Finding a Colt's Dragoon

unstableryan said:
My father in law has a mint 1858 Remington that's been in the family for 120-140 years or so. Cowboy had a bullet wound and great maybe great great grandpa was a doctor that patched him up. He didn't have very much money, so he bartered his pistol instead. It's still in gorgeous shape. I bought a 1860 colt pietta to take the FIL out and shoot something functionally similar. I like the rem design better though.
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That's a great story to go along with the revolver. If I can't find an antique status Colt's Dragoon, while I'm looking or saving, I may instead get a Uberti 1858 carbine. Although I've heard these can pepper your face with powder and potentially broken caps.
 
I suppose it depends on what your budget is like and how patient you are, just from what I’ve seen they seem to run that 6-8k mark in fair condition, when they show up at all. I don’t remember the last one I saw in the EE, I’ve seen 2-3 including that last one I mentioned at auction houses which seems to be the best bet. Have you tried reaching out to any of the shops like OldGunsCanada and asked what they’re seeing south of the border? I know Chris from the above mentioned is regularly touring gunshows down south to find nice articles but I don’t recall even him bringing any dragoons up in some time, he might have better insight to the prices and conditions in your criteria though.
 
MosinMan13 said:
I suppose it depends on what your budget is like and how patient you are, just from what I’ve seen they seem to run that 6-8k mark in fair condition, when they show up at all. I don’t remember the last one I saw in the EE, I’ve seen 2-3 including that last one I mentioned at auction houses which seems to be the best bet. Have you tried reaching out to any of the shops like OldGunsCanada and asked what they’re seeing south of the border? I know Chris from the above mentioned is regularly touring gunshows down south to find nice articles but I don’t recall even him bringing any dragoons up in some time, he might have better insight to the prices and conditions in your criteria though.
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I am wondering if the least expensive route would be importing, finding a frame or poor condition revolver to restore? I have been searching the web, and messaged two antique firearms dealers in Canada, one of which said they have not seen any recently.
 
MattieRoss said:
That's a great story to go along with the revolver. If I can't find an antique status Colt's Dragoon, while I'm looking or saving, I may instead get a Uberti 1858 carbine. Although I've heard these can pepper your face with powder and potentially broken caps.
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Black powder cap and ball is a experience. From my personal experience with it, generally it is romanticized a lot more than it is practical.

I have a 1858 Remington copy which is a real pain to actually use. Spend a bunch of time loading it, black powder fouling happens quick meaning your getting limited usage (18 rds or so was what I found before serious cleaning needed), and realistically it isn't that accurate.

For black powder shooting I found a single shot musket more fun as I found it easier to keep the powder fouling down on and the ratio of work to shoot was better (gets rather boring loading a black powder revolver just to fire the 6 shots quick).

I would recommend trying to find someone with one to try out before going though all the effort to realize it isn't quite what your looking for.
 
MattieRoss said:
I am wondering if the least expensive route would be importing, finding a frame or poor condition revolver to restore? I have been searching the web, and messaged two antique firearms dealers in Canada, one of which said they have not seen any recently.
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There’s a user here Menno, I would ask him, I’m not speaking for him but he always seems to find the coolest stuff. Antiquefirearmscanada.com also finds some nice stuff and I’ve seen his stuff on GP, possibly even here before.

That or you stroll the auction sites full time.

My only doubts with the idea of building one up is the rarity of finding a complete dragoon let alone a salvage one, and if you do find a salvageable piece, how bad is even the frame going to be. The assumption is because it’s for parts that you’d be saving money but experience tells especially these days that everything is priced proportionately (still hyper inflated though) You’ll either need to source and fit all the rare original parts, or source someone’s parts kit off a modern replica and try to fit them to an original frame which by the time you’re done doing it properly might cost you a fair bit as well. Provided you all those stars and planets above align perfectly, you’ll probably not end up saving much for what amounts to possibly a very sketchy example. It might almost be more worthwhile you save a little more money over the same amount of time for a numbers matching but okay condition gun.

Or compromise with an 1860 which are plentiful.
 
Eaglelord17 said:
Black powder cap and ball is a experience. From my personal experience with it, generally it is romanticized a lot more than it is practical.

I have a 1858 Remington copy which is a real pain to actually use. Spend a bunch of time loading it, black powder fouling happens quick meaning your getting limited usage (18 rds or so was what I found before serious cleaning needed), and realistically it isn't that accurate.

For black powder shooting I found a single shot musket more fun as I found it easier to keep the powder fouling down on and the ratio of work to shoot was better (gets rather boring loading a black powder revolver just to fire the 6 shots quick).

I would recommend trying to find someone with one to try out before going though all the effort to realize it isn't quite what your looking for.
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I have done BP shooting before, smooth bore musket, percussion rifle and tried someone's 1851 revolver at a range. I love it! I agree that smoothbore is probably the most fun, but a second to that for me was the revolver. What I'm referring to is a Uberti 1858 percussion revolver carbine (non-restricted). The problem with them, from what I've seen on YouTube, is that your face is very close to the cylinder and it throws back quite a bit of powder and fragments.
 
MattieRoss said:
I had returned to college to upgrade my education, and postponed buying anything I didn't need at the time. After graduating I had anticipated buying a Colt's Dragoon Second Model as a gift to myself. Sadly, I graduated after the freeze. I believe my only option at this time is to find an antique. I am open to rebuilding one from an antique frame if that is less expensive, however I cannot find any and complete originals are over 10K.

Any suggestions?
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There is a guy who has a utube channel. I think it's call Snappers antique firearms. If you can't find him message me and I can find him for you. Anyway his first cap lock was a original colt dragoon haha.
He is a great source of information on types of stuff we like. But a original colt dragoon is unusual purchase for first time percussion buyer. Pretty big financial commitment into something you might not even like.
That darn loading lever falling down every time you shoot it would drive me nuts.
 
Valiant said:
But a original colt dragoon is unusual purchase for first time percussion buyer.
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That’s what sticks out for me, that’d be like getting into cars by picking up a 72 Cutlass.

Really the only reason I could think to buy an original Dragoon would be collectability, if you’re a serious Colt or Percussion collector it’s a must have, but aside from that it puts the same sized ball as a Rem 1858 or a Colt 1860, in relatively the same place, for twice the powder and half the reliability.
 
Valiant said:
There is a guy who has a utube channel. I think it's call Snappers antique firearms. If you can't find him message me and I can find him for you. Anyway his first cap lock was a original colt dragoon haha.
He is a great source of information on types of stuff we like. But a original colt dragoon is unusual purchase for first time percussion buyer. Pretty big financial commitment into something you might not even like.
That darn loading lever falling down every time you shoot it would drive me nuts.
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I am surprised no one realized I'm a big fan of a certain book and movie. :) I am aware of the issues with the firearm.
 
MattieRoss said:
I have done BP shooting before, smooth bore musket, percussion rifle and tried someone's 1851 revolver at a range. I love it! I agree that smoothbore is probably the most fun, but a second to that for me was the revolver. What I'm referring to is a Uberti 1858 percussion revolver carbine (non-restricted). The problem with them, from what I've seen on YouTube, is that your face is very close to the cylinder and it throws back quite a bit of powder and fragments.
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I have the Uberti 1858 carbine. Love it. Never had a problem with it jamming up. Always use lots of lube over the balls, olive oil and beeswax. Never had caps or pieces come back at me. They do blow some gas back but it really isn’t that bad. Glasses are needed. I have put over 80 shots through without cleaning. You can also buy a 45 Colt cylinder for them. Biggest problem I have is the back site is blurry even with my glasses. Found a scope mount for it and mounted a pistol scope on it. Best pictures I could get with out digging it out. Just put the scope on so hopefully I can get out and site it in before too long.
 

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Snider shooter said:
I have the Uberti 1858 carbine. Love it. Never had a problem with it jamming up. Always use lots of lube over the balls, olive oil and beeswax. Never had caps or pieces come back at me. They do blow some gas back but it really isn’t that bad. Glasses are needed. I have put over 80 shots through without cleaning. You can also buy a 45 Colt cylinder for them. Biggest problem I have is the back site is blurry even with my glasses. Found a scope mount for it and mounted a pistol scope on it. Best pictures I could get with out digging it out. Just put the scope on so hopefully I can get out and site it in before too long.
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That looks so great! Which company did you order it from? Thank you for telling me your experience with it. Most Youtuber's seem to say it's very uncomfortable to shoot due to blowback.
 
dan belisle said:
Yes, they're both good movies. Maybe when they do the third version they'll get it closer to the book, which was pretty much all from the girl's point of view. Good read and movies, anyway. - dan
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I don't know if you can top the 2010 version's soundtrack and cinematography. It was beautiful, and I was happy it included the afterward showing Mattie when she is older.
 
MattieRoss said:
That looks so great! Which company did you order it from? Thank you for telling me your experience with it. Most Youtuber's seem to say it's very uncomfortable to shoot due to blowback.
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Phrophet River was the only place that had them available when I decided to buy one. I also bought the Uberti 1873 revolving carbine in 44-40 from them. Since i bought mine they have gone up in price by $250-$300. Bought mine 2 years ago.
The revolving carbines are the closet we can get to a pistol currently without going antique. I already had a Remington 1858 pistol so I figured they would make a good pair.
I was worried about blow back when I first bought it as my 22 Rancher blows a fair bit back. Uberti’s are better fit at the cylinder gap so actually less blow back. If you where closer I’d let you try mine.
 
Valiant said:
Didnt John Wayne's character mistakenly call the guys colt walker a dragoon in that movie? Been years since I've seen it so maybe remembering it wrong
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In the scene where the girl hands her poppa his revolver, it's clearly a Dragoon. When Wayne grabs it and points it over the girl's shoulder, it looks very much like a walker. I'm not an expert on them, though I own examples of both. Walker is quite a bit bigger in the hand. - dan
 
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