Where did they get their ammo?

[Muskrat Rustler]

OK, I looked but couldn't find any info. Last part of the 19th century, cowboys, vaqueros, rangers, marshals. Wally Worlds are few and far between. Where does the average desperado get the ammo to feed his gun? Not the muzzle stuffers mind ya', but the .45 black powder brass cartridge kind of thing. After all, it's not like there is a store on every other corner....
Muskrat

[St. George]

You didn't read about the 'wishbooks' and how they were ubiquitous throughout the West, then...

Sears, Roebuck and Company and Montgomery Wards were perhaps best-known for their mail-order goods, and their catalogs, as well as their merchandise, found their way to pretty much anyone who could get mail.

A general rule of the retail trade is pretty simple - if something could be made - then something could be shipped and if it could be shipped - then it could go anywhere.

Big 'houses' - like Paxton and Gallagher in Omaha - shipped throughout the West - their goods leaving in wagons and on trains and riverboats, and they shipped literally 'everything' - from bolts of cloth - to hammers and nails and even houses that were pre-built and assembled on your lot.

'Transportation' was serious business and instrumental in the settling of new territories.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Muskrat Rustler]

So, I'm out there in the territory, need ammo for a hunt, or for a posse or something. I grab a catalog and order something? How, with no checks or credit cards? I'm very ignorant of this time period in our history so go easy on me. Did you ride into the nearest town and pick up ammo at the mercantile or did you pick up reloading components?
Muskrat

[St. George]

Hardly.

If you mailed for something - you enclosed cash or a bank draft - but 'cash' was most common.

There was a level of trust at that time that's sadly missing, today.

Alternatively - you got to a 'town' - found a dry goods or hardware store - found what you needed - and paid in cash, gold dust or maybe even in banknotes - though not all of 'those' were a trusted medium, given that banknotes were often issued by local banks, and they failed, from time to time.

Pretty much every town had 'someone' doing a mercantile business, who was able to carry some shelf stock.

Ammuntion reloading wasn't something that many did - except for the long-range bison shooters - so buying boxed 'fixed' cartridges was what was done.
Prior to that - the cartridges were in 'packets' and were paper-'cased' - but the self-contained cartridge was gaining wide popularity since introduction and was available for sale in the late '60's.

You need to look at your local library or a decent used book store for a copy of one of the reprinted 1880's/1890's Sears, Roebuck, or Montgomery Ward catalogs that were done in the late '70's.

You'll literally be amazed at what was available on the Frontier.

The West wasn't all gunfights and chases - one helluva lot of civilizing was happening all through the time frame - but it just didn't capture the sense of 'romance' associated with the more popular idea of the West.

If you want to take an enjoyable 'crash course' in History - head over to your library and start checking out the Time-Life series titled 'The Old West'.

It's divided by topic - 'The Cowboys', The Soldiers', The Townsmen' - and so on and so forth - all of which are interesting and well-documented with period photography.

Good Luck.

Scouts Out!

[Books OToole]

At Zimmerman's.  If I remember correctly, that was the major Dry-goods store in Dodge.  They carried just about everything, but Guns & Ammunition were the largest words on their sign.

When a boom town sprung up, Saloons, Dance & Gambling Halls were first.  The Hardware/Drygoods store was next.

Books

[Shamrock]

Here's a variation on the same question.

Where did the indians get their ammunition?

[Chance]

Those that earned their living "on the trail" probably used their guns a lot less than the movies would have us believe, and wagon trains and trail drives probably carried enough ammunition to get to the next civilised town. Those that live in the towns had the aforementioned dry goods store.
As soon as the centrefire ammunition was available, so were the loading tools, as reloading was touted as a major factor in buying these guns. If you were going to be away from civilisation for THAT long you would probably have a pack horse, and a tin of powder, a couple of hundred bullets and primers did not take up that much room. 
As for the Indians, well that's a good question. Presumably they bartered for the ammo same as they did for the whiskey.

[St. George]

By the time the self-contained cartridge came into existence - it was rapidly being shipped West to help stock the shelves of the newly-civilized Territories.

Powder and cases and lead were also available - but were eclipsed by ready-made ammunition that was easily obtainable pretty much everyplace that could sell Dry Goods and Hardware.

Indians bought or bartered for their ammunition much as they did for everything else that they wanted that originated in the industrialized world.

They also stripped ammunition from the dead, along with clothing and anything deemed usable - though as a continuous source of supply, that wasn't all that reliable, and there was always someone, somewhere, that would sell to the Tribes - no matter what restrictions may have existed during the times.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Delmonico]

On the Northern Plains there was a lot of ammo came south to the so called hostile tribe through the Half Breeds and full blooded Canadian Natives who were not hostile in Canada and had much free trade with Hudson Bay Company and other traders. 

On the Southern Plains a lot of it came from what were known a Comencherios. 

The friendly to the whites tribes in US Territory and were allowed free trade were often allied with the US Army against old enimies and were not about to sell ammo to them.

There are stories about how ingenious the Natives were on reloading ammo using what they could get, even it is said reloading rim fires using the small "Strike-Any-Where" tip of matches for priming compound, many don't know but the tips of matches from this time period were much easier to light than the modern version which have been made safer by being harder to light, this has even improved in the last 20 years or so.

[Fox Creek Kid]

One of the biggest sources for "Lo the poor Indian"  was from Uncle Sam himself. Yes folks, even then there were "bleeding heart liberals" who armed the Indians as part of treaty agreements. 

[Ol Gabe]

Interesting thread, and just for the sake of discussion only, here are a few other examples...
We seldom see Hollywierd justify any of the above on the Silver Screen, some examples may appear to be out of period context but kinda-sorta fit into the plotline.
Take for example the part played by Eli Wallach in the Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Western Trilogy where he stumbles into the Firearms shop as the old duffer is closing. Wallach goes to the glasstop counter and says "..revolvers..", the owner shrugs and replies the same "...revolvers...". Wallach grabs several, takes them apart and puts together a 'good' unit, says "...cartridges..." the shop owner hands him a box and he breaks it open on the counter. Later he grabs a few more boxes and leaves. The indication here being that it is a one-stop-shop for Guns & Ammo, just as indicated in earlier posts.
Other movies show the outside advertising signs like Books mentions. One movie that shows an entirely different concept is NEVADA SMITH, the spinoff of the Harold Robbins book & movie CARPETBAGGERS where we see Brian Keith as an itinerant Gun and Ammo dealer setting up a tent in the dessert and loading cartridges with all the reloading fixin's set on a table. He then proceeds to teach 'Nevada Smith', portrayed by Steve McQueen, how to shoot a revolver. Keith goes through some of the reloading procedures as the scene unveils, we don't see much but it is one of the few scenes in movies of this nature.
Another is the scene in QUIGLEY where Q is finally gets his horse and saddlebag back and says something about "...got the fixin's but no cartridges...", then we see him at the merchant's house in the middle of the night and he explains how to reconfigure other cartridges for his Big Bore so he can go back in-country and get Crazy Cora, the little one and then take on Marsden.
I'm sure there are other scenes no numerous to recount but many have gone unnoticed and perhaps ended up on the editing room floor as movies are now frequently editied to fit into a TV time slot. This happens all the time, in my own past career in Broadcast TV, many was the time when the Film Dept. was told by Sales to 'cut' an extra ten minutes from the movie just to put in commercials for the newest Ronco product. The gals there would frequently come to me since I was one of the resident movie Buffs and ask for advice on what could be 'cut' without losing the plotline. It was a tough call sometimes, usually the opening or closing credits were the first thing to go and internal subplots next. Fortunately the Dept. always put back what they cut out, some TV stations didn't. Even Ted Turner's crew's have been know to shorten a film to get in more revenue, thank goodness we have TCM to see them in their entirety and in their 'restored' glory!
Best regards and good editing!
'Ol Gabe