PWC
Member
Was the black powder Walker 44, open frame called a horse pistol or a dragoon the most powerful handgun until the 45 Mag?
Have heard called a horse pistol because it can take a horse at 100 yards and or it takes a horse to carry it. Both sound right to me. I like shooting mine but don't think carrying it on my side would be comfortable at all.
Yep! They were called horse pistols because they were carried in pommel holsters. They weren't really considered belt guns.I always thought that they were called horse pistols because they were carried on the saddle horn of the horse. They were generally too big to carry on a belt. The Dragoon is slightly smaller and has a latch for the loading lever
I'd imagine the most common reaction was, "How come youre walking all leaned over to the right? And what's wrong with your shoulder?"I remember years ago a friend of mine was an Assistant Chief Patrol Agent at a USBP Sector on the southern border and every now and then he would wear a Walker in a shoulder holster under a suit coat! He never left the USBP grounds so armed, but he would wear it around the Sector and Station to see what reaction he would get from the guys.
Have heard called a horse pistol because it can take a horse at 100 yards and or it takes a horse to carry it. Both sound right to me. I like shooting mine but don't think carrying it on my side would be comfortable at all.
That was a Christmas present from my wife, our first year of marriage.Craig,
That's the first cartridge conversion I've seen on a Dragoon. Did you buy it that way (i.e. is someone making them) or did you build it yourself? Inquiring minds want to know.
Dave
---I read one of the specifications for the Walker was "50 round balls to the pound" which meant a 140 grain ball over 50 grains of BP as opposed to the 250 grain bullet of the 45 Long Colt over 40 grains of BP. So I would compare it more to the 38 Hi Speed, 38-44 that preceded the .357.
Dragoon was mounted Calvary that dismounted to fight. Found thru out Europe, the name derived from the firearm the 17th century mounted Calvary carried . A wheel lock blunder buss often decorated at the muzzle in the likeness of a dragon, so referred to as a Dragon. Taken from Wikipedia.
So it seems Sam Colt carried the name full circle naming his three improved Walker style revolvers Dragoon’s. The 1860 Army however was an upsized version of the 1851 Navy, with the 1861 Navy a downsized version of the 1860 Army.
---In the Arsenal Museum, We have a storage room which contains over ten thousand artifacts. Everything that is not a firearm.....that we don't have room to display. We have Indian arrowheads and spear points, bayonets, uniforms, medals, Flags, Nazi artifacts, and ....holsters for just about every pistol ever used by the U.S. Military. Pictured are a pair original pommel holsters for Walker Colts. ( Well, one side at least. ) They appear to have seen rough service....but still Incredibly rare and valuable.
oops, I duplicated the original!!