The "mighty" Virginian Dragoon

[Arizonan]

I have two of these fine weapons. One is in 44 Mag, and the other is in a 357.
44 is a 6in barrel blued /case hardened. And the 357 is a fixed site SS 5in weapon. The 357 has got the smoothest action and trigger I have felt. Even better then my 63 Python. These guns are built super strong. Super reliable and just fun to shoot.
Quality like this is a thing of the past in my opinion. The 44 was manf: 1978 and the 357 was manf: 1983 People think they are heavy. I think they carry there weight in all the right places
Any fellow gunners have a Virginian Dragoon and feel the way I do?

 

[Wil Terry]

Yep.
Nope.

 

[bannockburn]

No never owned a Virginian Dragoon but did like the early '70s models that were made by Hammerli and inported by Interarms. I think they were available with 3 barrel lengths (much like a typical Colt Single Action Army), and were chambered for the .357 Mag and .45 Colt.

 

[Liberty1776]

2 - both .44 mag. One 6" blue and case-hardened, one 8" stainless. Still can't decide if I like them better or less than my Ruger Blackhawk.

 

[BobWright]

Bannockburn said:

No never owned a Virginian Dragoon but did like the early '70s models that were made by Hammerli and inported by Interarms. I think they were available with 3 barrel lengths (much like a typical Colt Single Action Army), and were chambered for the .357 Mag and .45 Colt.

These guns were simply The Virginian models. And very good copies of the old Colt.

The Virginian Dragoons were American made in Virginia and compared favorable to the Ruger Blackhawks, but lacked the flowing lines of the Ruger. And the only ones I ever fired had "mushy" feeling single action let-off.

Incidentally, the Virginian was the gun that introduced the "Swiss Safe" safety system.

Bob Wright

 

[mackg]

I've got a .44 Dragoon and a .45 Blackhawk.

It took me years to get both out at the same time. Before that I thought that the Dragoon was more lightly built because of its lines... Turned out that the Ruger is lighter, skinny and looks hacksawed.

 

[bannockburn]

BobWright

I remember seeing an ad for the Virginian in Guns and Ammo magazine back in the summer of 1973 and thinking that was one fine looking copy of a Colt SAA.

The 1975 edition of Gun Digest had an excellent article written by Donald R. Simmons in regards to the new safety designs for imported single action revolvers that came about following the GCA 1968. The Hammerli "Swiss Safe" cylinder pin safety design was one of those mentioned in the article.

An Interarms ad from Guns and Ammo for the Virginian.

 

[bannockburn]

To get this back on topic here's an Interarms ad for the new Virginian Dragoon from the January 1977 issue of Guns and Ammo.