Well said, Trailrider.
How much provenance are you looking for, Mr. Brown? Are you looking for proof so you can use it for NCOWS competition? No problem ... it's already legal.
Are you doing it for your NCOWS Originals documentation?
That may be a bit more of a challenge. If you are simply trying to find the history of these weapons for your love of history and research, (see St. George's comment:
"Sometimes, the search for information is more than half the fun.") then you are on the right track.
It has been said that over the entire "Cattle Drives" timeframe there were probably only about 2,500 actual "Cowboys" in the true sense of the word. My point is; we're dealing with some pretty small numbers here. Since few G&G guns existed, few would have made it out West. And, as mentioned, they - and MANY more items like them - were simply thought of as tools and discarded as better became available. Don't get me wrong ... I'm all for proving by study what is represented in our wonderful NCOWS personas, just don't become caught up in the details and specifics. I can't prove the 2,500 figure, but I have heard it and have discussed it with many learned folks. As a rule, folks don't document their daily lives. And this creates many challenges 100 years later. Think of it like this: the last time you moved, did you inventory and list EVERYTHING you packed in that U-Haul? Most of us regular folks didn't, either! Expeditions, Military, Scientific study groups, and such may document or list all their tools and supplies, but not the average family.
One of our most "distinguished" Mongrel Historians here who likes to do
serious research has pointed out this tidbit of information, and uses this as example of what CAN happen when someone says "you gotta PROVE what happened" rather than documenting everything.
Try to find proof that women got pregnant back in Victorian times. I think he has found one (count 'em ... ONE) photo of a pregnant woman in his very in-depth studies.The mores of the Victorian era deemed this a subject that wasn't shown or talked about in polite society. Oh yes, there are many proud parents holding their new-born children. One can find baby furniture and other items in the catalogs of the day. This is solid provenance that babies existed, but a woman pregnant ... well, it isn't talked about. Probably had a lot to do with HOW a woman got pregnant - and that wasn't polite conversation. (Even now!) But we know that they DID get pregnant ... we just can't PROVE it very easily!
If you're trying to put together a persona for NCOWS or even for your own amazement and amusement, all you need to do begin your saga as a Gent from the South - a veteran of the Confederacy. It IS well known ... and provable ... that many former CSA soldiers went West or to Texas and took their weapons with them.
Please don't think I'm discouraging your studies and trying to gather provenance for your equipment. I just don't want you ... or ANY other person reading this who may be trying to decide whether to give NCOWS a try to think that you must be perfectly period-correct and prove everything you have just to come shoot and have fun with us!
Besides (in my own case ... and MANY others here) - as many of us have found, a lot of us wouldn't be alive "back then" with all our ailments, life's situations, and even age in our modern world vs. what was true "back in the day!" I LIKE being able to take the medications I take that help keep me alive and still shooting! I doubt I'd have made it past 45 years old back then! More soldiers, and people in general died from wounds becoming infected than were killed by gunfire. (That's why I picked 45.
)
You may have a different take on this. I'm just bringing this up for discussion and thought.