Cowboy Clothes and Gear
If you are going to shoot Cowboy Action Shooting, you will need to dress the part. Some CAS organizations are less particular about clothing than others. NCOWS is probably one of the most concerned with being historically correct. Many find that the history and period correctness is at least half the fun.
I found it quite fascinating to research what people actually wore and used in the old west and how it often was different from what was portrayed in the Hollywood movies and television westerns. The title of this page itself is somewhat misleading. Remember that not everyone in the old west was a cowboy. There were shopkeepers, bartenders, bankers, land agents, miners, railroad workers, surveyors, undertakers, cooks, butchers, blacksmiths, tailors, cattle brokers, millers, lumber jacks, telegraph operators, hoteliers, farmers, teachers, actors, musicians, doctors, saloon girls, gamblers, prostitutes and all sorts of people who never drove cattle up the Chisholm Trail.
Putting together your outfit, or costume, can be a lot of fun. You can decide what your alter ego character will be and the options are virtually endless. You might decide to put together different outfits and portray entirely different characters on different occasions. Some people actually research real people from the period and adopt that persons persona down to the minute details of their life. Others just generally dress in clothing correct to the period.
What is period correct clothing from the old west in 1850-1900? Forget what you see in most movies and TV westerns, most are not period correct although some recent ones like Tombstone and Lonesome Dove are pretty accurate. Many of the Tom Selleck westerns are also pretty authentic.
Men
Many people did not own a lot of clothes. They might have one or two sets of working clothes and maybe a fancier "go to meeting" clothes to wear to church on Sunday or for weddings and funerals. Working cowboys after long cattle drive and finally getting paid maybe $100 would head straight to town to buy some new clothes and then head to the saloons (not necessarily in the order).
Generally, men wore wool or cotton denim trousers (not blue jeans). The trousers did not have belt loops or zippers (button flys). Most trousers had a single back pocket and front pockets that went straight down rather than being angled backward (kept things from falling out when riding a horse).
Men's shirts were generally cotton pullovers with only two or three buttons going down from the top. Most did not have collars but many wore separate button-on collars. It was not uncommon to see clothes that former soldiers wore from the Civil War. Although not as common as many believe, the bib shirts were still seen. Contrary to common belief, the bib shirts were not part of an army issue uniform. Rather they originated from the fireman's uniforms. Whole fire brigades were often recruited into the war and they continued to wear their fireman's shirts into battle. The bibbed fronts were were an extra layer of protection against burning embers.
Hats were a necessity for any man and they were mostly beaver felt in various styles from the wide brimmed typical cowboy hats to the bowlers often worn by the townspeople.
Chaps and boots were common among the cowboys riding in brushy areas to protect them from the brush and briars while riding the range but shoes were more comfortable and common for the townspeople and others. Boots generally had square or round toes. Pointy toes came about a little later and they helped in sliding the boots into the stirrups. The boots did not have stitching on the toes but some may have had some fancy stitching on the upper parts in the late 1800s. The boots were often worn with the trouser legs tucked into the boots and may of the boots had long leather pulls on the sides to help pull them on (now often referred to as "mule ears"). Cavalry boots generally had squared heels and squared toes but higher angled "riding heels" became popular with cowboys as they helped keep their feet from sliding out of the stirrups.
Cowboys usually wore bandanas that could serves as a dust mask and most wore spurs. Cowboys also often wore leather wrist cuffs. Some say they were to protect their shit sleeves and others say it was to protect them from rope burns.
Many men wore suspenders (then called "braces") to hold up their pants but cowboys seldom wore them because they would get in the way and get snagged when roping or working. Cowboys often preferred tight fitting pants that required neither a belt or suspenders.
Vests and coats were commonly worn. Many men carried a pocket watch in the vest pocket and often had a fine chain attached between the watch and vest button. Eyeglasses were worn but I have found that period correct replicas are hard to find today.
Woolen or cotton one-piece long johns were the underwear of the day except when it was simply too hot to wear underwear.
Gun belts were not as common as many think. Many towns forbade wearing guns in town and working cowboys often left their guns in the chuck wagon when on the trail. The idea that every man had a six-gun strapped to his side was more of a Hollywood fantasy. Likewise, rifles tended to get in the way of roping when attached to saddles so they were often not carried when not hunting or in dangerous territory. Most men owned shotguns but expensive pistols and rifles were more of a luxury for most who were not lawmen, outlaws or those traveling through dangerous unsettled territories.
Settlers and those living on plains commonly carried a shotgun or rifle and a hunting knife.
Women
Most women wore long ankle-length dresses or skirts. Plain, full dresses were worn for daily chores and frilly dresses for outings. Full, high necked, long sleeve blouses topped the skirts. Some women did wear trousers if they did a lot of horse riding. Women commonly wore hats or bonnets. Undergarments were long, full blouses and pantaloons and corsets with wooden or bone stays were popular for the more well-to-do.
Shoes were generally high tops with a lot of buttons or laces.
Putting your outfit together
There are a number of retailers and online sources for period correct clothing. Beware of "western wear" stores as they often carry modern versions western clothes. Purists will be very particular about materials and even the type of thread used and how may stitches per inch are sewn but generally CAS organizations are not that picky as long as the clothes represent period correct styles.
As I mentioned earlier, thrift stores can be a source of period correct clothes or at least clothes that can be altered to be period correct by removing belt loops or zippers. For those who wish to make their own clothes, period fabrics and patterns can be found online.
Other accessories can add additional touches to your outfit. Period correct playing cards (they did not have numbers, only pictures and suit symbols, wooden matches and/or metal match cases (match safes), silk puff ties and stick pins are some ideas. Gun belts were often money belts with an opening at the end where coins or gold nuggets could be inserted into the hollow belt.
Most larger CAS events will have vendors selling period guns, clothes and accessories.
Study historic photographs and you will notice things like many wore gun belts backwards, with the buckle on the side or in the back and cartridge loops in the front (saddles tended to push the cartridges out of the loops if they were in the rear). Holsters were often worn on the off-side with the gun butt facing forward for a cross-draw. However, consider that photographs were not a common occurrence as they are today. It was something of a special occasion to be photographed in the 1800s and people tended to get dressed in their very best and show off their prized possessions like pistols rather than being shown as they really were in day-to-day life. Almost all photographs were posed rather than depicting real life.
Beyond clothing
Many CAS events and reenactments may include period campgrounds. Proper gear would include canvas tents, oil or candle lamps, wood and canvas cots with heavy blankets, folding wooden tables, wooden buckets, a coffee pot and coffee grinder, and cast iron skillets. Buffalo hides might serve as blankets or coats. Cooking would be done over an open wood fire or in a fire pit. Campsites will often be closely inspected for authenticity and modern conveniences should be kept out of sight to preserve the look and feel of a period atmosphere. Some modern trappings can be used if they are cleverly concealed. For example, a modern cot with a metal frame could be concealed with period correct blankets draped over it or a cooler could be hidden under a wooden box.
Research
There a lot of good resources available to research the real old west. Most photographs from the period have expired copyrights and thus are in the public domain and are freely distributable. Many collections of photographs can be found online from libraries and other archives. The Library of Congress is an excellent source for period and historic photographs.
Note: Although most of the photographs are in the public domain (copyrights have expired), many libraries that own the collections are claiming copyrights on their copies of the original photographs, charging "use fees" and setting conditions for use. This practice is ILLEGAL but many continue to do it without consequences. Look up "copyfraud" on the Internet.
There are a number of excellent books available. "Packing Iron" is one of the best books on holsters and gun belts with many photographs of authentic gear. The Time-Life series of 26 books about the old west that was published in the 1970s is still widely available in book stores and on Ebay and it is a pretty good source of information. "I Can See By Your Outfit" is a very good book dealing with period clothing. The NCOWS website www.ncows.org has a lot of excellent information about clothing and gear. The NCOWS forums provide a wealth of information about life, guns and clothing from the period.
Going to a CAS shooting match, especially an NCOWS match, or a reenactment is great way to learn by talking to those who have already done the research.
Most of all, have fun!
While it is rather expensive, you can get into CAS without breaking the bank and you can build your gear up as you go along.
Next Page: My Cowboy Adventures