i'm trying to put up a list of American cartridges that was used in the era of cowboys, indians and buffalo.
from revolver cartridges chambered in carbines to buffalorifles.
and to avoid making it a life long quest, lets stick to what was popular and common.

.44-40, .45lc, .30-30, .45-70 are some of the ones i am aware of, but there got to be more.
as an 24 year old european i could really need your help.

Thats going to be a big list indeed ...

You have to start with the muzzle-loader , then move through the patent ignition cartridges , the outside primed cartridges , the rimfires , and on to the self contained "modern" cartridges.

The "cowboy and indian" era covered a long time , pre-Civil War through to about 1900 or so . I suspect the main era you refer to is the post Civil War time , so the number of calibers in use then was immense. Ex-soldiers from both sides used whatever was available as a firearm , military surplus guns were readily available as was stocks of ammunition for them all.

I have a few calibers to add to your list but will see what else comes along first .

A good start would be all the cartridges listed in the chapters "Current American Cartridges" and "Obsolete Cartridges" in Cartridges Of The World. The obsolete cartridges are obsolete American cartridges. Then you could add in the American cartridges listed in the other chapters about military cartridges, proprietary cartridges, and pistol cartridges. Doing that will probably get you over 85% of the factory loaded American cartridges and the ones you get will be the most popular or important.

there were over 100 obscure cartridges in the obsolete American chapter alone.

i'll take the ones in the current American chapter
.25-20 wcf
.25-35 wcf
.30-30 wcf
.30-40 krag
.32-20 wcf
.32 win special
.38-55 win
.38-40 wcf
.44-40 wcf
.45-70 gov

and just pick and choose until i have a list of 20-25 cartridges

Cant talk buffalo without mention of the Sharps cartridges , the Remingtons , the spin-offs from the 45-70 like like the 45-90 , or the 44 Henry rimfires that John Wayne could shoot Indians off the skyline from the back of a galloping horse.

Gonna be a long list before long

44 Henry
44 American
44 Russian
38 XL Ballard(now known as the 357Max)
22short

This about a ten page printout.

Rich

Some not yet mentioned that you might want to include on your list are:

50-70 (50 Government) - Official US military cartridge from 1866 to 1873 and very popular through the 1880s. No doubt it accounted for many buffalo (and Indians).

45 Smith $ Wesson (Schofield) - An official military cartridge from 1875 to 1892. It remained popular for many years and today's Cowboy Action shooters have rediscovered it.

38 Smith & Wesson - Introduced in 1877. It was one of the most popular revolver cartridges ever developed and was used all over the world.


Also, Steffen, the .32 Winchester Special came out after the time period you mentioned. It is a 20th century cartridge.

Idaho Sharpshooter mentioned the .22 Short. Excellent choice for your list. It was a very important development and it goes all the way back to 1857.

If you are planning on adding anymore rimfire cartridges then I suggest the 44 Henry Flat. The Henry cartridge showed up around 1861 and was popular enough that ammunition was manufactured until 1934. The Henry repeater and its 44 cartridge are an important part of America's rich firearms history.

(Edited by Grenadier): I just noticed the Idaho Sharpshooter had already mentioned the Henry too. Looks like he's all over this subject.

One of the best sources is the cartridge or firearms catalogs of the era. Might look on e-bay, auction arms or gunbroker. There are plenty of reprints out there. My 1901 and 1903 UMC ammo catalogs still lists the cartridges,of the era, as "central fire pistol and rifle cartridges" and "central fire sporting and target rifle cartridges". Remington catalog of 1913-14 still list many of them. By 1915-16 a lot of them have been dropped and our entry in WW I Remington appears to have discontinued them altogether. A list can be provided. By the way a Remington Kleanbore dealers' price list dated January 13, 1937 lists the Henry 44 flat with an index code of R350. A year later Jan. 13, 1938 does not.

I've got .50-110s that were built for both smokeless and black powder. The smokeless version I use roughly .500 Alaskan loading data for. It was America's response to the .500NE.

The black powder version was rather popular as a buffalo stopper and rather a few smokeless oriented ones were also built.

Don't forget the punt guns, either, as they were often large bore cartridge guns, some rifled, some not. And they were at times used on game other than birds.

quote:

Originally posted by Grenadier:
50-70 (50 Government) - Official US military cartridge from 1866 to 1873 and very popular through the 1880s. No doubt it accounted for many buffalo (and Indians).

now we're talking.
that cartridge is very similar to the 12,17x44R
used by and Norway/Sweden in Norwegian/Swedish made rolling blocks.

i intend to get such an m1867 remington rolling block in a not too distant future, and shoot blackpowder loads in it.

You can fit up to .50-110 in Rem Rollers, albeit you have to thumb the hammer and block back fully against the spring to load most profile bullets you might use. Mine was done on a Navy Arms probably Pedersoli Rem Roller action.

Buffalo Arms sells High Walls in .50-90 too.

On the commercial market, I've tended to see .50-90 and .50-110 more often than .50-70, actually, at least of late in new manufacture rifles. Lots of .45-70s on the market and few .50-70s compared to .50-90s, .50 Alaskans, and .50-110s. Just something to think about in your adventure into buffalo rifles. You can make the brass for all of them out of many things, including .348 Winchester, but if you're making "70"s you are throwing away a lot of brass when you cut things down.

FWIW, 1:24 twist barrels seem to work best for all the big .50s of that era, the slower twist barrels are a lot more fiddly about launching heavy bullets without keyholing. My slow twist .50s of that era do much better with paper patched round balls than with any kind of heavy conical. Might be relevant if you intend to do any hunting or serious shooting with the rifle you end up getting.

Happy shooting.

They all make things go BANG-FLOP if you aim properly.