Today I Bust A Couple Of Old West Myths

Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas! Today I wanted to do another myth busting post about misconceptions people have about the Old West.

It's not their fault though, when you see the same style or specific type of scene in movie after movie then you accept those as facts or reality. So here are a couple of misconceptions that I see all the time in the media.

The classic cowboy hat

If you watch Western movies or tv series they often are wearing classic Stetson style cowboy hats like this Texas girl is:

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And here is one of Hollywood's examples via The Lone Ranger, set in the mid 1800's:
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The problem is, this style of hat didn't come out until the end of the Wild West period and didn't become popular until the 1930's and 40's. Here's the style most were actually wearing in the Wild West:
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How would you like to get into an argument with those boys? But as far as their hats: Wide brims, good protection from rain and sun but not very stylish.

As far as the movies using the classic cowboy hat, I can see why.. they look cool and ARE much cooler in hot weather.

The gun that won the West!

This one cracks me up. There are a couple of guns that always seem to lay claim to that title. Most of the time the famous Colt .45 is named as the Gun That Won The West but the truth is that there WAS no single gun that was predominately used in the Old West.

colt 45 source

As far as the Colt .45, it was and is a magnificent firearm and although it started production in 1873, it didn't make it out into the Western Territory in significant numbers until a decade later when much of the West was already settled.

Most of the heavy settling and fighting was done with cap and ball pistols like this one:
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They were great guns too but the problem with those were that once you fired your six shots it took like ten minutes to reload and you had to have the gun powder, slugs and firing caps with you to do it. Something you don't see in the movies.

But the favored type of gun was not usually a pistol anyway, it was a rifle or a double barrelled shotgun. The bottom line: the guns that won the West were the ones that shot!

Whatever was shootable.. from ancient muzzle loaders to lever action rifles, to shotguns to the cartridge pistols, they ALL won the West.

Meanwhile back in redneck country

There's a little project I've been working on. It's a dang tree that just fell over onto one of our lawns. It's grown up along the edge of the pond and I reckon it's root system weakened.

The thing is, I decided to cut it up and remove it using tools like the pioneers had. I have a chainsaw but I thought it would be more challenging and more of a workout to use an axe, machete and a short, 12 inch hand saw.

I've made some headway.

But I still got a heck of a long way to go. With a chainsaw it would've taken 20 minutes! lol. It's a good sized tree. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'll probably do another myth-busting post tomorrow. If you see a Western movie or tv show take note of their guns and hats and see if they line up with the correct times in history..most likely not!

Thanks for reading guys!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck

PS- ya know...you might just be a redneck if:

You've ever had to turn your pickup truck around because of bridge clearance restrictions! lol.

God bless you all!