Another member P.M.'d me yesterday and told me that he had heard that the cylinder "window" of the Walker and the three models of the dragoon are the same size. And that the only thing needed was to mill down the forcing cone and reshape it on the dragoon in order to fit a Walker cylinder.
But there are problems with doing that regarding the oval cylinder bolt stop and oval bolt stop cuts on the cylinder of the Walker, plus possibly requiring a reshaping of the oval bolt stop cut in the frame, since the 2nd and 3rd model dragoons have rectangular bolt stops and cuts. But it might be possible to do more easily on the 1st model dragoon that has the same oval bolt stop and cuts as the Walker.
The 1st model dragoon has a different grip frame from the Walker so its wood grips are square tops (like an 1851) instead of a rounded top like the Walker has. It retains the same square back trigger guard plus the oval bolt stop and oval cylinder bolt stop cuts as the Walker had. And has the same V shaped mainspring as the Walker. The main differences being the 1st model dragoon has a slightly shorter barrel and cylinder than the Walker and the improved loading lever latch.
The 2nd model dragoon also has a square top wooden grip and retains the square back trigger guard but it changed to a flat leaf spring for its mainspring instead of the V shaped mainspring of the Walker and 1st model dragoon. It is also the first dragoon to have a rectangular bolt stop and bolt stop cuts on its cylinder, which changes it from the oval bolt stop and cuts on the Walker and 1st model dragoon.
The third model dragoon (on some of them) had a provision for a shoulder stock, and was otherwise basically the same as the 2nd model, only it omitted the squareback trigger guard and went to a rounded trigger guard. Which makes it instantly able to be recognized as the 3rd model.
So if the person who P.M.'d me is correct about the Walker and all three models of the dragoon having the same cylinder "window" as the Walker, then it might be possible to mill down the forcing cone on a 1st model dragoon and then reshape the forcing cone and then if the bolt stop is in the same position in the frame as it is in the Walker, since the Walker and only the 1st model dragoon had oval cylinder stops and cuts, then maybe it might be possible to use a Walker cylinder in the 1st model dragoon.
It would take some measuring of the location of the oval bolt stop in the 1st model dragoon's frame to see if that oval bolt stop would match up with the oval cuts on the Walker cylinder though before it would be even worthwhile to try that mod. And naturally it would be best if one had both a Walker and a 1st model dragoon to compare and to measure before doing any type of mod to the 1st model dragoon's forcing cone.
But an interesting thing to think about and a way to get a 60 grain Walker cylinder (instead of all three model dragoon's only 50 grain cylinder) into a dragoon frame that also has a slightly shorter barrel and much better loading lever catch.
Any of you guys have both a Walker and a 1st model dragoon that you could measure to see it that would work?
Here's a pic of a Walker and a 1st model dragoon close together. See that gap in front of the cylinder on the dragoon and how much more the forcing cone sticks out than on the Walker? They DO appear like perhaps the cylinder window is the same length. But one would have to measure to make sure and like I said, also measure the position of the dragoon's bolt stop in its frame to make sure it would match up with the Walker's cylinder's bolt stop cuts.
I know the O.P. Mike (duelist1954) has both because he did some checking for me between his Walker and dragoon already and told me the dragoon barrel won't fit onto the longer arbor of the Walker. Hey Mike, can you measure that and tell us if the frame window is the same and if the Walker and the 1st model dragoon both have their cylinder stop in the exact same location in the frame so that it would line up with the Walker cylinder if the forcing cone of the dragoon was milled down and reshaped? You could easily check that by taking the barrel off the dragoon and putting the Walker cylinder on the dragoon without putting any barrel on it, then actuate the hammer and see if the cylinder turns and then locks up properly. If it does, then the bolt stops line up and work on both. Then the 1st model dragoon's forcing cone would just have to be milled down and reshaped to allow the installation of the dragoon barrel over the 60 grain Walker cylinder. I think and hope.
Wouldn't that be a gas? A 60 grain Walker cylinder on a dragoon that previously could only hold 50 grains, with the shorter handier barrel and superior loading lever latch of the dragoon. I'd like that. It would be the most powerful 1st model dragoon in the world. "Do ya feel lucky cowboy punk?" Lol. With all the non historical BP guns the Italians make (1851 .44's), I'm surprised they haven't tried that yet.
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