Dance revolvers
Pietta has produced five different variations of the Dance revolver. These were first commissioned by Tony Gajewsky to produce the .36cal Dance revolver for Dance Firearms, Angelton, TX. and thus marked. Only thirty-five revolvers with the Dance Firearms markings were delivered. Pietta also delivered four prototype .44cal Dance revolvers marked Dance Firearms. These had rebated cylinders. A lawsuit over sales rights of the .36cal Dance revolvers prevents Pietta from ever making anymore .36cal revolvers.
A third variation was seventy .36cal Dance revolvers that were only marked with Pietta’s markings on the left side of the barrel. These were the last of the .36cal revolvers shipped to Tony.
Pietta continued producing the .44cal Dance revolver with rebated cylinder distributed though Dixie Gun Works. These had 7 ½” barrels. These were actually built on the 1851 Navy frame in .44cal. Re-enactors did not like these because of the rebated cylinder so Pietta redesigned the revolver with a shorter straight cylinder and an 8” barrel which is sold today though several distributors.
The original .44cal Dance Brothers revolvers were more the size of the Colt Dragoon but not as big making it larger than the .36cal 1851 Navy but smaller than the Dragoon making this particular revolver hard to fake.