Eric is correct one should "never say never" when talking about history, as sure enough some things still pop up that blows conventional "wisdom" at times or we will never know everything we may like to know.
Outside the Upper Classes and some Townsfolk, most people found pistols too expensive to own or just did not need them enough to go to the expense of buying one. The long smoothbore gun or rifle was used and/or was required by the Militia Laws unless one was in a Cavalry unit. Normally it was only the Affluent in Calvary Units who were armed with pistols except for some Mounted Rangers, but in the last case they usually were issued their pistols from Government or Colonial Stores. Pistols were kept in Merchant Ships, but were considered the property of the Ship's Owner and were stored and locked away until time of need. Some Militia Officers also armed themselves with pistols. Some Traders carried pistols, but it does not seem to have been considered a necessary item for them. I would have thought Longhunters would have commonly carried pistols, but there is little if any documentation of that. Now this information is not meant to suggest that NO pistols were used or carried by others, but these were the common or most likely folks to own them.
It was possible for some Colonists to capture pistols in times of strife or war, but those pistols would normally have been French, Spanish or some times Dutch pistols and would have followed the fashion of when those pistols were made.
Though some gunsmiths here "in the Colonies" made pistols prior to the Revolutionary War, many if not most pistols were English or European made and imported here. So they followed the "fashion" of the pistols made there in the different decades of the late 17th through 18th century up to the ARW. It was also cheaper to buy locks and barrels already made, so when American Smiths used them to "build" pistols, they followed whatever was in "current fashion."
Of course the ARW shut off the pistols, locks and barrels coming from England, but there were still French and Dutch and a small number of Spanish pistols that were smuggled in. Still, there was more a market for American made pistols, that had not existed before when less expensive European Pistols were readily available.
Further, at the distances pistols were commonly used, one did not need a rifled barrel and/or it was still considered "Un Gentlemanly" to have a rifled barrel in most dueling pistols until the later years of the 18th century. (I was REALLY surprised how easy it was to keep the ball on a man sized target at 25 yards with my Repro Navy Arms French M1777 pistol with NO front sight, a poor fitting grip and very heavy trigger pull, for example.) So why would many customers pay extra for having the barrel ground and filed in an octagonal shape and rifled when it was really not necessary? Of course, when the customer had enough money and wanted the pistol built that way, the gunsmith would do it.
Gus
