The Economics of a Cowboy.
The glamour of the Cowboy as portrayed by the likes of Tom Mix on the silver screen is not that realistic. The hard working life of a cowboy would have reduced his posh clothes to tatters very quickly. Plus, the wages where not that high. With a ranch hand only earning $10-15 a month, the posh clothes would have been out of the question to start off with. By the time he paid for food, liquor, and companionship he would not have a lot of money left over. These less-than-ideal economics would have influenced all of his professional equipment even the guns he carried.
While a film cowboy rides into shot fully equipped with a pistol, rifle and a fine horse, a real-life cowboy in the 1880s may have only owned the clothes he was standing in, his saddle and a bed roll with a few extra possessions. He may well have owned a gun, but the cost of a new Colt Peacemaker at $20 would have been beyond his budget, a small, cheap ($1-5) pocket pistol would have been affordable defense. Or a larger calibre army surplus percussion pistol may have filled his holster. He may have even considered a percussion revolver a better bet than a cartridge pistol. Powder and lead where easier and cheaper to get hold of than modern cartridges. Even a famous gun fighter like Wild Bill Hickok still carried his percussion Colt Navy revolvers when he was killed in 1876, 3 years after the Colt Peacemaker was introduced and longer still since Smith and Wesson introduced cartridge handguns.
A Cowboy would have been dependent on the ranch he worked at to supply a horse and any other tools he required, including guns. Some large operation owned as many as 300 firearms, costing around $8,000, that was a small fortune at the time. They would have ranged from shotguns to revolvers and rifles and would have been considered a good investment by any ranch owner who needed to protect his cattle, both at home and during cattle drives. Cattles drives and the like may have added some well needed bonus money to the pay of the cowboys involved, but they were also just as likely to be laid off when they were not required.
The stories and films of the Wild West paint an image of the Cowboy that is often just not true, the truth is far less romantic and economically attractive!