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March 31, 2009
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I recently bought a 2 book lot. The one book I really wanted and the other I had paid no attention to. My old copy of Shooting Lever Guns of the Old West had fallen apart. So I get the lot and finally looked at the second book. Arming the West by Herbert G. Houze.
What a book! It is a study of what specific firearms Schuyler, Hartley & Graham shipped to the West between 1868 and 1886. It will surprise some of you. SH&G was the largest retailer of fire arms in North America at the time. The only major well know firearms maker that had a lot of guns sent West was not Winchester or Colt. Pistols ranked last and cheap single shot rifles and percussion muskets were sent the most. It breaks down shipments to each State West of the Mississippi.
Of the 38,331 guns 544 were Winchesters. 193 were Colts. 3,700 were Remington. 2,598 were Sharps. The largest shipments were 5,567 US Model 1842 percussion muskets, 4,005 Prussian 69 cal Model 1839 percussion muskets, 3,594 Enfield .577 cal pattern 1853 percussion rifles, and 3,150 Model 1822 muskets converted to percussion.
The entire sales records for SH&G are in the Cody Museum.
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