Howdy Powder-n-Lead!
I can respect yer advise/opinion bout buying from those places. I remember when Cimorron first started up. The thing about inspecting the guns and mandating a high standard was a good part of the promotion and still is I'd guess but.........there is still a small chance of getting a lemon.
The return policy may be better now than when I dealt with them. Things change and sometimes even change fer the better.
Hey! Do they put those Wolf springs in the cap&ballers too? Do the Wolf springs include the hand spring? I wouldn't know fer sure.
I had a lil trouble gettin a good pair of 45 Open Tops some years back. Too many years back probably because things change....sometimes fer the better.
I got a good 38 Open Top right off the bat but the dang 45's kept comin up with problems in the wedge fit area. Either the wedge couldn't go in far enough without being way too tight in the cylinder gap area or....the wedge all the way in had the barrels on too loose. I'd exchange at the retailer but did send and wait fer one to be fixed. It was too loose and came back tightened up some. Someone took a hammer to the arbor and peened it at the front of the slot. I got that one exchanged after another wait or two sending it back. The other two that were that way I just had the front of the arbor slots welded some and re-filed/fit a factory wedge and that solved the problems and they are still runnin fine. It is nice to be able to take the chance and fix on stuff yerself. It's always nice when ya don't flub it up too.
I don't like havin ta work on a brand new gun.
One thing I look fer or at in a cap&baller or cartridge gun is the rifling in the barrels. I check out the muzzle where it can be apparent that the grooves are the same depth or "some of the grooves deeper on one side than the other". Sometimes a good bit of a difference and.....those barrels don't shoot worth a damn.
I can do a fix on some fer people with riflings deeper on one side than the other(that makes a gun shoot like the crown is flubbed up). I use a piloted reamer and take the crown off and leave the muzzle flat faced and perpendicular to the centerline of the bore. With the crown removed and shooting a bullet that fits the barrel well ,getting to the bottom of all the grooves regardless of differing depths, the gun will shoot much better(not like a gun with a bad crown).
A gun with grooves deeper on one side than the other actually makes a bad crown and lets gases erupt from one side before the other and that pushes the bullets and destabilizes them and they fly bad and hit bad with bad groups.
Once the crown is removed and flat faced off the gases erupt from the grooves simaltaneously and even and the gun shoots better even with uneven rifling grooves.
Italian revolvers,mostly cap&ballers but cartridge too, can have the uneven rifling grooves depth problem more often than some may realize.
The moral of that story is...I have bad luck and some defected guns find their way thru the inspections then on to the retailers. Retailers will usually exchange guns when they aren't fired yet. Maybe the ones I was getting were the only ones that weren't quite up to par. Retaliers don't seem to really like people that don't like uneven depth to rifling grooves in the barrels I've found. Most people don't check that type of thing. If yer gun shoots quirpy and there's no apparent reason try checking the rifling depth at the muzzle.
I've had a new Richards/Mason 44 fer years with a slightly off alignment of the chambers to the bore. I still gotta fix that one.My luck is that bad.
All things said and done.....I'd buy another one of their guns. I like the inscription stampd on top the barrels. I figger that's good fer resale even though I never re-sell any I buy.
The truth be known.....I've had trouble buying guns and parts from all the major players. Most of the time the retailers will make good fer an Hombre. The ones that came and went usually were the ones that had bad customer service. There used to be more sellers of the Italian guns.
Things aren't all that bad all things considered. I still buy Italian guns. I'm addicted to the dang things.
I like to buy from near/by retailers where I can see and handle the guns before a purchase. That makes me feel confident about the guns.
Some things aren't apparent until the guns are test fired though.
ha ha ha ha
One thing I should add to answer better the original guestion bout which to buy between the Dragoon and the Remington is........the Remington is easier to break into the cap&baller world in my opinion. No hassels with the confusing wedge and cylinder gap and all that the Colts have. Less cap jams and all. The Remington was actually designed better than the Colts I thunk.