What gear would an 1860 Californio carry with him?

WaddWatsonEllis · February 16, 2011, 12:37:31 PM

Drayton,

Gotta run to go and volunteer, but I wanted to get this off before I go ... if there is typo I appologize.

I was given several square back trigger guards ... but none fit ... eacho one fit the three bolts on the trigger guard, but by the time they reached the backstrap screw hole, they were about 3/8" too far forward. Perhaps for a Walker or a Dragoon ... or an 1849?

So I sent an extra round trigger guard that fit to a jewleler who cut off the back curve of the trigger guard and fashioned a squre one out of silver.

So now I am waiting to get the engraving done and then I will silver plate the whole trigger guard and backstrap ... as the first '51 Colts that came to California were ... and I will post pictures when done ...

Forty Rod · February 16, 2011, 12:55:21 PM

Well, Wadd, it's been almost ten minutes. Where are those pictures you promised?

Drayton Calhoun · February 16, 2011, 01:42:54 PM

WaddWatsonEllis · February 16, 2011, 05:49:17 PM

Dear Forty Rod and Drayton,

Believe me, no one is as ready to see this projuect doen as myself ... but all I can show you is the original gun with the original roundtrigger guard and the jeweler 'modified' triggerguard.

And you will see the finisehd gun just as soon as it is done and back together ...

I have also attached a couple of pics of an old engraved Colt I am thinking of copying

WaddWatsonEllis · February 16, 2011, 06:39:00 PM

I also found a pattern through The Possibles Shop for some 'Breed Leggings' ... the trapper/northern indian versian of Botas De Alas ... since I have been waiting for the Botas I ordered for over two years, I may end up making some of these towards the spring and reenactment season ...

Will Ketchum · February 17, 2011, 11:45:07 AM

Wadd, I have watched your journey on this thread since the beginning with nothing but admiration. How ever it occurs to me that bought the revolver because it is what you could afford and in the holster who could tell the difference. But now you are spending money to make it prettier but it still doesn't change a pig's ear into a silk purse

. Wouldn't it make more sense to sell the incorrect pistol and buy a correct 51?

Please don't take this as any sort of criticism. I am just curious.

Will Ketchum

WaddWatsonEllis · February 17, 2011, 12:07:59 PM

Will,

Good point .... the thing is that I just don't LIKE .36 cal weapons ...

Long story ... at 18 I was running a crew of laborers for Manpower ... not that I had any managerial skills mind you ... I was the only one who could be counted on to be sober ....

Anywho, we had this Huge guy named Tiny ... he was like an adolescent mentally ... and one night the was doing a pub crawl when he tried to move on a pregnant prostitute.

She pulled out a Beretta and said, 'You SOB, take one more step and I'll filll you full of holes!'

As he was walking forward, he said, I am told (I did not hang with them), 'Aw, Honey, yuh wouldn't do that....'

You could almost see Wallace Berry saying that ina bar scene ...

That is when she emptied the Beretta's clip point blank into his belly.

Thankfully he was a big child and didn't throttle her on the spot. Instead, he went to his car and drove himself to the emergency room.

The bullets just bounced around in his prodigious fat layer.

That was Friday and he was loading trucks on Monday.

Ever since then I have eschewed anything under .44cal.

INMHO.

WaddWatsonEllis · February 17, 2011, 12:14:02 PM

And, to be honest, a lot of the reenactors use .44cal '51 colts 'cause they can make more smoke ....

Will Ketchum · February 17, 2011, 12:20:37 PM

Quote from: WaddWatsonEllis on February 17, 2011, 12:07:59 PM
Will,

Good point .... the thing is that I just don't LIKE .36 cal weapons ...

Ever since then I have eschewed anything under .44cal.

INMHO.

Montana Slim · February 21, 2011, 10:42:00 PM

Quote from: WaddWatsonEllis on February 17, 2011, 12:14:02 PM
And, to be honest, a lot of the reenactors use .44cal '51 colts 'cause they can make more smoke ....

A lot of things don't make sense...for example, .44 Navies....That's all you can buy in the shops around here...the top of the line is a .44 steel-frame model for $339.99.
The rest are brass framed & start at $199.99.
Decent used C&B's are available on GB at generally modest prices.
For better price on NEW, check Midway USA, Cabelas, etc.

Renactors who want the most smoke & noise use dragoons & walkers.
But, well-stoked, the .36 is as good as the average guy's load in a .44 (I'm speaking blanks).

Regards,
Slim

Slim

WaddWatsonEllis · February 21, 2011, 11:36:49 PM

I have never used a gun in anger or in self defence. Still, i purchase every weapon I own with that possibility in mind ... Like General Thompson, I believe that any gun much smaller than .45 Cal to be not too worthy ... I mean, if I am going to carry that kind of weight around, I will at least have it a .44 cal. ...

http://www.nfatoys.com/tsmg/web/genthomp.htm

Will Ketchum · February 22, 2011, 11:21:08 AM

Quote from: WaddWatsonEllis on February 21, 2011, 11:36:49 PM
I have never used a gun in anger or in self defence. Still, i purchase every weapon I own with that possibility in mind ... Like General Thompson, I believe that any gun much smaller than .45 Cal to be not too worthy ... I mean, if I am going to carry that kind of weight around, I will at least have it a .44 cal. ...

http://www.nfatoys.com/tsmg/web/genthomp.htm

So what caliber are your pocket pistols?

Will Ketchum

WaddWatsonEllis · February 22, 2011, 11:36:17 AM

I actually have two of them ... both in .32 S&W ...almost all that is available out here .... and I would only be carring them with my Schofields .... and the pocket pistol would be my last choice ...

santee · February 23, 2011, 08:06:55 AM

WWE, Have you made yourself a pair of botas yet?

WaddWatsonEllis · February 23, 2011, 08:44:38 AM

Santee,

Nope: I have had a pair on order from a very respected leathermaker for over two years ... but I am beginning to give up hope ...

I have a set of patterns for some 'breed leggings' (northern versions of botas) and that does give me an option of making my own ....but I am sure they will be a poor imitationof what could have been had I gotten the original pair.

So I am thinking of making these sometime towards the spring. I got the pattern from the Possibles Shop:

Bishop Creek · March 12, 2011, 10:25:35 PM

WWE:
Posting here a little late in the game as far as this thread is concerned, but I thought I'd add the following information as regards to Californians in the mid 19th Century:

My hometown in the Eastern High Sierra of California was founded by a man named Samuel Bishop.

He came to this howling wilderness in the Owens Valley, east of the Sierra, near the Nevada border from Fort Tejon in 1861 and established a cattle ranch along a creek for the purpose of sending beef north to the boom town of Aurora, Nevada. Mark Twain lived in Aurora at the time and wrote the book: Roughing It based on his experiences there. The town of Bodie was later (in the 1870s) established nearby.

The area around Samuel Bishop's ranch soon became a town called "Bishop Creek," and later, after 1889, just "Bishop."

It was wild here in the 1860s with trouble from the hostile Paiute Indians and many shootouts among Cowboys in the cowcamps of the Owens Valley. This area is only 80 miles south of Bodie, the wildest town in the Old West. Bodie made Tombstone and Dodge City look like children's daycare centers by comparison. Read Gunfighters, Highwaymen & Vigilantes by Roger McGrath about this area. There are still many wild horses (mustangs) around here.

Before he came to the Owens Valley, Samuel Bishop was a justice of the peace at Fort Tejon. This is what Captain Gardiner of Fort Tejon wrote about Samuel Bishop in 1858:

"I have here a Justice of the peace on my hands...and he, the Justice, is now preparing himself by reading a thick volume of California laws. His appearance is not very judicial. He is in his shirt sleeves, with a hat considerably the worse for wear, a huge pair of Mexican spurs, with buckskin leggings, and of course, what no Californian travels without, revolver in his belt."

Was Bishop's revolver an 1851 Colt's Navy or a Colt's Dragoon? Gardiner doesn't say but surely if it was carried in a belt it was one of two. California was a rough place back then.

WaddWatsonEllis · March 12, 2011, 10:43:27 PM

Bishop Creek,

The name rings bells all over but I can't remember why .... I'lll look it up tomorrow .... Thanks!

Tsalagidave · August 17, 2011, 04:42:49 PM

Here is the trail gear that I use with my 1850s era California impression. My impression has been documented as an easterner that adopted some of the traits of Californio culture but is still a gringo nonetheless. It is also part of my Nicaragua Filibuster impression. The bag is buckskin with an original 1850's rubber button, bone-handled knife, Washington holster with roller-buckle belt, Colt 2nd generation "Navy Six", militia knapsack and custom plains rifle with silver-handled bowie knife. My congreve matches and packaged Colt rounds are ca. 1860s but the rest is predominantly 1850s.

-Dave

James Hunt · August 17, 2011, 04:56:26 PM

Real nice Dave, real nice.

Caleb Hobbs · August 17, 2011, 05:29:56 PM

I second James Hunt's opinion. VERY nice! Some of you gentlemen should wander on over to The American Plainsmen Society when you get a chance. You'd fit right in. Not to mention a discussion on California history from that period is sorely needed. (I hope this isn't considered shanghaiing; that's not what I had in mind.)

Caleb