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32-20 for both rifle and pistola.

 

Excellent choice!

 

Shotgun

 

As always .. you're ✅️ right.
A folding Singleshot would work just fine.

 

I suppose most of the settlers moving to the Old West in their wagons just couldn't afford the fancy, then quite new metallic cartridge revolvers and lever guns of the time.

Most of them probably just had simple, single or double barreled break-action shotguns, obsolete surplus military rifles, or even muzzleloaders for hunting for meat and self defense.

Today, for survival in such a situation, a combined, break action .410/3" and .22 lr rifle would be quite good, if you could have only one gun.

.410/3" with #6 shot and .22s for hunting small game and birds, and .410" slugs or buckshot for self defense and slightly bigger or dangerous animals up to 50 yards.

To add a handgun, I'd consider a .357 Mag. revolver of at least 4" barrel length.

A further, budget and versatile all-purpose rifle could be an SKS-45, caliber 7,62 x 39. To this, I'd add an old S&W Mod. 17 6" barrel .22 lr Revolver.

You need a .22 lr in your life!

 

Well ? The Papoose would be a good .22 choice.. maybe add my old ruger standard markll . ?

 

A short light single shot shotgun would be very useful for quick pot shots at close game.

If I wanted a rifle, a .357 Trapper lever gun would be just as useful. A .357 revolver of your choice on belt.

That Tamer above even has a scabbard for securing your shotgun to wagon. I wonder how the homesteaders - settlers carried their long arms on their wagons ?

 

Leather scabbard i believe.
Strapped to the side of the wagon..

 

I believe Kirkpatrick was the manufacturer of that scabbard above. Meant for the .410 Snakecharmer. I guess strapping that bad boy on your riding lawnmower would be nice and scare the heck out of the neighbors ...

 

I’d see it as the excuse I’ve been looking for to buy a 12 gauge side by side coach gun.

 

why is it called a “ Chuck Wagon” . Hopefully nothing to do with Chucking Up.. Up Chucking…🤢🤮
I would have my Rossi and My Uberti in 357. With a side order of Schmidt Buffalo in 22 lr

 

Since chuck wagon was a term for food wagon, I always assumed that’s where the term “upchuck” came from, from throwing up your food🤷‍♂️😆

 

In the days of yesteryear..
The old chuckwagon cook carried a winchester .. ? Spencer carbine ?
Trapdoor ?
....
Idk ?
.....
If I ever get my rubber tired chuckwagon built.. I think ? I'll carry my Marlin model Papoose..
And for centerfire, a 5.56 Dissapator.
.....
What would you carry ?

Based on what I’ve seen those cooks make on the chuck wagons I think I’d carry some antidiarrheal medicine.😳

 

I haven't seen a Buffalo rev in a lonnggg time!

 

Realistically, I doubt the Chuck wagon “cookie” carried much beyond a snake defense weapon, probably a shotgun.

He wasn’t ever hunting, he was cooking, then cleaning and packing up, then moving up along the trail, catching then passing the herd, setting up, and cooking, repeated ad nauseum. Or, hopefully not nauseum…😅

So, for me…maybe some shot shells in my .357 revolver would work? Or any of the break action 12 gauges. Or my Maverick Security 8, a 7+1 pump with a 20 inch barrel.

 

In the days of yesteryear..
The old chuckwagon cook carried a winchester .. ? Spencer carbine ?
Trapdoor ?
....
Idk ?
.....
If I ever get my rubber tired chuckwagon built.. I think ? I'll carry my Marlin model Papoose..
And for centerfire, a 5.56 Dissapator.
.....
What would you carry ?

I think a 20 gauge pump shotgun covers the most bases. Agree that the cook can't afford to have a large arsenal to choose from, but he must determine what kind of a group he will be serving. A cattle drive is a bit different from an elk hunt. Most aggressive critters will turn and run as soon as the first one is put down so he won't need a 30 round magazine. Any threat determined to be a threat won't be 500 yards away so he won't need a 6.5PRC. If it's a grizzly,,, well-- just fa-get-aboud-it.
For cheap I think a 10/22 would handle most probable scenes including prairie dogs if the food supply really gets low.

 

Post #18 above. I don't know how far .357 Magnum shotshell (or other centerfire handgun rounds) patten, but I doubt it would be dense enough to kill a rattlesnake past 20 feet. By then, your horses - mules would be nearly on top of it. For me, a .410 shotgun would be called up for that express duty.

 

For me the 20ga is my preferred go-to in a shotgun though I have .410 and 12. If there had been inexpensive (like H&R) break action sgl shot 24ga available Im quite sure that would be my fav.
In the pre-cartridge days the smoothbore 'trade gun' in 24-20 gauge was extremely affordable and common. As muzzleloading smoothbore military muskets were phased out they often became civilian weapons, also cheap but typically long and heavy. After the Civil War many rifled muskets were made smoothbore, some 'cut down' and were in the hands of some in the westward migration.
So, the 'smoothbore' in either shotgun or with sights (smooth rifles) was very likely to be the long gun at hand. And percussion lasted well past the intro of cartridges with some flintlocks also still in use (even up to present day though by choice rather than necessity).
Extremely versatile, you can load light to heavy, big round ball, buck and ball, buckshot or birdshot and with ball min. of deer accurate at 50yards.

 

I would imagine that an old time chuckwagon cook would at best have carried something like a single shot shotgun. From everything I've researched the cook was probably on the lower end of the ranch payroll and probably couldn't afford much. It seems that the cook's job was to cook, drive the wagon which held groceries and bedrolls, and set up camp, not hunt/fight/protect.