Dragoon Revolver Case

When I was in high school I built a case for a friends 3rd Model Colt Dragoon. Years have passed since I saw the case until the other day it resurfaced when he contacted me and mentioned that the mortise lock that I had used was sticking and the box would not longer catch shut. Well, it turned out to be a minor problem and a bit of cleaning and oil fixed the problem, but I thought someone might like to see some photos (taken with my friends permission). The box has a few more dings and the lining isn't in the greatest shape anymore, but it was still fun to see something I made over 20 years ago. I would do some things different now of course, but I guess it served its intended function.

At that time I was really into making these cases and it was what I thought an American Colt case would look like. The wood used was walnut with mitered corners and a raised dust lip. I made quite a few of the London style cases with dovetails and secondary catches, but I haven't seen one of those in years. I kick myself many times for never keeping some of these things.

Exceptional!!! Beautiful.

That's lovely. Nice tight miters. I was afraid to use miters on the box I built because I wondered if they'd be strong enough but clearly that's not an issue.

What species of wood is it?

Great job, I loved the well seasoned balls! :thumbsup: Not sure about the gidgit with the red cord, I thought Colt used green cord on his gidgits! :wink: :rotf:

Thanks for the comments. In answer to the earlier question the case is made of walnut, though the more common wood used would have been mahogany. Most American Colt casings were mitered, there were some exceptions such as Patterson cases and some of the earlier presentation pieces from Colt's revival period and some very special cased sets later on. The English used dovetails in most of the cases that I have examined and Colt did also in the London operation. These tend to be much more refined with secondary hook catches, lidded compartments, and just an overall better fit and finish than the run of the mill American case. I made far more of the English style just because I liked the refinements and enjoyed working on them more.

This case was built before I realized that the bottoms were inset so it is a bit thicker than it should have been. The red string was I believe for carrying a flask and the other object is a silver plated oil bottle. I wish he had brought the revolver back when I repaired the case as last I saw it was wearing a set of simulated ivory grips I made for him at the same time.

It suddenly dawned on me the bottle was reflecting ceiling lights and not all inlaid like a perfume bottle from a Turkish whore-house! See where your mind goes when you've been sitting at home with a case of "whatevers going' round" instead of out in the woods playing 'up a tree guy'?! :rotf: Besides which, I was just 'funning' you! :wink:

That is really beautiful it's a shame you no longer make them. I always liked theenglish style myself especially their double cases like this
http://percussionrevolvers.com/index.php?topic=61.0

That is a beautiful cased set, and, somewhat unusual as far as English cases go. Most of the English Colt cases that I have seen are dovetailed and made out of oak and feature hook secondary catches, rather than the mechanical type shown here. I never could source out secondary mechanical catch like the ones in the photographs, but I did build a pair once and it took me longer to make those than it did to build the box they were fit into.

Some of the English cases also feature thinner side pieces than the front which is a neat detail. Finding the correct bag flask for the larger revolvers was difficult when I was building them, but I think you can get more appropriate flasks now. The smaller bag flasks for the pocket revolvers were always relatively easy to get.

I have a few orphan revolvers so maybe I will get around to building a few more at some point, but for now I have way too many irons in the fire to deal with first.

That is a really nice case, thank you for showing it!

Thanks for posting those , realy wish they were mine

The case in this link is what is the norm in composition and material, where as the oak and dovetails is later or low end . The cases were made by contracters to the specs of the purchaser or agent .A good source of photos of English cases is the book Col. Colt London .

nice looking case!

Good work by the way :thumbsup:

That's quality work. :thumbsup: