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.50 caliber Colt Dragoon?

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Eras Gone said:
50 CALIBER DRAGOON?

I bought this recently on Gunbroker. It was billed as a standard Armi-San Marco 3rd Model Dragoon. Imagine my surprise when a .460 bullet fell into the chamber! The gun was made in 1981 and shows no signs of being fired. The chambers are .480 and the barrel is the same caliber and has standard rifling.
A .495 ball for a .50 caliber muzzle loading rifle will leave a nice ring of lead when loading in the chamber.

There are no caliber markings on the gun, and the reaming (you can see the shoulder in the chamber left from reaming) appears to have been done before the cylinder was hot blued.

Has anyone run across one of these before. Is it a factory alteration, or has someone converted this to .50 later?

Any insight on this curiosity would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Have you been shooting this one?

as an aside, I sure miss ol’ Sourdough… a real gentleman.
 
those cylinder walls look thin to me for heavy loads but my .50 trapper is a nail driver at 50yrds with 25g of tripple seven which i imagine would be plenty safe in that wheel Gun.
 
nick_1 said:
those cylinder walls look thin to me for heavy loads but my .50 trapper is a nail driver at 50yrds with 25g of tripple seven which i imagine would be plenty safe in that wheel Gun.
Click to expand...
I dunno, they look at least as thick as an Old Army. Hard to tell from here. Be nice if someone would put a caliper on them though.
 
nick_1 said:
those cylinder walls look thin to me for heavy loads but my .50 trapper is a nail driver at 50yrds with 25g of tripple seven which i imagine would be plenty safe in that wheel Gun.
Click to expand...
Any of the six shooters are much thinner than that in the bottom of the bolt knocks. The one good thing about the dragoon is the cylinders are not rebated as in a number of other models . One does not want to ream down very deep into those chambers (rebated) for opening up the mouths.
In the ROA the cylinders are of 4140 and equivalent stainless barrel steel so they are plenty thick for black powder pressure.
 
Last edited:
Similar experience, bought one off Gunbroker, went to load it and the .451 bullet fell into the chamber.
Was a little dumbfounded at first, then I remembered this thread. Using a caliper the cylinders are .482 to .483, the forcing cone is .484 at the leading edge. The most I get at the muzzle is .482.
Eras Gone said:
50 CALIBER DRAGOON?

I bought this recently on Gunbroker. It was billed as a standard Armi-San Marco 3rd Model Dragoon. Imagine my surprise when a .460 bullet fell into the chamber! The gun was made in 1981 and shows no signs of being fired. The chambers are .480 and the barrel is the same caliber and has standard rifling.
A .495 ball for a .50 caliber muzzle loading rifle will leave a nice ring of lead when loading in the chamber.

There are no caliber markings on the gun, and the reaming (you can see the shoulder in the chamber left from reaming) appears to have been done before the cylinder was hot blued.

Has anyone run across one of these before. Is it a factory alteration, or has someone converted this to .50 later?

Any insight on this curiosity would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
 
I just had a similar experience, got it off Gunbroker. Looks similar to yours but has the extra screws for a butt stock though the grips aren't set up for it. Cylinders are .482, cone is .484 and the muzzle is .482. The date code is AH so it would appear to be a 81.
 
I have long wanted a revolver that can seat a .490 roundball.

I had no idea there were any made. Have seen a .40 pistol made from a .36 and that would be pretty spiffy gun to have also.

I had no idea these pistols were once a thing and I am also rather surprised it didn't take hold in the modern market. 1 size roundball for my rifle and revolver...? How did that not catch on?
 
Bernie Schneider said:
I just had a similar experience, got it off Gunbroker. Looks similar to yours but has the extra screws for a butt stock though the grips aren't set up for it. Cylinders are .482, cone is .484 and the muzzle is .482. The date code is AH so it would appear to be a 81.
Click to expand...
Ya know… if you ever decide to part with it… I’d happily take it off your hands! Mean that.
 

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