Guns and Roses, But Without the Roses

A great Western novel would not be the same without the smell of spent gunpowder. Revolvers, shotguns, repeating rifles, smooth bore muskets, and buffalo guns  took on personal attributes and women’s names, which explains a lot about the lonesome cowboy. Back in the mid 19th century, the National Rifle Association was not around to remind settlers that they had the right to bear arms. In the early settlement years, even a preacher would carry a gun or two, if only to guard his liquor.

He Shoots, He Scores

As the new immigrants migrated west into the newly explored lands, the pistols, rifles, and shotguns came out of their particular holsters and became a part of daily life. Women were expected to be able to shoot in defense of their home and honor, and even young children were raised to hunt small game and dispatch them with a minimal use of bullets, sort of like a real-life Oregon Trail video game. In fact, the Oregon Trail was actually blazed by people who played the video game all the way to the end. Or vice-versa.

Western Novels and the Gunslinger

For portable protection, revolvers came into vogue around the mid 1800′s with the Colt revolver model 1836, which was one of the first durable mass-produced hand guns made in the United States. With portability came a new class of citizen– the gun for hire. A man could build a reputation as being handy in a gun battle, and hire out as a mercenary to a rancher protecting his land. This was one of the first examples of being happily unemployed.

Postwar Expansion and Shootin’ Irons

After the Civil War, the upgrades in weapons coincided with a huge number of men who had recently been exposed to the bloodiest war in American History, making Western novels even thicker with the sounds and smoke of modern weapons.  Single men and small families moved West in droves, pushing the borders of the frontier further and further West.  Range wars broke out at a moment’s notice between fencers and free grazers, between sheep herders and cattlemen, between brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, and even cats and mice, if you believe “Tom and Jerry: The Western Years.”

Rock , Paper…Bullet?

In addition, there was still the threat of Indian attack even after the Civil war– Comanches in the south of Texas, Cheyenne and Blackfeet on the Southern Plains, and Sioux in the Dakotas.  However, the era of Indian resistance was at its end, as the weapons of the Civil War made their way west to fight the weapons of the 11th century. Gun beats rock, every time. Unless, of course, your name is Custer.

Gunfighters and Guns– Western Novels  at Their Best and Brightest

Each legendary gunfighter was known for a particular gun, and Western novels tend to list these with great accuracy and repetition. Wild Bill Hickock used pearl-handled Colt revolvers, John Wesley Hardin was an surgeon with his 10-gauge Greener. Billy the Kid was a superior shot with both the Colt revolver and the Winchester rifle. As the exploits of outlaws and lawmen alike made it into the newspapers and magazines of the day, young men everywhere tried to emulate their heroes by buying up their special guns. It was one of the first examples of  celebrity advertisement, and it is still in use today with everything from minivans to Kotex. Western novels began writing themselves in the dreams of children long before a word was written down on paper.