You see guns( rifles) used in the 19th century West with coned muzzles- the other way( ie. thin patching and undersized balls) to eliminate the need for a short starter.
One has to doubt how long this situation lasted, since the movement West was both steady and on-going, through the first half of the century, ending with the Great Gold Rush in 1849. As more people moved West, more settlements and forts were built, and supplies became easier to obtain. The last rendezvous occurred in 1843, with a privately financed effort by William Drummond Stewart, but for all practical purposes, the last Organized rendezvous took place in 1838- just 14 years after the first one in 1825. The Forts were followed by railroads, and that construction really sped up during and immediately after the Civil War. The " Mountain Man" era was, really only a very short 14 years, and we stretch that by going back to 1807 when John Coulter left the Lewis and Clark Expedition to return to the mountains. Percussion ignition systems were being patented as early as 1807, but it took years for the manufacturers to perfect the process, and market reliable guns. Remember that Sam Colt got his patent for his first "Paterson revolver" in October, 1836, months after the fall of the Alamo that March. Those 5-shot, .36 cal. revolvers helped to change the history of Texas, and led to the development of more powerful,and stronger made revolvers. Better rifles were being developed in that late 1830s period, and on into the 1840's, and '50's.
What Hansen found was the lack of loops or pockets in hunting bags of that era to hold short starters, and, of course, the lack of short starters being saved with all the rest of the gear found with such bags.
The best one can say from the SURVIVING evidence is that it does not appear that "short starters" were popularly used by explorers, and trappers in that age- mountain men to us. There is a huge SILENCE in the writings of the day about short starters, when you read contemporary descriptions of the tools that MM took with them for their rifles.
I suspect that some of the lack of writings is due to the fact that by 1946, cartridges guns of sort began to appear, and in 1857, Smith and Wesson made and began selling their first cartridge revolvers.
The new " Breech loaders " were all the talk during this period, as they allowed the first revolutionary change in battlefield tactics in more than 300 years. Men could now take cover in trenches, and behind trees, and expose very little of their bodies to enemy fire when shooting the new guns. The new copper, and later brass, casings provided far better protection of the powder and components of ammunition than anything that had existed before, including percussion ignition. Repeating rifles and handguns gave the individual explorer, settler, or trapper a much better chance to survive an sudden attack by Indians.
Because of movies, we all tend to think of this period of our country's history as being more substantial and long lasting than it was. MOst of the people involved were not well educated and didn't write well. There simply are not a lot of written records surviving from that brief period that describes their lives. And, there was great hostility by the missionary, artists, and authors who did travel to the rendezvous, against the Mountain men, because they dressed, and associated with Indians more comfortably than with White people. When you do read histories, this class warfare becomes very apparent. The mountain men didn't take too kindly to the settlers, either, as they brought their religion and strange cultures from Europe or the East, and thought of themselves as superior to the men who had made it possible for the new people to live at all in these mountains. The MM were far outnumbered, and lacked the writing skills to make their case in the Eastern Press. They could not win.
We should not regret how little is left to read of that period, but marvel that anything survived at all. :shocked2: :v :hatsoff: