1830s/Illinois: mailorder & where do I put my guns?

[majolika]

It's me again, the homeless booklover's secretary

Comments

[annilita]

Possible option: have them order the books through a general store.

People had bank accounts back then, and for a long time banks would issue their own money. (I'm not sure when this stopped.) So some banks wouldn't accept money from other banks they didn't find trustworthy, so you may have run into trouble sending money from one bank to a bookseller in another state.

[rabidsamfan]

Yes, it's reasonable to assume that there will be advertisements in newspapers. And also to assume that older newspapers from places like Boston and New York will reach Springfield at some point.

[rabidsamfan]

Oh, and if you google "pistol sleeves" or "gunsleeves" that should help you with the other half of the question. They're like protective cases for carrying around weapons made of cloth and still used today.

[majolika]

thank you twice! but I don't think these sleeves are the ones these sources referred to, they said something along the lines "Mr. A drew from the hip and Mr. B drew from the sleeve", so I guess it was really the sleeve of the jacket.

[ap_aelfwine]

thank you twice! but I don't think these sleeves are the ones these sources referred to, they said something along the lines "Mr. A drew from the hip and Mr. B drew from the sleeve", so I guess it was really the sleeve of the jacket.Quite probably, but the pistol drawn from the sleeve would've been _much_ smaller than a Colt Patterson

[technococcus]

You'll probably want to either sling the rifle (with a two point, one strap sling) or have the character devise a good way to ride with his rifle. It's not unfeasable to have a character, especially one who has a great need of the ability to carry a rifle while riding a horse, make an improvised saddle scabbard. The pistol (Paterson, that's a cap-and-ball, right? .36 cal?) I'd say you'd carry in a belt holster of plain tooled leather. Those have been around for freakin' ever, as long as pistols have, nearly. And again, any leather-worker worth two bits would have been able to make your character one.

Hope this helps!

[majolika]

helps a lot, thank you!

[trinityday]

I like your icon, by the way.

[misanthropoid]

I would strongly recommend that you check out a copy of R.L. Wilson's The Paterson Colt Book http://www.wilsonbooks.com/PatColt.html or his Paterson Colt Pistol Variations http://www.wilsonbooks.com/PatCPis.html if that sidearm is to play any sort of significant role in your tale. It is the masterwork on the firearm, its care and feeding

[majolika]

thanks a lot!
(I didn't put the barrel length but the overall length)

[misanthropoid]

Not a problem and in any case I think my beer wrote the barrel length sentence. What I was trying to say was that there is indeed a 12 inch barrel variation, but that Patersons of size were generally carried in saddle holsters. Saddle guns were manufactured in .34 and .36 caliber. The smallest Patersons were pocket guns in .28 and .31 caliber. The midrange were .31 and .34 caliber weapons carried tucked into a belt.

The point most often missed about carrying firearms, particularly without what we consider a sensible holster is just how uncomfortable it is. Also, with a percussion revolver like the Paterson, the less jostling the better as percussion caps have a nasty tendency to work loose.

In any case, good luck with the project.

[majolika]

... and my general beerless idiocy wrote the 12 inches-sentence, that was the overall length of the .36 caliber, the weapon I'm thinking of is supposed to be one of the smaller ones. And unfortunately it's not realistic anyway, my gun is too easily loaded to be a real Paterson, and I guess it also shoots too well. I'm just trying to avoid as many mistakes as I can, the rest is, um, don't-try-at-home-artistic-freedom-etc. Thanks kindly for info and good wishes!