What are the typical guns of the modern American cowboy?

[alacowman1]

I don't like to carry. It's actually a pia imo. A lot of the times I forget.

I don't either but you can bet and it never fails, I'll see a reason I need too..

 

[burroughs85]

So what I've learned here is that cowboys may own or carry just about any gun that is up to the task at hand if they own or carry any guns at all. It's not just "cowboy guns" that cowboys own or carry if they own or carry anything. Here are some typical cowboy guns I might own if I were to have the necessary wampum:



According to this 1959 children's story book, Cowboy Sam did not have guns on his ranch because "cowboys were not bad men".



See, time mark 2:00

The public perception may have been that guns in cowboy films "were all about outlaws". Perhaps, Cowboy Sam was just light-hearted by making that remark.

 

[burroughs85]

In 1996, I did go deer hunting in northern California. It was on a beef rancher's private spread in Trinity County. He was my paid guide and he had two adult sons for assistance. His name was Mr. Rourke. His wife cooked country-style fare and it was good. Mr. Rourke certainly did have guns of his own and so did his two grown sons. Both of the sons had plastic-stocked Remington bolt-actions in .223 they claimed to have hunted deer with. I always thought .223 a bit light for big game. But I digress. The gun Mr. Rourke carried as my guide was a Browning lever-action rifle but with a Leopold scope on top. This rifle, Winchester and Marlin like in shape, certainly did look like a typical "cowboy gun" save for the modern scope. I scored my blacktail buck on an October morning after a hearty ranch home breakfast and Mr. Rourke invited me to shoot ground squirrels on his ranch that afternoon. Mr. Rourke said that he did carry a pistol while riding his horse. I was just curious if cowboys still did that sort of thing in modern times. He was talking about hunting, guns and ranch life. He told me about how he would shoot stray hounds that came onto his land. He had a scoped rifle and would sit on his front porch and pick them off at up to 400 yards. I shot about a dozen ground squirrels on his ranch to Mr. Rourke's delight and his wife's delight too. Mr. Rourke told me that cattle would step in the holes, rodent's burrows, and injure their legs. Mr. Rourke took two shots of me here with my own camera. This is the closest experience to a beef ranch I had ever had.

 

[callmefence]

In 1996, I did go deer hunting in northern California. It was on a beef rancher's private spread in Trinity County. He was my paid guide and he had two adult sons for assistance. His name was Mr. Rourke. His wife cooked country-style fare and it was good. Mr. Rourke certainly did have guns of his own and so did his two grown sons. Both of the sons had plastic-stocked Remington bolt-actions in .223 they claimed to have hunted deer with. I always thought .223 a bit light for big game. But I digress. The gun Mr. Rourke carried as my guide was a Browning lever-action rifle but with a Leopold scope on top. This rifle, Winchester and Marlin like in shape, certainly did look like a typical "cowboy gun" save for the modern scope. I scored my blacktail buck on an October morning after a hearty ranch home breakfast and Mr. Rourke invited me to shoot ground squirrels on his ranch that afternoon. Mr. Rourke said that he did carry a pistol while riding his horse. I was just curious if cowboys still did that sort of thing in modern times. He was talking about hunting, guns and ranch life. He told me about how he would shoot stray hounds that came onto his land. He had a scoped rifle and would sit on his front porch and pick them off at up to 400 yards. I shot about a dozen ground squirrels on his ranch to Mr. Rourke's delight and his wife's delight too. Mr. Rourke told me that cattle would step in the holes, rodent's burrows, and injure their legs. Mr. Rourke took two shots of me here with my own camera. This is the closest experience to a beef ranch I had ever had.
View attachment 15742

Nice rifle
Hard to beat the 25-06

 

[Warren Allison]

In CMS, we use single action in 45LC, and lever action in 45LC. My carry pistols are Judges that I keep loaded with buck shot. Got no use for a semi-auto. Never seen one that wouldn't jam, usually at a bad time. You can leave a revolver in the glove box for years, drop it in water, whatever, and it is gonna shoot 6 times, every time.

 

[SBMF 2015]

In 1996, I did go deer hunting in northern California. It was on a beef rancher's private spread in Trinity County. He was my paid guide and he had two adult sons for assistance. His name was Mr. Rourke. His wife cooked country-style fare and it was good. Mr. Rourke certainly did have guns of his own and so did his two grown sons. Both of the sons had plastic-stocked Remington bolt-actions in .223 they claimed to have hunted deer with. I always thought .223 a bit light for big game. But I digress. The gun Mr. Rourke carried as my guide was a Browning lever-action rifle but with a Leopold scope on top. This rifle, Winchester and Marlin like in shape, certainly did look like a typical "cowboy gun" save for the modern scope. I scored my blacktail buck on an October morning after a hearty ranch home breakfast and Mr. Rourke invited me to shoot ground squirrels on his ranch that afternoon. Mr. Rourke said that he did carry a pistol while riding his horse. I was just curious if cowboys still did that sort of thing in modern times. He was talking about hunting, guns and ranch life. He told me about how he would shoot stray hounds that came onto his land. He had a scoped rifle and would sit on his front porch and pick them off at up to 400 yards. I shot about a dozen ground squirrels on his ranch to Mr. Rourke's delight and his wife's delight too. Mr. Rourke told me that cattle would step in the holes, rodent's burrows, and injure their legs. Mr. Rourke took two shots of me here with my own camera. This is the closest experience to a beef ranch I had ever had.
View attachment 15742

Beautiful rifle!

 

[Caustic Burno]

In CMS, we use single action in 45LC, and lever action in 45LC. My carry pistols are Judges that I keep loaded with buck shot. Got no use for a semi-auto. Never seen one that wouldn't jam, usually at a bad time. You can leave a revolver in the glove box for years, drop it in water, whatever, and it is gonna shoot 6 times, every time.

That's where we disagree.
I was schooled by a Marine sniper (uncle) that made beach landings Guadalcanal, Iwo and Okinawa. I will take a mil spec 1911 all day .

 

[Caustic Burno]

I don't either but you can bet and it never fails, I'll see a reason I need too..

I always carry and concealed.
Too many meth heads here, I am too old to fight and I can't run.

 

[Dave]

I'm sure the cowboys were usually armed on those trail drives.

Not nearly as much as you are led to believe. I have read about some pretty epic trail drives that both Ben Snipes and Peter French made where there was one single gun brought along.

There are still practical uses for firearms for modern ranchers and farmers, on or off duty, that I can perceive in my own mind.

There are certainly practical uses for firearms. And everyone around here is certainly armed. Maybe armed to the teeth. And this is big country cattle ranches. Cowboys on horses working cows. But it is pretty darn rare for any of them to be packing while working. Northeast of here they have been having trouble with wolves. Some of the guys riding in that part of the world go packing after one had a spooky run in with a wolf in the summer of 2020. But the game dept took care of that wolf last summer.

 

[Brute 23]

Some thing that I failed to mention is the original reason for carrying my 30-30. When I was a kid my family use to just let cows stay on the property basically until they died. It was not uncommon to come across and old cow down, especially in the winter. I always hated the thought of coyotes and stuff getting them when they were down. I would much rather just out them out of their misery.

We also had some pretty bad cattle. I had to put 2 down after breaking out of the pens and charging every one.

I had a big F1 bull that stuck his horns it the corner of some pens with cattle pannel welded to pipe. He made a hole and went out. I was grabbing for my gun as he was clearing a 5 strand fence that made a trap on the back side. He was making a dead line for the neighbors and I was going to run him down and put a bullet in he before he got there. Luckily some cows were to the right on our property still and he jumped another fence to go to the cows.

They make for some interesting stories but I'm glad those days are over.

 

[SmokinM]

That's where we disagree.
I was schooled by a Marine sniper (uncle) that made beach landings Guadalcanal, Iwo and Okinawa. I will take a mil spec 1911 all day .

I believe the word you boys are looking for is….GLOCK! If the ammo functions the gun will.

There are plenty of cowboys that carry and plenty that don't. That goes for today and 150 years ago. A gun is a tool and is pretty handy to have around just like any other. Then or now nobody that knows anything about one goes around waving it about. Concealed or open carry it stays in the toolbox until you got to hammer something. As to what is carried that just depends on personal preference and what the potential job for the tool may be. Something that is the best compromise between those two is the answer.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I believe the word you boys are looking for is….GLOCK! If the ammo functions the gun will.

There are plenty of cowboys that carry and plenty that don't. That goes for today and 150 years ago. A gun is a tool and is pretty handy to have around just like any other. Then or now nobody that knows anything about one goes around waving it about. Concealed or open carry it stays in the toolbox until you got to hammer something. As to what is carried that just depends on personal preference and what the potential job for the tool may be. Something that is the best compromise between those two is the answer.

Absolutely not when it comes to Glock, I might as we'll have a rock. Horrible design IMO .

 

[daneg]

It would be unusual to bump into a neighbour who didn't have a rifle with them, we have lots of predators and they are increasing due to covid19, virtually no outfitters guiding hunts for 2 yrs. A few carry handguns but carry permits are scarce, a lot of red tape to get one and they have to be renewed every 2yrs and go through the hoops each renewal like it was the first time. It would be a safe bet that there is not another person with a carry permit for 50 mile radius.

 

[greybeard]

There was one John Wayne cowboy flick where the Duke was introduced to a 1911 for the first time. He denounced it as funny shaped and was proud of his old-fashioned 6-shooter. A 45 auto might be still more prudent to carry out on the range than a Peacemaker during these more dangerous modern times.

I believe that was in the movie Big Jake and the handgun was carried by Jake McCandless' youngest son Michael and it WAS funny shaped.. It was described in the movie as a 1911 but not a Colt.
It was supposed to be a Bergman--German design (according to the movie) but in reality, the gun used in the movie was a Walther P38 prop gun disguised to resemble a Bergman 1910.

 

[burroughs85]

Not nearly as much as you are led to believe. I have read about some pretty epic trail drives that both Ben Snipes and Peter French made where there was one single gun brought along.


There are certainly practical uses for firearms. And everyone around here is certainly armed. Maybe armed to the teeth. And this is big country cattle ranches. Cowboys on horses working cows. But it is pretty darn rare for any of them to be packing while working. Northeast of here they have been having trouble with wolves. Some of the guys riding in that part of the world go packing after one had a spooky run in with a wolf in the summer of 2020. But the game dept took care of that wolf last summer.

If I were a rancher, I'd probably wear a GENUINE Colt Peacemaker on my hip like a hood ornament on an old automobile. Ivory handle and nickel.

For over 100 years, Hollywood has romanticized cowboys, Indians, horses and guns as well as high-heel-pointy-toe boots and ten-gallon hats. Remember that ivory-handle revolver General Patton carried? A trademark for Ol' Blood and Guts. I just can't envision any American buckaroo in my mind's eye sans Colt Peacemaker on his hip or without a lever gun in his scabbard.

 

[SmokinM]

Absolutely not when it comes to Glock, I might as we'll have a rock. Horrible design IMO .

To each there own. It will go off and cycle every time the ammo does no matter what for $500 or less. Freeze it, boil it, drive over it and load it with inconsistent ammo it goes bang every time. No extra levers, buttons or safeties. Can't be that bad of a design.

 

[Caustic Burno]

To each there own. It will go off and cycle every time the ammo does no matter what for $500 or less. Freeze it, boil it, drive over it and load it with inconsistent ammo it goes bang every time. No extra levers, buttons or safeties. Can't be that bad of a design.

It's not worth a piece of dried up sheep crap if you can't hit with it due to poor ergonomic handle. It's a rock! Now a good old rattlin 1911 is another thing.

 

[SmokinM]

I had a Berretta and a Sig I felt the same way about. Was aiming 2' low every time i flipped it up. For my hands a Glock is dead on every time.

 

[Stonewall Joe]

It could be that cowboys in 1880 commonly carried a Colt Peacemaker then because no Blackhawks or autos were around yet.
Because of Hollywood, some folks still envision cowboys with old-fashioned guns today. There might still be a real working cowpoke today sporting a Peacemaker in the holster somewhere. The Old West/Old West style lever guns by Marlin, Henry and Winchester still seem to be as popular as ever even with hunters and non-cowpokes. I met a young air force fellow of Asian decent from New York City in 2017 who told me he wanted a Winchester lever in .30-30 of all things as a fun gun to shoot at the range. He told me his family was of strong Democrat and gun control mentality as well. Perhaps, getting a "fun cowboy gun" might have (gladly for us pro-gunners) put gun rights and American firearms traditions in a new light for him. He claimed to me that "only police officers" could own handguns in New York City. If these "cool cowboy guns" can convert American anti-gunners, then god bless them!

lever action rifles fit in a scabard better than others, some autos will be smooth enough as well but you want a fairly smooth rifle for a saddle gun. Pistols are a different story, it's kind of what's comfortable for you to carry and what you've practiced with Today's modern pistols are lighter and less bulky than an old revolver and can hold more ammo which some people like. We have lots of coyotes and even more hogs, but with that you don't need a huge amount of ammo since once the shooting starts you will usually run out of targets as they leave before you run out of ammo in a pistol

 

[Dave]

If I were a rancher, I'd probably wear a GENUINE Colt Peacemaker on my hip like a hood ornament on an old automobile. Ivory handle and nickel.

For over 100 years, Hollywood has romanticized cowboys, Indians, horses and guns as well as high-heel-pointy-toe boots and ten-gallon hats. Remember that ivory-handle revolver General Patton carried? A trademark for Ol' Blood and Guts. I just can't envision any American buckaroo in my mind's eye sans Colt Peacemaker on his hip or without a lever gun in his scabbard.

You have watched way too many movies. Show up at any ranch that I know of like that and you would be laughed off the place. Maybe just run off. Enjoy your fantasy but it is no where near reality.