1860 Henry shooters be aware....

[Slowhand Bob, 24229]

My thought was along the lines of ammo availability in the rural areas where I grew up. Even with the 44 rimfire being the first popular dual gun cartridge I'll bet most rural fokes had to find that at the larger, less visited depots, while the common small community store stock was limited to a small supply of black powder, caps and if one was lucky, a few 22 rimfires. One would be lucky if the rural supplies included more than a caliber or two for rifle, pistol and shotgun. For us, in my childhood, it would have been 22 for sure, 30-30, 30-06 maybe, 12ga shells and if there were any pistol rounds it would have been 38s. Im sure dad could have found a much better selection by driving into Macon but I seriously doubt that rural mountain communities would have been any more than our small farm communities, probably even smaller than where we lived. Dad done pretty well and we had cars, I imagine Mom went into Macon at least once a week for stock-up shopping but in the horse and carriage days I doubt you would have made the same trip more than every two to four weeks. A great deal can be learned about such things in the rural south by visiting Charleston, SC (a much larger southern city) and doing the plantation tours. A simple trip from Magnolia into peninsula Charleston was barely thirty miles as the crow flies but for the rich plantation owner it was an all day trip by boat and even much worse for the poor small farmer who had to traverse the roads by wagon to get to town. Just imagine, a trip to town for many rural fokes was a minimum of one nights stay in town and very likely two if your intention was a full day of shopping and visiting.