It has been said that there are only two types of muzzleloaders; those who have broken a ramrod and those who are going to break one.  Because wooden ramrods can and will break, safety should be the first concern.  Forcing a tight load down the barrel is usually the moment when a weak or damaged wooden ramrod breaks.  To avoid this,

grasp the ramrod no more than 6 inches above the muzzle when loading the gun.

“Over all, he wore a capote or a buffalo robe pulled in at the waist by a leather belt, into which were thrust a piratical collection of side arms - pistols, scalping knifes and hatchets –.”  

Gerald Rawling - The Pathfinders

Thousands of pistols were imported to America during the 250 year era of the trade gun.   They were always ordered in pairs but the merchants may have sold them individually. American gun makers including the Hawken brothers also built and sold pistols. Pistols were primarily used as close distance personal defense weapons. They were carried tucked into a leather belt, a sash, pocket, or holster. Early pistols were flintlock smoothbores typically loaded with shot. Rifled barrels and percussion locks came into common use during the 1830’s.

A smoothbore gun is essentially a shotgun. Smoothbores were available much earlier than rifles and were actually more common on the American frontier. A smoothbore gun could be loaded with bird shot, buck shot, round ball, or a combination of round ball and buck shot. The versatile smoothbore can be used for hunting any animal or fowl in America. Loaded with buck shot it made an excellent weapon for night guard duty when rifle sights could be difficult to see in the dark. A load of buck shot fired in the direction of an approaching adversary offered a better chance of making a disabling hit.

The men who ascended the Missouri River to trap beaver with Andrew Henry in 1822 carried the rifles they already owned and were familiar with. Those rifles were full stocked flintlocks of either the Lancaster pattern or the Southern type.

The Lancaster rifle is also known as the “American Rifle”, the “Kentucky Rifle”, or the “Pennsylvania Rifle”. These were built by several highly skilled rifle makers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.