Some time late in 1858 or early 1859 Colt had several experimental Dragoon revolvers made up. Their cylinders were fluted full length; forward of the trigger and bolt screws the frames were scalloped or reduced in width, while the barrel lug also was thinned out below the barrel wedge. The barrel breech instead of being octagonal was rounded to a continuation of the ordinary round barrel. The fluting of the cylinder, to reduce weight, seems to have also been an effort to equalize stresses in the the chamber walls upon firing. According to Manly Wade Wellman-, author of Giant in Gray, the subject of his biography, General Wade Hampton, CSA, originated this idea: ". . . the pattern of grooves on revolver cylinders, which, as I believe, was first suggested to the Colt factory by Wade Hampton of South Carolina."
According to Glenn E. Davis, quoted in Butler And His Cavalry in the War of Secession, General Hampton said that before the war he had used a Colt's revolver frequently in his hunting. The old style of pistol then had smooth cylinders. On one occasion this cylinder burst when Hampton was shooting it. "He saw that if the cylinders were grooved, the pressure when fired would be more equalized and the danger of bursting would be obviated. General Hampton then wrote to Colt, and explained fully his ideas, telling him if he agreed with him he could use the suggestion as his own. Colt patented the invention and sent General Hampton a very fine pistol specially made and thanked him for the idea."
