Colt Dragoon Revolver

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is uncategorized.

Please help improve this article by adding it to one or more categories, so it may be associated with related articles (how?). Please remove this tag after categorizing, but not before.
This page has been tagged since April 2007.

It was 1846, the state of Texas was to do battle with Mexico the second time. Captain Sam Walker was sent east by General Zachary Taylor to meet with Samuel Colt concerning the creation of 1000 special holster pistols for use by the Rangers to tame the Texas frontier and quell the Mexican mess on the border. Walker was selected because of his knowledge of Colt firearms. The new revolver was to be bigger, much bigger. The Dragoon Revolver was introduced in 1848 when the Mexican War ended. It was used for the U.S. Army's Rifles. The Colt Dragoon Revolver was mostly used during the 1850s and '60s for the American Civil War.

1 Size
2 Popularity
3 Production
4 Present
5 Refrences

[edit] Size

The Dragoon was produced because of the problems of the Colt Walker revolver. These problems were the Walker's large size, four and a half pounds. The cylinders of the revolvers some times exploded. The Colt Dragoon Revolver had a comparatively shorter cylinder and held up to 50 grains of powder and a round ball. It had a shorter barrel at 7.5 inches (some later revolvers 8 inches) as compared to the 9 inches barrel on the Walker. A loading lever latch in front of the lever replaced the spring to keep the lever surely from dropping during recoil and prevented jamming of the revolver. These variations made the Colt Dragoon Revolver 4 pounds two ounces. These changes reduced risks of the Colt Dragoon Revolver from exploding when fired.

[edit] Popularity

In the troublesome events that led to the Civil War, Colt Dragoons became extremely popular. In the beginning Colt Dragoon Revolver were issued for the U.S. Army's Mounted Rifles. They were carried in pommel holsters on the saddle. The Colt Dragoon Revolver gained popularity among civilians in the Southwest where many had served in the Mexican War. The Dragoon became a master weapon for civilians who hailed it as a powerful weapon of the time.

[edit] Production

The Colt Dragoon Revolver was produced between 1848 and 1860, when the Colt Model 1860 revolver replaced it. The Dragoon was produced in three diffrent types. The names were First Model, Second Model, and Third Model Dragoons. Government records showed an order for 8,390 Dragoons. The First Model Colt Dragoon Revolver has oval-shaped cylinder notches, a V-type mainspring and a squareback triggerguard. Colt produced about 7,000 first models between 1848 and 1850. The Second Model had rectangular notches. Until the no. 10 000 the V-shaped mainspring was standard and then replaced with a flat leaf mainspring. All the Second Model Dragoons had the squareback triggerguard. The company made about 2,550 Second Models in 1850 and '51. The Third Model Dragoon numbers stand at ten-thousand between 1851 through 1860. This design had more variations as compared to its earlier counterparts. Some of the third model Colt Dragoon Revolvers had frame cuts for detachable shoulder stocks, horizontal loading lever latches and folding leaf sights. Third Colt Dragoon Revolvers had a round trigger guard.