Who owned guns in 1869?

[master_shake_]

OP is planning to go back in time and hate his job in 1869.

haha

:thumbsup:

:awe:

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Fhgdhjh, 1689

 

[OutHouse]

Fhgdhjh, 1689

lol fail.

 

[MongGrel]

Henry rifles were probably one of the big things about that time, yeah.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_rifle

Was the higher end of rifles about then I believe. I think a lot of buffalo hunters used them if I recall correctly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_repeating_rifle

Most people in rural areas had some form of rifle to subsist at the time I imagine.

Even if it was just a muzzle loader.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield_Model_1869

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vetterli_rifle

 

[IronWing]

Fhgdhjh, 1689

No one. How could there be guns before there was an America? It doesn't make any sense.

 

[Googer]

Repeating rifles, minnie balls, and cartridge rounds were all the rage back in those days.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Henry rifles were probably one of the big things about that time, yeah.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_rifle

Was the higher end of rifles about then I believe. I think a lot of buffalo hunters used them if I recall correctly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_repeating_rifle

Most people in rural areas had some form of rifle to subsist at the time I imagine.

Even if it was just a muzzle loader.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield_Model_1869

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vetterli_rifle

Here are some of the most popular guns of the time. Feel free to add any you feel I may have left off my list and their production numbers.

-Spencer Rifle, production ran from 1860-1869 and approx. 200,000 were produced.
-Colt Model 1860, production is estimated at approx 200,000 units.
-Henry Rifle, production was very small, only 14,000 units were produced.
-Remington Model 1858, manufactured between 1862-1875, approximately 230,000 were produced.
-Smith & Wesson Schofield, approx. 3,000 manufactured.
-Colt 1851 Navy, manufactured from 1850-1873, approx. 255,000 produced.

These were produced after 1869 so they really can't be considered for the OP's question but I'll list them anyway as they were very popular and widely produced.

-Colt Single Action Army, from 1873-1940 approx 357,000 were produced.
-Winchester Model 1873, production ran from 1873-1919 and over 750,000 were produced.

Population of the United States in 1869 was 31.4 million people.

So, of the most popular guns of the era fewer than a million were produced by 1869 and that number would be about 902,000 guns. Out of a population of 31.4 million people. I'm not including guns manufactured prior to 1850 because I don't really have the time. If someone wants to create a more thorough list I'll add it to my numbers.

That's about 2.8% of the population. If you further assume that a household might consist of a mother and a father and a few kids (we'll use 5 for the sake of argument) that brings the number of households to 6.2 million households. That's still less than 15% of households that owned firearms and that's assuming that of that 15% they only owned 1 gun.

I'm sure gun ownership would be much higher among people who lived in rural areas but again, probably mostly land owners and wealthy. Poor people probably couldn't afford a gun especially when a gun cost a cowboy of the tme roughly one month's salary.

Also keep in mind that many of the guns produced were not just for private citizens but also military and police and even sold to foreign governments.

 

[IronWing]

OP, correct the thread title or start over with a new one. :biggrin:

 

[Paladin3]

Since it was 5 years after the Civil War, a lot of people has guns leftover from that conflict. You might want to start someplace like here.

As others have said, we were just on the cusp of transitioning from percussion cap muzzleloaders to breach loading cartridge firearms. Pinfire metallic cartridges came about in late 1840s, followed by the .22 short rimfire in 1857. The Spencer and Henry repeating rifles from 1960 were both larger caliber rimfires.

Center fire metallic cartridges followed, but it's good to remember that even though breach loading self contained cartridges were the new tech, a lot of folks still relied on a good old percussion muzzleloading rifles and pistols. They were easy to cast your own lead round balls or minneballs for, and just simply what most people already had.

Minneballs, a hallow conical bullet with grooves, was a huge improvement over the round ball because it would expand inside the barrel of the gun and make better contact with the rifling grooves that spin the ball to increase range and accuracy.

As others have stated, back then the gun was looked on at a tool and not the politically charged root of all evil that it is today. Most people who could afford to own one did. Many fed their families with it.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Since it was 5 years after the Civil War, a lot of people has guns leftover from that conflict. You might want to start someplace like here.

As others have said, we were just on the cusp of transitioning from percussion cap muzzleloaders to breach loading cartridge firearms. Pinfire metallic cartridges came about in late 1840s, followed by the .22 short rimfire in 1857. The Spencer and Henry repeating rifles from 1960 were both larger caliber rimfires.

Center fire metallic cartridges followed, but it's good to remember that even though breach loading self contained cartridges were the new tech, a lot of folks still relied on a good old percussion muzzleloading rifles and pistols. They were easy to cast your own lead round balls or minneballs for, and just simply what most people already had.

Minneballs, a hallow conical bullet with grooves, was a huge improvement over the round ball because it would expand inside the barrel of the gun and make better contact with the rifling grooves that spin the ball to increase range and accuracy.

As others have stated, back then the gun was looked on at a tool and not the politically charged root of all evil that it is today. Most people who could afford to owned one did. Many fed their families with it.

No no, you're confusing the gun with a fork. :sneaky:

You know, not everyone shot and killed everything back in the olden days. People baited and trapped game, fished, grew crops, raised livestock for food, bartered and traded. It wasn't as though you shot and killed stuff or your family went hungry.

 

[Paladin3]

No no, you're confusing the gun with a fork. :sneaky:

You know, not everyone shot and killed everything back in the olden days. People baited and trapped game, fished, grew crops, raised livestock for food, bartered and traded. It wasn't as though you shot and killed stuff or your family went hungry.

I never said you'd go hungry if you didn't have a gun or couldn't hunt. Just that having a rifle and/or shotgun was a darn handy tool back in 1869 rural life, and most people had one. Trappers, farmers, ranchers and such sure did.

 

[NesuD]

Pretty much anyone that had the resources to buy and wanted a gun could do so. The state of the art in firearms then were The Winchester model 1866 lever action rifle firing the .44 Henry rimfire metallic cartridge and a few 44 caliber cap and ball revolvers that some gunsmiths were modifying to fire the .44 Henry rimfire metallic cartridge. The Smith and Wesson model 3 Schofield revolver was the first metallic cartridge revolver to be mass produced went into production in 1870 but gunsmiths had been converting earlier model schofields fo a few years by then.

 

[Darwin333]

Winchester Model 1873 rifle was the gun of the time iirc, it came after the Henry but was produced on a vastly greater scale. It's referred to as "The gun that won the West".

Edit: A few years to late, the above poster is correct that the Winchester Model 1866 would fit your specific year.

 

[Charmonium]

Since it was 5 years after the Civil War, a lot of people has guns leftover from that conflict. You might want to start someplace like here.

As others have said, we were just on the cusp of transitioning from percussion cap muzzleloaders to breach loading cartridge firearms. Pinfire metallic cartridges came about in late 1840s, followed by the .22 short rimfire in 1857. The Spencer and Henry repeating rifles from 1960 were both larger caliber rimfires.

Center fire metallic cartridges followed, but it's good to remember that even though breach loading self contained cartridges were the new tech, a lot of folks still relied on a good old percussion muzzleloading rifles and pistols. They were easy to cast your own lead round balls or minneballs for, and just simply what most people already had.

Minneballs, a hallow conical bullet with grooves, was a huge improvement over the round ball because it would expand inside the barrel of the gun and make better contact with the rifling grooves that spin the ball to increase range and accuracy.

As others have stated, back then the gun was looked on at a tool and not the politically charged root of all evil that it is today. Most people who could afford to own one did. Many fed their families with it.

That sounds about right. The centerfire cartridge was around in 1869 and probably had been for at least a decade. But the bulk of handguns were probably percussion cap muzzle loaders.

By the way, were most of the muzzle loaders rifled or is that something that came later with the self contained shell, bullet, powder configuration.

 

[pontifex]

No no, you're confusing the gun with a fork. :sneaky:

You know, not everyone shot and killed everything back in the olden days. People baited and trapped game, fished, grew crops, raised livestock for food, bartered and traded. It wasn't as though you shot and killed stuff or your family went hungry.

You still need to kill trapped game. Unless you used a knife or beat it to death, a gun was used. Because you know, who wants to get close and personal with a pissed off trapped and hurt animal? Most trapping was done for furs than food i would think anyway.

 

[1sikbITCH]

I'd be surprised if many homes had more than one gun back then... or any gun.

My grandparents never owned guns of any kind and they were born in the 1920s. None of their parents ever owned guns that I know of either.

1920s is not the 1870s. This is like asking if blacks can sit at the front of the bus. In 1960s you have a different answer than you do this decade.

The Civil War ended in 1865. It was during Reconstruction that most cities began forming actual police departments. Half the continent was still not conquered and there were hordes of injuns still to be exterminated. So I would guess that the only men in America not arming themselves at that time were blacks in the south and paraplegics. Even the dandies back East sported Derringers and other pocket pistols although they would be jewel-encrusted show pieces mostly.

 

[schneiderguy]

Who owned guns in 1869?

Real Americans and Patriots, same as today :thumbsup:

 

[Fern]

-snip-

So, of the most popular guns of the era fewer than a million were produced by 1869 and that number would be about 902,000 guns. Out of a population of 31.4 million people. I'm not including guns manufactured prior to 1850 because I don't really have the time. If someone wants to create a more thorough list I'll add it to my numbers.

That's about 2.8% of the population. If you further assume that a household might consist of a mother and a father and a few kids (we'll use 5 for the sake of argument) that brings the number of households to 6.2 million households. That's still less than 15% of households that owned firearms and that's assuming that of that 15% they only owned 1 gun.

Generally nice post (and I did see that you're not counting firearms made before 1850). But your numbers are based upon factory type production. I believe a lot of guns, particularly long guns and shotguns were made by (private) gunsmiths. These don't show up in your numbers. They were handed down for generations. I think gun ownership in rural areas was very, very high. It's hard to farm or ranch without a firearm. (defending your livestock and hunting for food is literally impossible without a firearm.)

Fern

 

[Fern]

No no, you're confusing the gun with a fork. :sneaky:

You know, not everyone shot and killed everything back in the olden days. People baited and trapped game, fished, grew crops, raised livestock for food, bartered and traded. It wasn't as though you shot and killed stuff or your family went hungry.

I've never heard of a trapper without a gun. Probably because walking around the forest with a pile of fresh meat strapped to your back generally tended to get you eaten by a bear, wolves or mountain lion etc unless you had a gun.

Rancher: You need to gun to protect your livestock. Coyotes,wolves and mountain lions etc are kind of hard to 'shoo away' without one.

Farmers: Kind of difficult to grow crops year around and it's kind of nice to have some meat with that veg you grow.

Fern