[RecoilRob]

Hey all....
You guys have been talking about the Colt 3rd model Dragoon lately and it got me to looking at them....and lusting. Darn the lusting.

Anyway, I finally gave in and ordered a pair (that is the ONLY way to buy them, isn't it?) from Midway this evening. Yes, their price was a bit higher than some other places but I have dealt with them many times and trust IS worth something to me.

They are coming UPS normal speed and I'll post pics when they show up. Every time I buy gun related things (or guns!) online I just have to say God Bless America! What a wonderful Country!

[mec]

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=37795&d=1143741604

[RecoilRob]

Mec,
Nice shooting! In the old days, your proficiency would have granted you 'back shooting' status....would be a brave and likely stupid man to face such skill face to face.

Am surprised at the Goex 3F #s. Is the stuff normally THAT slow or was yours maybe a slow batch?

Regardless, fine shooting with a beautiful weapon.

[mec]

Goex is slower than Swiss but generally faster than the old Elephant brand and faster than old batches of DuPont and earlier powder's I've tried. It's good, consistent powder regardless of velocity.

[RecoilRob]

Wow! What a chunk of metal these things are!

Nicely finished and fitted by Uberti. VERY messy oil for shipping...must have dipped them in a vat. But, they don't know how long they are going to sit on the shelves somewhere so I don't blame them at all. Great packaging and preservation as both arrived in pristine shape.

Also, must give the kudos to Midway for excellent packaging and shipping. I like those people!

Comparing the cyl's of the Dragoon with a 1860 Army is VERY revealing! Longer by a bit but BIGGER by a bunch!! The weapon doesn't look markedly different from the modern conventional pieces but, in the HAND...well, it is HEAVYYY and a Massive piece of weaponry. I was expecting a heavy pistol and was rewarded with one!!

The new Recoil Brothers are 47 serial #'s apart and are very consistantly made except for an odd numbering system for the wedge?!! One has a #9127 whilst the other is #9142. Odd because the SN's are XX9160 & XX9207 of all the other parts given #'s. The wedges are tightly fitted and cannot be driven much past the retaining spring emerging from the barrel surface whilst still allowing the cyl to rotate. Should have MANY rounds of life in them.

Wood to metal fit is pretty good...good enough that I don't feel the need to mess with it. That IS pretty good! Perfect? No. But nice for a mass produced weapon for sure.

My arms and hands are now tired from handling and cocking/presenting them...no snapping of caps yet. Trigger pulls seem very crisp and light. Probably under three pounds each but I was snapping the hammer on my thumb to check the pull and wasn't able to use the pull scale. No bother....very light and clean pull on both. Good job Uberti!

Hope to get these two dudes out this weekend for some testing. Have .454 balls and a couple pounds of Goex 3F on hand. Man, I LOVE these big ol' guns!!

[mec]

The trigger pulls may be a little heavier than they feel up against all that gun weight but they'll be light enough that they won't interfer with good shooting.

Those things don't just grow on you. they hit your affection centers full force the first time you pick them up.

[dwave]

Wish I had the money to buy two, those are a couple of nice looking guns!

[mec]

The latest one's I've seen were made in 2005 -BZ in the box. Check and see what the letter codes on your's are. Square box with letters. The 2006 code is probably CA but maybe something else.

[Duncaninfrance]

Looks are impressive so I hope they turn out to be everything you lust after and more!!
I have put one on my wish list but I think I have more chance of platting fog at the moment!
Enjoy.
Duncan

[RecoilRob]

Mec, these are BZ code and I didn't get to shoot them this weekend...drat. Work, family and life in general got in the way.

But, I DID get to hold/fondle some more. And, I made a trip to the Parents house and showed them to my Dad. Korean war vet, not really into guns per se but has a couple I gave him and can appreciate them.

He was VERY impressed with the Dragoons and had never actually held a C&B weapon. When I handed the first one to him, I made sure he had a good grip on it and it still almost hit the floor when he got the full weight of it. He isn't as hearty as he once was but the MASS of the Dragoon is awesome! I ran him through the loading procedure and we talked about the men who used these things in anger. Both of us have newfound respect and admiration for them.

[sjohns]

I just picked up an Uberti off gunbroker. I'll receive it after the first of the month. It'll be nice to see how well this one operates.

I'm thinking about getting a conversion R&D 45 dropin cylinder later this summer if they're still around.

[mec]

Well, eventually we'll find out the codes for 2006. Big guns, big screws and parts. Easy to take a part and clean.

[Smokin_Gun]

I have that 2nd/3rd model Uberti Dragoon .45LC R&D Cylinder for Sale if you are interested let me know....$180.

http://i3.tinypic.com/wb2bue.jpg

[sjohns]

Yes I am interested, but I have committed to two purchases this month. I have to wait a short while.... geez... why does it always go this way for me...?

hehehe

[Smokin_Gun]

Sjohns just let me know...you got my email right?

[owen]

What exactly was a Dragoon?

Some sort of cavalryman? What made a Dragoon different from regular cavalry?

[mec]

I don't know the origin of the word but apparently Dragoon was a nickname for the United States Mounted Rifles in the mid- 19th century. The Walkers and Dragoons have either the full title or USMR on the cylinder.

[kjeff50cal]

What exactly was a Dragoon?

Some sort of cavalryman? What made a Dragoon different from regular cavalry?

Dragoons ride their horses into battle like cavalry but dismount and fight like infantry

[sjohns]

you have a private message.

[mec]

Ride/ Dismount
I used to know that. Somewhere along the line, I decided I was wrong about it. Now I know it again.

[sjohns]

So they are basically Mounted Infantry?

[hillbilly]

Yes, mounted infantry.

As such, they carried heavier weapons and more of them than traditional cavalry.

Dragoons don't make 200 mile recon rides around the enemy's flanks.

Dragoons get to the battlefield quickly, dismount, and pound the enemy with firepower.

As such, weight limits for weapons and ammo don't matter near as much as they do for "real" cavalry.

hillbilly

[mec]

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=dragoon

[sjohns]

hmmm

by definition, they sound suspiciously, technically, like knights.

[owen]

ok,

So what is it about the Dragoon model revolvers that makes them more suited to the mount/dismount style fighting?

[hillbilly]

The Dragoons were basically a new, improved model of the Colt Walker.

Colt Walkers were (and the replicas still are) big, mohunkin chunks of iron that held powder charges up around 50 grains and zipped .44 caliber round balls at over 1000 feet per second. They could be used to devestating effect on man-sized targets out to 100 yards.

Dragoons weren't quite as heavy as the Walkers, and didn't have the loading lever that was as prone to flop down during firing. But they provided just as big of a BOOM.

Dragoon pistols are just big, heavy, mohunkin' .44 pistols that were like the bigger, heavier weapons carried by the heavily armed mounted infantry known as Dragoons.

I'd say that the label "Dragoon" was more marketing hype by Colt back in the day than anything else.

I'd bet that calling their big ol pistol "Dragoon" was like attaching the label "Tactical" to products today.

hillbilly

[ABTOMAT]

They were "horse pistols." Too heavy to lug around on foot for very long. You kept 'em on your mount until the shootin' started.

[mec]

Your basic lack of choice. The dragoons evolved from the Walker- a revolver designed by Colt with Samuel Walker of the USMR. The dragoons were a closely spaced evolving design that reached final form (3rd model) about 1850. The only other revolvers at that time were some Patersons left over from the Texas Republic era. The other horse/holster pistols were the Flintlock of 1837 and the Aston-Johnson .54 smoothbore percussion pistol of 1842.

The Walkers and Dragoons were designed with horse soldiers in mind as Samuel Walker wanted a revolver that would kill both the Mexican Soldiers and their horses.

[sjohns]

I'm going to try and get out this week to shoot this new dragoon I just got. A guy on Gunbroker was selling it. I simply sent him an email asking about it and telling him that I could buy it after the first (of this month) and that I could use paypal discreetly.

Right away, he takes it as an offer, takes his ad down, and we wait. When questioned, he said it had been his son's. He couldn't generate enough interest with his kiddo. So now that the kid's off to college and needs to make car payments etc., he was selling it. He said the kid only fired about 50 rds through it.
Uberti, 1997
Got it the other day. It stunk to high heaven from whatever they had been shooting with it. The bases of the cylinders were a little rusted, but it cleaned up really nice. The internals show almost no wear. The trigger, the hammer notches, and the hand tip look like they are new. Looks like I got a good find at 225.

[sjohns]

I wanted to thank you publicly for the Dragoon 45 long colt cylinder. As soon as I can get some cool days, I'll get out to the range here and test it out.
I just want you to know that I really appreciated that.
Scott

[Old Fuff]

The Walker/Dargoon series of Colt revolvers were massive because Sam Walker convinced Sam Colt that his experience dictated that something bigger then .36 caliber was needed to get the job done. Given the steel that was available at the time, Colt made the Walker's cylinder the size it was because anything smaller wouldn't hold six chambers, and as it was some cylinders burst. That resulted in a shortened cylinder (to hold a lighter powder charge) and a slightly shortened revolver - which became the Dragoons. They were largely used in the beginning by militry units assigned to escort wagon trains going west to California and Oregon.

But the late 1850's steels had improved, although Colt imported the bar stock used to make cylinders for a new proposed Army revolver from Sweden. The better material allowed him to reduce the size of the cylinder but still keep 6 chambers. The resulting revolver became the 1860 Army, which was only slightly larger then the .36 caliber 1851 Navy.

[pohill]

Recoil Rob - your Dad is a Korean War vet...impressive. I have a friend who is also a Korean War vet - I knew him 10 yrs before I found this out. They (Korean War vets) don't seem to talk about it much.
The Forgotten War...

[Smokin_Gun]

SG!

I wanted to thank you publicly for the Dragoon 45 long colt cylinder. As soon as I can get some cool days, I'll get out to the range here and test it out.
I just want you to know that I really appreciated that.
Scott

Well you are most certainly welcome Sjohns. I'm glad you got a Dragoon, and know you will enjoy shootin' it...and you'll appreciate that R&D Cylinder .45LC and the accuracy it will project from that Dragoon. Glad you are happy with it Scott.

Many carried the Dragoon as a side arm well after the War of Northern Aggression. It ain't all that heavy as to remain on a horse as soley a horse pistol. Not a gunslingers choice but it draws faster than a Walker...LoL!

[BigG]

Here is a pic of my Colt 3rd Generation 3rd Model Dragoon. The bad pic is my fault but the revolver is pristine.
http://thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=41476&stc=1&d=1151146836

[Smokin_Gun]

BigG you have xlint taste...
Here we go now we have a Pair a Colt Signature Series Dragoons...which will beat a full house anywhere. LoL!
http://i4.tinypic.com/15oxfg1.jpg
I guess I'll have to take some new pics with out the R&D Clyinder that Sjohns now owns..HeHe!

[sjohns]

Fluted cylinder?

[Smokin_Gun]

Looks like don't it...I think it's a reflection though...

[Old Fuff]

Don't think so, Colt did experiment with full-fluted cylinders on 3rd. model Dragoons, as well as 1860 Army revolvers and some long guns. Just about everything Colt did in percussion revolvers has been duplicated by the replica makers - and some thing also that he never thought of (think 1851 Navy revolvers in .44 caliber).

[Manyirons]

Fluff got it! Thems flutes! Aint tha kind ya play!

[BigG]

Your eyes ain't deceiving ya - them is flutes. Full length of cylinder. Silverplated grip frame. I wish you could see the blue on that puppy. There is no current production gun that has bluing like that Dragoon.