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There
is very little historic documentation regarding the use of handguns by the
Mountain Men. It is known that
the handgun was a constant and necessary accessory of the fur trade.
Because of the short effective range of these guns, whether
smoothbore or rifled, they were probably only used as a defensive weapon
of last resort. A majority of
these handguns were single barreled smoothbores of the horse-pistol type,
well adapted for
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both ball or heavy buckshot, although some mountain men
preferred rifled pistols. Ignition systems included both flint and percussion.. Ideally the
caliber of the pistol was the same as the rifle carried by the Mountain
Man so a single bullet mold would serve to provide ammunition to both
guns.