Fuel Injected Dragoon

[Marc Adamchek]

Yes, it's been awhile, life can still flip things upside down whenever you're not ready, which is always.

Last I spoke over a month ago about a never-fired Colt Dragoon that was frozen in time. Pull hammer back, cylinder doesn't move, except when I kinda forced it to a bit. Remember?

Well I finally did get a roasting pan and a gallon of kerosene and took Zonie's advice and soaked the gun in it. It's been soaking about 24 hours and it still doesn't seem to want to cooperate, although I am being very gentle with it.

I guess I'll soak it another day and see where things are. But being the optimist I am I figure everything will still be frozen and I'll still need to get that hammer to half-cock so I can disassemble the beast to clean it up and see what's broken and what's not.

My question: At the appointed hour, should I just damn the torpedoes and pull the hammer back to half-cock because the hand's probably broken already anyway and I need to disassemble it?

Should I hold the trigger back when I pull the hammer back?

What else would you suggest?

 

[Drago]

If kerosene does'nt work, try transmission fluid and acetone or some SOK penetrating fluid if you can find some. Hopefully it will work loose.

 

[hawkeye2]

You don't need to get the hammer to half cock by pulling back on it to take the revolver apart. Pull the grips, back strap, and trigger guard. Take out the trigger/bolt spring and drop the bolt and trigger. Unless the cylinder is frozen to the arbor it should turn easily at this point if you pull the hammer back enough to get the nose of it clear of the nipple recess. You could remove the hammer and hand at this point too. You probably want to disassemble the gun anyway and this won't break anything. Forcing the hand could damage the ratchet on the cylinder.

 

[necchi]

What hawkeye said;
Sooner or later your going to have to disassemble a revolver.
Can't you get the wedge and barrel along with the cylinder off the frame?
That would have been the first thing I did.

 

[bobthemotorcycle]

Is it a real Colt Dragoon?

Maybe the parts were made wrong and they are rubbing so hard as to not work.

Reguardless I would be taking it apart. You may have a reason not to but I am that type that would. Heck, your soaking it in oils that can destroy the petina so why not just take it apart?

 

[hawkeye2]

Unless you can get the hammer back far enough to disengage the bolt from the cylinder notch or you remove the bolt you can't pull the cylinder off the arbor even after you get the barrel off.

 

[Zonie]

Mark:
If it were me, after drying off the kerosene I would dissassemble the gun as far as possible without cocking it.

To do this, get a screw driver that fits the slots on the screws. It's tip should be as wide as possible without interfering with the holes the screw heads are in.

Keep track of where the screws came from because although they look similar their lengths may be slightly different.
(I like to screw each screw into the hole it came from after the part it's holding is removed.)

Loosen and remove the two screws that hold the grip backstrap in place. These are on either side of the hammer.
Remove the one screw that is at the bottom of the grip.

You should now be able to slide the wooden grip and the backstrap off of the frame.

Do not try to twist or remove the mainspring but take note of how it pushes against the bottom of the hammer.

Remove the front screw that holds the trigger guard to the frame.

Loosen and remove the two remaining screws at the rear of the trigger guard. It's a good idea to hold the trigger guard against the frame while your doing this because the mainspring is going to try to shove it up and bind the screws that hold it.

With the screws removed, the trigger guard and mainspring should slide free.

Remove the one screw that holds the trigger/cylinder bolt spring in place.

Notice that the long leg of this spring pushes down on the front of the trigger.

With the spring removed, loosen and remove the rear screw that positions the trigger in place.
Remove the trigger.

Loosen and remove the screw that holds the cylinder bolt in place.
Remove the cylinder bolt.

Loosen and remove the large screw that holds the hammer in place.

You now should be able to slide the hammer down towards the bottom of the frame, dragging the cylinder hand along with it.

With all of these parts removed, the cylinder should turn freely so you can rotate it until the space between the chambers lines up with the loading ram.
Remove the barrel wedge and jack the barrel off of the frame by using the loading lever ram.
Remove the cylinder.

Your done with the dissassembly.

Clean up and examine the parts for wear and damage.

To reassemble the gun just reverse the above instructions.

I should mention that the cylinder hand must be installed on the hammer before you slide it back into position.

Also, the legs of the cylinder bolt should be a light squeeze into the space between the inside of the frame and the side of the hammer.

You will need to position the mainspring with the bottom of the hammer and squeeze the trigger guard a bit against the frame to get the screws started. I found that starting the single front screw in the trigger guard first helped to hold it in place so I could start the two rear screws while holding it against the pressure from the mainspring.
Before you say your done with this, try out the hammer to make sure the mainspring is pushing against it.

My gripframe was slightly sprung so I found that starting the two screws by the hammer first and then starting the one screw at the bottom of the grip made springing the frame into position easier.
Things to remember.
Do NOT tighten any screw until all of the screws holding the item have been started and screwed in several turns.

All of the screws should easily screw a few turns into their holes. If one is resisting, it is cross threaded so loosen it and try again.

 

[Marc Adamchek]

Many Thanks, Gents. Hawkeye Thanks for the tip about getting the cylinder free without pulling back the hammer. A big relief.

Zonie, your step by step guide is very appreciated indeed. I think, no I'm SURE that this is going to be the plan once I dry it off.

I guess I should mention that the grip came off before dunking the dragoon in its bath. Also, I have a Brownell's set of magna-tip drivers because I HATE buggered screws on any of my firearms, so no worries there.

I'll keep you apprised of the situation/drama as it unfolds.

 

[scott taylor]

Almost sounds like a cap jam. My dragoons could eat several and lock up. Zonies advise is sound and legit.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Almost sounds like a cap jam. My dragoons could eat several and lock up. Zonies advise is sound and legit.

That is good advise GST. Don't know how many cap jams I've had during 40 odd years of shooting percussion revolvers. One interesting note about this is that in some of the really old black & white westerns you'll notice guys actually raise the muzzle up past 45 degrees before re-cocking their revolvers. While not necessary for cartridge guns, of course, some of the 20's vintage westerns still had actors who might have actually seen this done to prevent loose, fired caps from dropping in
between hammer and frame.

 

[scott taylor]

I always thought when they raised the barrel up and whipped down when they shot that they could get some more velocity....

 

[George T.]

Tractor Supply here in Texas has PB Blaster in gallons. It will work much better than your solution and the price is not all that bad. You can reuse it as well. Geo. T.

 

[Marc Adamchek]

Geo T - Dare I ask what the "P B" stands for?

I plan on re-using the kerosene once I get the parts out to help clean some stubborn areas, i.e. the cylinder, the arbor, hammer assembly etc.

If that doesn't work enough on those parts hard to get to I was planning on using carburetor cleaner and/or brake parts cleaner, stuiff which I've already got over the bench.

But I'm curious about this "P B Blaster" you mention. What makes it a better choice?

 

[Marc Adamchek]

GST and Wes/Tex, this gun has never been fired. Somebody bought a Colt signature series dragoon as an investment and just let it sit for 30+ years.

But y'know, I'm starting to wonder if the original owner mucked things up a little. The guy I bought it from told me that the guy HE bought it from told him to just let it be,let it sit in the safe, don't touch it, don't pull the hammer, don't move the cylinder. Makes me think that "warning" might have been given to protect detection of a broken hand, etc that he was responsible for.

 

[hawkeye2]

A pure collector buying one for an investment would not want the action to have been cycled even once to prevent damage and scratches and to have a story to go with it. That same person would have saved the box, all related paper work, and the receipts. If he didn't do that then the don'ts may have been a coverup. I wonder how many of us would go to those lengths for a few dollars, guns were made to shoot!

 

[pargent]

Follow Zonie's instructions , a full strip and reassemble should only take you 1/2 an hour .

 

[Marc Adamchek]

Oh yeah, hawkeye, this was definitely a collector. Not only the original box, but the handbook/manual sealed in its cellophane packet, same with the Colt catalog of BP revolvers, sealed in a seperate packet, both "mounted" on the lid. Dragoon packed inits plastic bag, the whole trip.

I'm with you, there's no point in owning a gun if you don't SHOOT the darn thing!