Here's a question for you history buffs. Back in Henry Deringer Jr's day would it have been common practice to carry one or two of his pistols loaded, capped and on half cock, and about how long (days, weeks) would it have been common practice for the handguns to be carried before they would be fired, cleaned and reloaded?
Well, both are good questions for sure.
I've read somewhere that on the Oregon Trail there were firearm accidents when someone reached into the back of their wagon to pull their caplock rifle out by the muzzle with the hammer caught on something then slammed back down on the cap - and naturally no good came from this as injury and death occurred - so this tells me that one practice (that we do not do today) was simply to lower the hammer down on the capped nipple until they were ready to use their rifle... I therefore would assume (not good to assume) they carried their pistols in the same manner... Not a safe practice at all by today's standards.
I've nothing to go by on how often they freshened their load - but if the rifle was clean when loaded, they could go quite awhile I believe as the old black powder (as I understand it) did not contain graphite like it does today - so their powder would have shot cleaner then ours by getting a good complete burn with less fouling and I believe less moister drawn to the powder charge.
Side note on Revolvers; I've tested caplock revolver load longevity, and I've stored loaded capped revolvers for up to 3 & 4 years and each time the loaded five chambers of the cylinder's (the 6th one with the hammer resting on an empty chamber) all went off with good effect. Both times I had put a little beeswax on the nipple's to help sill out moister - and it works.
Let's see if we can get some more info on your question, as I'd be interested myself in knowing more.