Navy Dragoon?

[kBob]

Looking for something else entirely last night I pulled down a copy of the 1958 Golden States Arms Catolog entitiled "Worlds Guns and other weapons"

After getting my breath back after seeing those pre-64 and pre 68 gun prices and shipping directly to your door I recalled how rare money was in those days half a century back.

Anyhow one entry cought my attention ;

"Very rare officer's model "K.M." Colt, made by the Impirial Machine works at Innesbruck, Austria, undermanufacturing rights granted by Colt in 1849."

How rare? Well the factory engraved (Wolf) 1851 Navy above it was $300 and the plain jane 1862 New Police under it was $95.

It was listed at $750.

It appears to be a Dragoon frame with a .36 bareel assembly that is NOT an 1851 type the barrel being half round and 5 1/4 inches in length.

Before ya'll say it....I can't get a decent copy of the B&W 50 year old catalog picture.

About 1000 were made between '49 and ' 54. Some were issued to officers in a leather covered presenttion box with cleaning rod Mold flask cap box and nipple wrench. The one illustrared is missing the mold.

Ah, the Austrian Navy.....wonder if von Trapp had one of these in the family collection.

Catalog also has adds for Coopers, European Imitation Colts without serial numbers, a Brevete, a Ronge, an Ells, a Joslyn in .44, a couple of Warners and a maynard primed Massachusetts Arms pocket revolver.

oh yeah and some Adams & whomever, Webly, Dean& Harding, and Trantor revovlers, too.

The joys of old book storse and library book sales!

Any how does anyone have more info on the Austrian Navy deal and the guns?

-kBob

 

[pohill]

At the Colt Collection in the CT State Library, they have several Colt prototypes that were never produced. I remember seeing a Dragoon with a topstrap, and a .44 caliber revolver with a round barrel and the hinged loading lever of the 1851 Navy. If Colt granted the rights in 1849, that meant that Colt probably had a patent, correct?

 

[Ginormous]

The Austrian Navy, what a powerhouse that would (not) have been before the Anschluss !

 

[messerist]

I have always wanted a Dragoon C&B revolver. When I was at a gunshow this past March I saw this Uberti Leech and Rigdon beauty NIB sitting on a vendors table all alone with only a $250 pricetag on it(the Horror!) It is a 1951 navy in most respects but the barrel to me resembles a Dragoon. Well the gun is now a member of the family and I feel I have a Junior Dragoon. Now I'm working on Momma to let me get it a big brother.

p.s. Before the First World War the Austrian Navy was a large presence in the Mediterranean, competing with the Italian, French and Turkish navy for dominance. Much of the Balkans were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire...sorry there goes that damn history degree getting in the way again!:banghead:

 

[Fingers McGee]

From Nathan L. Swayze's book '51 Colt Navies:

The K.M. stands for "Kreigs (Koeningen) Marine", or Royal Navy. These '51 Navies were used by the Royal Austrian Navy. The forerunner of the K M marked '51 Navy is the Austrian K.K.P. Dragoon, and it was Mr. Fred Baer, GUNS Vienna correspondent, who connected these two historical revolvers. The Austrian K.K.P. Dragoon is not only the predecessor of the K M marked '51 Navies, but it was made under Colt's Austrian License, and it is a scaled down copy of one of Colt's Dragoons. Because of this, The Austrian K.K.P. Dragoon very definitely has a place alongside the K M marked '51 Navy; so this forerunner or predecessor, of the K M '51 Navy will be described first.

The Austrian Navy was interested in securing Colt's revolvers several years before their acquisition of his '51 Navy. They were probably unsuccessful on the first try due to the lack of interest on the part of Colt's Vienna agent, plus the fact that Colt was behind on his orders at the Hartford factory.

Colt had filed for a patent in Austria, and this patent was granted in 1849.

Joseph Ganahl - of the Imperial, and Royal Priviledged Machinery, Textile, and Spinning Factory of Innsbruck, near the Swiss border in the Tyrols - was one of the patentees authorized by the Emperor to make guns. Gunmaking in Austria was restricted to those few patentees who had been appointed by the Emperor. Ganahl was also licensed to produce guns by Colt's Vienna agent, Herr Schwartz. Colt had given Joseph Ganahl one of his transitional model Dragoons, and it was from this dragoon that Ganahl's factory in Innsbruck was given the manufacturing rights for his Austrian Dragoon for a period of five years.

The name "K.K.P Dragoon" comes from the full name of the Innsbruck factory, which is Kaiserlich-koeniglich Privilegierten Maschinen und Spinen Fabrik. Translated into English, this means "Royal Patent Machine Works".

The book goes onto describe the pistols features and serial numbers. ending with:

From serial numbers of K.K.P. Dragoons in existence today (book was written in 1962), it is believed that only 1000 of these revolvers were made. They are considered to be extremely rare in this country today. A few were cased, and these were apparently for officerss' use.