What would average peace officer or civilian carry for extra ammo for 1851 Navy

[Doug.38PR]

If you were a sheriff and carrying an 1851 navy and were hot on the trail of an outlaw, how would you carry extra ammo in your ball and cap gun?  Extra cylinder?  Powder flask with pouch carrying balls and caps? 

What exactly would you have?  What kind of holster would you likely be carrying?

[St. George]

I believe you've asked this before.

A packet of paper cartridges was the answer then, too.

You'd have whatever holster you'd originally purchased - probably a Slim Jim or flap style - or you'd carry in the pocket of your coat.

Scouts Out!

[Doug.38PR]

A few minutes ago I did seem to recall asking a similar question and this being discussed before.  However, this time it's more in the nature of somebody expecting combat of not the average traveler or man walking around.  A peace officer, vigilante or bounty hunter after a vicious criminal.  I'd think you'd want more than just a pistol in your belt with a few paper cartridges in your pocket.  An easier reload method.  Something to improvise (in the ball and cap days).

[Advertising]

[MJN77]

People didn't carry extra cylinders back in the day no matter what Hollywood says. Usually the place you would see an extra cylinder was as an accessory in some of the expensive cased sets. In the cap and ball days the easiest and likely best reload was a second revolver.

A peace officer, vigilante or bounty hunter after a vicious criminal.  I'd think you'd want more than just a pistol in your belt with a few paper cartridges in your pocket.

They had what was available. This is why cartridge guns and repeating rifles were invented. But any savvy fellow about to confront "desperate" men would arm himself with a good shotgun or rifle and leave the 51 as a last resort.

[St. George]

They didn't view armed pursuit like an IPSC match, with speed rigs and fast reloads - it was a deadly business, hunting armed men.

Men entrusted with enforcing the law didn't take chances - they'd carry a packet of combustible cartridges as I'd mentioned - but they'd rely on a shotgun or rifle - and stealth - hoping to be able to get behind the suspect before pulling the trigger.

It wasn't like Hollywood, or even a Louis L'Amour novel - there was no honor to it but surviving the affair.

Scouts Out!

[Coffinmaker]

In actuallaty, you'd be carrying TWO '51s.  One in whatever style holster you owned and the other stuffed in your belt.  Since we're talking about reality, not Hollywood, the pistols are strictly "last gasp."  Your primary weapon is a rifle.  You'd get just close enough to be sure of a hit and start shooting.  There is/was no such thing as "fair" in a gunfight. 
Having actually been there and done that, there is still no such thing as "fair" in a gunfight.  There is only survival.

Coffinmaker

[Fox Creek Kid]

Combustible ctgs, bought in a store then were the norm as they were quicker to load and more convenient to schlep around than a satchel full of accouterments.

[hp246]

I would think it would depend if the Law man was a city or country lawman.  Wouldn't be surprised if a city lawman that the pistol would be carried in a pocket with the primary gun being a double barrel shotgun; while I would expect as stated above, the country lawman might be carrying his pistol holstered, with his primary gun being a rifle.

[Doug.38PR]

I ask a gunstore guy once about paper cartridges for my 1851 Navy as making it easier and quicker to reload via flash, ball, wads, primers.  He was in charge of the Cowboy Action area of the store and was apparently into it too.  He looked at me and grinned and replied: "They're more trouble than they're worth."

[St. George]

For him, maybe - but for untold numbers of men who actually used them in the real world - they worked just fine.

Scouts Out!

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I too, have given up on paper cartridges, due to their failure to resist dampness here on the North Pacific Coast.

However, military  or civilian grade cartridges of the mid-19th Century were made of more robust materials than cigarette paper.

In British Columbia about 1860, at Wildhorse Creek, a horse thief shot a provincial Constable with a Dragoon revolver. A Posse of miners with ML shotguns pursued the felon across the border. At one point he swam across a river and his ammunition was spoiled, but he managed to get some more cartridges from an Indian if I recall the tale. Thinking that the posse had passed him he (His name was "One-Eared Charlie", said organ having been removed by a guard with a revolver shot while Charlie was in the Victoria police cells for bootlegging) turned North again only to run into an ambush and suffered severe lead poisoning due to an excess of buckshot. It turned out  that Charlie was shot SOUTH of the border, and BC's resolve to be "Vigilante free" was technically maintained.

My point. Cartridges were widely used in the day. But it is not surprising that metallic cartridge firearms were speedily adopted by those who needed sidearms

[Fox Creek Kid]

I ask a gunstore guy once about paper cartridges for my 1851 Navy as making it easier and quicker to reload via flash, ball, wads, primers.  He was in charge of the Cowboy Action area of the store and was apparently into it too.  He looked at me and grinned and replied: "They're more trouble than they're worth."

In the 19th century paper/linen ctgs. were FACTORY made. The fella you asked was surely referring to making one's own ctgs., which is laborious. You're comparing apples to carburetors.