Especially since there is no single-source, easy answer to the question, I would have to agree with your approach. However, rather than reviewing every officer's service file, I would prefer to identify the ordnance officer for the period under review and study his file for the documents you mentioned. If that failed to produce what I needed, then I would begin a systematic review of officer files.

Your last paragraph is well taken. Most people posting inquiries on these boards seem to assume that the arms and uniform any Confederate soldier had on his first day in service and the arms and uniform he had when the war ended were identical.