FWIW - all of the currently available documentation shows that the average aka plain everyday common AMERICAN Mountain Man (including the tribes such as the Delaware and Shawnee who were an important yet little known part of the western fur trade) overwhelmingly chose rifles, except for specialized needs such as running buffalo on horseback or for night guard duty. Otherwise their downright disdain for smoothbores is well cited. Yes the trade lists show a much larger quantity of fusils available, but in most cases they show only what was available and not what was purchased - most in fact went to Indians or non-Americans. On the other hand ALL of the extant journals form the period state emphatically that rifles were the gun of choice for American trappers.
Does this mean that no mtn man carried a smmothbore? Nope as always it depends on who, when, and where - the Metis, French, and Creoles who made up a major portion of the western fur trade manpower generally preferred fusils, but again the vast majority of AMERICANS carried rifles and these were usually supplied by the companies they were employed by or were supplied to those affiliated with a particular company such as the skin trappers - Joe Meek's term for one of the two types of free trapper. Skin trappers were "free" agents who were grubstaked with supplies in exchange for a share of his furs, but who were not directly employed by the company (this is what Ashley's famed 100 young men of 1822 were). This type of free trapper was the majority we know by that name and included men affiliated with the HBC as well as with the Americans. The other type of free trapper, those on their own hook - the free trapper of modern rendezvous fame and fable, did exist, but they never made up more than about 10% of the total men in the field at any one time and were more common in the Colorado and New Mexico areas where run ins with hostiles were far less common than in the northern Rockies where the Blackfoot tribes were such a threat until the late 1830's when smallpox wiped out a large portion of them.
The vast majority of the rifles supplied by the American companies were either brass mounted American/Lancaster pattern flintlocks or the brass mounted English pattern flintlocks.
re: smooth rifles - the extant fur trade records show they saw little if any use in the Rocky Mtn Fur Trade. In fact one letter from American Fur to J Henry states that they unsellable since their customers when given the choice prefer "real" rifles or if they want a smoothbore they choose the much lighter fusil.
Topic: Smoothbore Options for Mountain Man (Read 2099 times)