I don't know if it's possible to make ship captains more likely to carry a certain type of weapon, but in any case it shouldn't be the duelling pistol. That is supposed to be rare and expensive. It certainly wouldn't be military issue. In reality, they'd be in pairs, both pistols identical, to be used for a formal duel. Using it for routine combat would cause more wear on the one being used - even if you carried both and used them as a pair, one would end up a bit more worn than the other. So they'd no longer be identical. At that point they cease to be duelling pistols and just become a pair of normal horse pistols.
There was never any rumour about a gun being hidden in a particular house, mainly because the stock game didn't spoon-feed things to players. There were things to be discovered if you went looking, including the few sidequests which actually worked in the stock game.
Of course, both the duelling pistol and the new double barrel pistol can also be used for quest purposes... (There is already one way in which you can get involved in a formal duel in the game, and when I have time, I may look into assigning you and your opponent a specific sword and pistol. You won't be able to change equipment during the duel.)
There was never any rumour about a gun being hidden in a particular house, mainly because the stock game didn't spoon-feed things to players. There were things to be discovered if you went looking, including the few sidequests which actually worked in the stock game.
Of course, both the duelling pistol and the new double barrel pistol can also be used for quest purposes... (There is already one way in which you can get involved in a formal duel in the game, and when I have time, I may look into assigning you and your opponent a specific sword and pistol. You won't be able to change equipment during the duel.)