Dropping a small Wild West town into a Dungeon Fantasy setting

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

The most common longarms will probably be the Springfield M1858 (HT pp. 108-9 as part of the Enfield P/1853) or war-surplus Spencer M1860s (HT p. 109)

I seem to recall hearing that soldiers discharged at the end of the Civil War had the option of taking their rifle in lieu of their final pay.

Although now that I'm thinking about it, I could just as easily be remembering something about Roman legionnaires.

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by RyanW

I seem to recall hearing that soldiers discharged at the end of the Civil War had the option of taking their rifle in lieu of their final pay.

Although now that I'm thinking about it, I could just as easily be remembering something about Roman legionnaires.

Very technically that wasn't the case, but since the issued guns were mostly sold at cheap rates as surplus immediately after being collected any soldier that wanted one could buy it cheap from their mustering-out pay.

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

The most common longarms will probably be the Springfield M1858 (HT pp. 108-9 as part of the Enfield P/1853) or war-surplus Spencer M1860s (HT p. 109)

I've heard this before, and have suspected use of decade-plus old guns might have been at a low point immediately after the Civil War, due to all the cheap military surplus floating around. So maybe I should just ignore those older weapons I mentioned in my previous post? But people keep bringing up that guns are expensive and can last a long time so I wondered about it.

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

I've heard this before, and have suspected use of decade-plus old guns might have been at a low point immediately after the Civil War, due to all the cheap military surplus floating around. So maybe I should just ignore those older weapons I mentioned in my previous post? But people keep bringing up that guns are expensive and can last a long time so I wondered about it.

There's a good chance that a fair number of the older guns would still be around in sheds etc. but according to sources I've found, war surplus Springfield muskets could be had for as little as $5 in the 1870, and one source quotes a retail price as low as $0.69 in the years immediately following the war. That's not very expensive at all for a cowhand who gets around $30 a month plus board.

[fredtheobviouspseudonym]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

Very technically that wasn't the case, but since the issued guns were mostly sold at cheap rates as surplus immediately after being collected any soldier that wanted one could buy it cheap from their mustering-out pay.

From some of my books apparently the price was $6.00 for a used Springfield/Enfield, bayonet and cartridge box. Apparently the USG wanted armed folks to head for the frontier. I suspect that lots of veterans had no interest in bringing back the old shootin' iron -- too many painful memories attached.