Real Colt Dragoon?

[TreeMan]

Well in the last couple weeks I’ve burned a pound of 3F Goex in this dragoon. I’ve tried 20 25 30 35 40 45 and 50 grain .457 roundball loads. Some with filler, wads, some with no filler or wads. All at 25 yards. I’m sad to say this is the worst shooting handgun of any kind that I’ve ever owned and I’ve had or have a bunch. I’m a consistent winner in BP revolver/handgun matches so I’m not a novice. It’s so bad I wouldn’t even clean it up and try to sell it on here or gunbroker!! Off of shooting bags I could never get a group less than 8-10 inches. I have no idea why it shoots so bad. Everything is tight and the chambers and bore all measure close enough it should do better. I’m gonna clean it and stick it in the curio cabinet.

 

[Bon Sauvage]

Bummer.....the barrel and crown are good?

 

[TreeMan]

Bummer.....the barrel and crown are good?

Yeah barrel is bright and shiny. Until i shot it it appeared unfired. If you notice in the pics I posted at the beginning of this thread there isn’t any crown on the barrel.

 

[Cpt Flint]

TreeMan, I sure would touch up the crown. I use a round abrasive tool from Dremel chucked up in an eggbeater hand drill which has brought rifles back from the dead. Does not take much but it worked.

 

[Malamute]

Thats unfortunate that it doesnt want to shoot. I have a Colt 3rd Dragoon thats been mostly hanging on the wall of my cabin but I plan to shoot it one day. Hoping to shoot a deer at some point with it.

Regarding longer shots, many of us in the west regularly shoot longer distances with other types of pistols, (regular carry type guns, not scoped specialty guns). 300 yards is fairly common for fun shooting, and not all that difficult to make hits on an 18" plate, and by no means impossible one handed. The small amount of shooting I did with an Allen Arms Dragoon to around 75 yards showed it was capable of fair shooting at that distance. i wouldnt hesitate to shoot rabbits at that range with that particular gun (sold after getting a later Colt 3rd) if they were sitting and I had time for a good hold or rest.

Ill drag the 3rd Dragoon out one day and see how it does. Its unfired for now, but I have no reservations about shooting it or trying it on the 300 yard plate.

As a side note, the Allen Arms Dragoon made a particularly impressive deep rolling thunder sound when shooting it in the hills. Quite unlike the flat crack of modern arms and loads.

 

[Bad Karma]

None of the original Colts up until the 1873 model had crowned barrels and most of them shot very well indeed. Sorry to hear that your dragoon is the exception...

 

[Boston Bill]

Thank you for the correction. However, the use of 2Fg in a revolver is a waste of good powder that you could be using in a rifle....

Funny I used to think that also. But I have been perusing this forum for awhile now and it really does not seem to matter. Tho using 4f it is recommended to back off 10% or so over the other sizes.

 

[bigted]

Take the barrel off and examine the forcing come. May be crooked, leaded on one side or just plain too steep.

Does it lead?

Also suggest using a known good lube OVER the ball. This shoves lube down bore AHEAD of the ball.

Another thing to check is alignment of the cylinder chambers with the bore. This above all is responsible for patterns instead of groups.