Is there such a gun as a Walker Dragoon?

B

Big-Blue

New member
I've seen guns posted on the web and YouTube labelled as "Walker Dragoon." Is that right, or are they mixing the Walker with the smaller Dragoon?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that there were eight Colt black powder revolvers:
  1. Paterson .36 cal
  2. Walker .44 cal
  3. Dragoon (1, 2, and 3) .44 cal
  4. 1851 Navy .36 cal
  5. 1861 Navy .36 cal
  6. 1860 Army .44 cal
  7. Police .36 cal
  8. Pocket .28 and .31 cal
 
Going off my knowledge, a Dragoon for all intensive purposes was "An improved Walker" with obvious improvements being made to the loading lever mechanism etc (as I am sure you know.) The closest thing I could see someone mixing up with the naming is a Whitneyville-Hartford Dragoon, which was kind of a bastard child of Walker parts and improved parts.

That phrasing almost sound like someone calling a Browning Hi-Power a 1911-Hi-Power or something similar... Just my opinion on that one, and it will be nice to see what more knowledgeable folks decide to say in response.
 
I think the term Dragoon was used for large pistols that were carried in holsters on the saddle. Dragoon used to be a term for cavalry soldiers.
So I guess a Walker would be considered a Dragoon in those days.
I could be wrong though.:)
 
The dragoons were a large revolver, but smaller than the walker.
The walker was the largest, made to order, with only a few made. Something on the order of a hundred or two, iirc.
 
All of the names/designations of Colt percussion revolvers back in the day are no where near what they are called today. Today's names are modern 'Collectors names' or made up designations by replica makers & Importers.

eg. The 1862 Police made by Pietta is in all actuality a short barreled 1861 Navy (originally called the New Model Belt Pistol of Navy Caliber) with a half fluted cylinder.

Big Blue - you forgot the .31 Caliber 1848/1849 pocket models, and the 1855 Root revolver. And, original Patersons came in .28, .31, .34, and .40 calibers.

Gunfxr - Walkers were production guns from the Whitneyville armory. There were 880 military and 220 civilian models of them made as well as 240 Whitneyville - Hartford Dragoons - Which could have easily been called a 2nd Model or Improved Walker
 
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Howdy

Mu books say 1000 Walkers were produced for the Military contract, and another 100 were produced for civilian sales. 240 Whitneyville-Hartford Dragoons were produced. After that came the regular Dragoon series.
 
Quite a few overlooked, including Paterson's in .28, .31 and .34 calibers. FWIW, dragoons were mounted infantry; they rode to the battlefield, but fought dismounted. (The U.S. had no units officially designated as cavalry until the Civil War period; prior to that mounted troops were called "dragoons" or "mounted rifles".)

Jim
 
Like stated above....I think the generic terms the pistols made after the initial Walkers were dragoons. I think the original Walker was not named dragoon until the new improved versions came out.
 
Dragoons were a type of heavy cavalry, not all cavalry.
The United States Mounted Militia called themselves Dragoons and ordered a bunch of Colt Model 1848 Percussion Army Revolver, based on the Walker, that came to be called Colt Dragoons. Sam Colt being a consummate marketing type.
 
Dragoons were infantry who were given additional mobility by being horse mounted. They were expected to fight on foot. Over time, the title became honorific (like fusiliers or grenadiers or modernly, light infantry).
 
The large .44 cal revolvers were not called Colt Dragoons until sometime in the 20th Century when collectors and historians got involved. Col Colt - in his advertising from the 1850s - called his percussion revolvers "Colt's Patent Repeating Pistols, Army, Navy, and Pocket Sizes".

What we know as Dragoons were also called Cavalry or Holster Pistols in Colt literature.
 
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Uberti makes a copy of a gun historically between the Walker and the Dragoons. Namely the Colt 'Whitneyville'. It's big like a dragoon.

Whitney invented interchangeable parts, or so we were told in grade school when teacher listed all famous inventors.
 
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