Good choice?

[Rachen]

The original balloon head case rim on the .45 Colt was too small and weak for an ejector to work with. I suppose Winchester could have made a .45 cartridge with a wider rim that would have worked in Winchester rifles and Colt pistols but invariably there would have been a lot of people try to use Colt cartridges in Winchester rifles and getting jams and blaming the rifles which would have been bad for business.

Hmm...Just thought about this for a pretty long minute right now. And from personal experience, the mind has a tendency to make a lot of random errors when it is under stress. Ie...new drivers mistaking the gas pedal for the brakes. Imagine how the mind reacts during the stress of combat, with people shooting at you and bullets flying all around.

It seems like one of the really foolproof ways to avoid slamming in wrong ammo into your guns in the heat of a fight would be:

A: Have your entire belt loaded with rifle ammo for your levergun. But use cap and ball revolvers as your sidearm. Multiple cylinders and paper cartridges will still go a long distance in keeping you in the fray.

B: Entirely rely on your cartridge pistol or a brace of cartridge pistols.

C: Have a cartridge pistol as your sidearm, but for primary long gun go for a .45-70 or .50-90 Buffalo Sharps or Rem. Rolling Block. Can't mistake cartridges now. In the Dixie Gun Works Black Powder Annuals, there was an article titled "Backup Guns of the Buffalo Hunters", and the author noted that this was the combination most used on the trail during the peak years of the big hunts.