One rifle we dont think of as a plains rifle was the 1803 Harpers Ferry flintlock rifle. It came to Ft. Leavenworth in the 1830s, when
the US Congress dissolved the 1st US Rifle Regiment. They were transfered to the Infantry regiments. Captain St. George Cooks
cavalrymen of the 1850s were chasing Cheyenne Indians on the plains of Kansas in the mid 1850s with these flintlock relics.
Percival Lowe, whom was later stationed at Ft. Leavenworth as a Dragoon, was using an 1842 Musketoon 69 cal. smoothbore
up until he was honorably discharged in 1854. The 1852 Sharps slant breech carbine was in use by horse soldiers on the plains as well , but in limited numbers. At most of the Territorial Battlefields of 1856 the Flintlock Springfield musket was dominant on
the Free State Milita side, while better percussion muskets were utilized by the Kansas Territorial Militias on the other side. Except
for the known 1841 Harpers Ferry rifles, those muskets were 69 cal. smoothbores. Samuel Reeder tried to use his Pennsylvania
long rifle in the first days battle of Hickory Point, but found it way too slow and went back to the wagon to obtain a flintlock
musket. The Free State Militia bought their flintlock muskets from Ft. Leavenworth at their condemned weapons and accouterments
sale in 1855 or 1856.
One cannot go wrong with either a long rifle or half stock plain rifle for 1840-1865.