much as you do and at some point it could cause some problems for both of you. Either physical, like he can’t outrun the Comanche bearing down on you or climbing high Rocky Mountain passes gets to be too much and you end up eatin’ ol’ Thunder right there along the trail.

Friends of ours have teams for feeding cattle in winter, they also cut and stack some hay with those teams. Romantic. Beautiful. No thank you!

 

[smoothshooter]

Something I was reading said that the .44 was developed more for taking out enemy cavalry's horses, while the Navy used the .36 because it was sufficient for anti-personnel purposes. There's some pretty sound logic to that.

I would imagine that the average frontiersman probably enjoyed the weight savings a .36 brought to the table, both in terms of the weight of the weapon and the weight of the ammo. A pound overall might seem like nothing, but if you are hauling stuff around for an extended period, that pound can make a difference. Efficiency has to assert itself over luxury.

As an aside, the majority of men in the 1800’s only averaged around 140 +/- pounds. Carrying a lot of weaponry was a pretty significant percentage of the carrier’s body weight.

 

[smoothshooter]

My vote goes to the Adams and Tranter double action revolvers of the 1850s, fast, powerful , thoroughly modern although percussion and ln the case of the 1858 Tranter, designed for combat, being a point and shoot pistol.

Wouldn’t finding spare parts and a gunsmith good at repairing them be a problem?
How are the Tranter and Adams guns for durability and not binding up when fouled?

 

[TrapperDude]

As an aside, the majority of men in the 1800’s only averaged around 140 +/- pounds. Carrying a lot of weaponry was a pretty significant percentage of the carrier’s body weight.

Yeah, humping a loaded ruck, body armor, weapons and ammo really wakes one up to the realities of weight. It's one thing to haul a bunch of stuff from the truck to the bench on the firing line and quite another to just haul the stuff around and then have to conduct tactical operations at the same time.

 

[PastorB]

Only one handgun to depend upon? It would have to be a Remington New Model Army .44, and it isn't even a hard decision. Saying that, I like shooting Colts better. The aesthetics and the handling of the Colts is more appealing to me, and my favorite gun is a 51 Navy in .36. But if I lived in the period and I had the choice of one gun, it would have to be a .44, and the durability and strength of the Remington makes it a clear winner.

 

[Colonial Boy]

Wouldn’t finding spare parts and a gunsmith good at repairing them be a problem?
How are the Tranter and Adams guns for durability and not binding up when fouled?

I really don’t know about spare parts but I imagine the importers would bring in spares as well, as they should today.
Durability-was excellent as is attested by the number in Australian collections and I’ve never had trouble with fouling on the cylinder pin but I tend to clean it frequently.
Perhaps one of the best recommendations from the time was given by the bushranger Ben Hall and his gang, (1860s) they called into a Bathurst, NSW, gunshop and asked to see his pistols, being shown the usual Colts, they told him that they already had much better, their Tranters.

 

[Bad Karma]

I really don’t know about spare parts but I imagine the importers would bring in spares as well, as they should today.
Durability-was excellent as is attested by the number in Australian collections and I’ve never had trouble with fouling on the cylinder pin but I tend to clean it frequently.
Perhaps one of the best recommendations from the time was given by the bushranger Ben Hall and his gang, (1860s) they called into a Bathurst, NSW, gunshop and asked to see his pistols, being shown the usual Colts, they told him that they already had much better, their Tranters.

Them’s fighting words… meet me out in the street at 11:44…

 

[Colonial Boy]

AM or PM?

The Confederates liked the Tranter and “Jeb” Stuart had one that was presented to him.
Alan Pinkerton carried one and there is an account from the Crimean War that talks of an English officer being “…cloven to the chin” after emptying his Colt into a Russian and it goes on to say that when shot with an Adams they went down immediately.

 

[Bad Karma]

AM or PM?

The Confederates liked the Tranter and “Jeb” Stuart had one that was presented to him.
Alan Pinkerton carried one and there is an account from the Crimean War that talks of an English officer being “…cloven to the chin” after emptying his Colt into a Russian and it goes on to say that when shot with an Adams they went down immediately.

11:44 there’s only one… hey! Are you trying to wiggle out of this?

I do like those tranters, Adams, etc. if they were available here, (very scarce) I’d consider it strongly. But the first pistol I ever saw was an 1860 Army. Or an 1873 SAA as those were my grandfathers and fathers guns. I’ve been imprinted, no turning that off! Best of luck, if you’re in the neighborhood…

 

[Colonial Boy]

Bad Karma,
l must admit that my favourite all round pistol is the 1860 Army, it’s like an extension of the hand.
Back in my youth I had an almost new Navy, that was my first pistol, and I learned to shoot pistol with it.
It’s a few years since I had the Army and I’ve been watching local internet sales, l have a hankering for a good repro.

On the subject of the quick draw I once beat the bloke who was probably the fastest in Australia, 65 years ago, when the handkerchief was dropped I threw myself over backwards and his shot went over my head and mine hit him in the chest, it wasn’t for real of course, we were dressed in heavy military over coats and wore welding masks and the bullets were soft wax.

 

[user 33697]

View attachment 93779

We have things in common except I like the the idea of the snubby as a back up..

 

[Bad Karma]

We have things in common except I like the the idea of the snubby as a back up..

View attachment 147454

I have a pistol I intended to chop… now, it’s hard to take the first stroke of the saw.

 

[smoothshooter]

The Colt M1860 .44 caliber cap & ball revolver.
Like Notchy Bob said, it points better than anything else, except the 1851 Colt Navy.

If it was the immediate post-Civil War West, and the funds were available, I would have two braces of the 1860 Army revolvers hanging in custom saddle holsters in front of the saddle horn. One 1860 Army on my left front hip in a cross-draw high ride holster. And, if REAL trouble was looming, a cut down 1860 Army with a shortened barrel & loading lever in a shoulder holster. Along with the usual assortment of boot knives, at least one hideout .44 caliber Derringer, and the ubiquitous Bowie knife on my belt.

Then, you'd be braced for trouble.

Anybody carrying that much hardware would be an easy, slow-moving target.

 

[brushblind]

Starr singe action with extra cylinders.

 

[user 33697]

I have a pistol I intended to chop… now, it’s hard to take the first stroke of the saw.

Yeah, I can understand that. I have a Uberti 1860 that I was considering chopping but I'm an amateur gunsmith at best and decided that I would most probably would screw up a perfectly good revolver barrel. Instead, I put a wanted ad in our forum firearms for sale that was noticed by a member that sold me the Pietta snubby in my photo at a great price. I have noticed that occasionally a Pietta 1860 snub nose take off barrel will show up on ebay, sometimes a little pricey, but a nice addition to having an alternate barrel for a 1860 Pietta.

 

[tenngun]

James Canns sawn off shot gun from El Dorado .

 

[Rock Home Isle]

If you were in the Old West and had to choose one piece on your hip to keep you safe which revolver would you choose? Whether you be a Trapper in the deep country or Pistolero passing through town what side arm are you putting your money/life on?

I’d have a pair of ‘51 Navy Colts…Oh wait, I do have a pair of ‘51 Navy Colts

…and a ‘49 Pocket Pistol, just incase that sumtin sumtin should happen.

 

[ryoung14]

Ummm....I've always viewed the 1858 as a true 6-shooter, if you're in the habit of using the cylinder notches. They seem quite secure, on mine at least.

The Colts, I heard, have pins on the back of the cylinder that serve the same purpose. But I've also heard that the pins are always broken off or missing from original guns that have seen some use. Therefore Colt shooters normally load 5 and let the hammer down on the empty chamber when carrying.

So, with that and the cap jams often reported with the Colts, I guess the 1858 New Army would be my choice.

Maybe I should just buy a Colt and get into the 'Open-Top Mystique'.

 

[Rich44]

I agree the 1858 has some nice features, BUT it does not have the 1860 grip.