4V50 Gary wrote:
"Bill Akins - that is one handsome revolver".
I think so too Gary. But just wanted to make sure there is no misunderstanding. That is not my revolver. It is from the description of that link that Mike (.45 Dragoon) posted earlier at this thread. I went to that link, then dug around at the Cascity site, and found the post and pics Mike was talking about of the Dragoon that had been modified to take a Walker cylinder. The revolver belongs to "Hoof Hearted" who posted about it at Cascity.com at that link I posted in my previous post.
Big-Blue wrote:
"Now that would be a great video to do. Take a Uberti Dragoon (which model?) and modify it for both a Kirst Walker conversion cylinder and a Walker BP cylinder. I have a small mill and would love to take that on as a project, but only if I had some guidance. How about it Bill?"
Big-Blue, at the link I posted in my previous post, the owner of it ("Hoof Hearted") said it was a Colt 2nd gen Dragoon.
But just because he said it was a "Colt 2nd gen Dragoon" doesn't mean it was a 2nd MODEL Dragoon. Because the only model Dragoon that has the same oval bolt and oval cylinder stops as the Walker....is the 1st model Dragoon. The 2nd and 3rd model Dragoons both have rectangular bolts and cylinder stops. So the only likely Dragoon candidate for the Walker cylinder conversion, that has the same oval bolt that will work on the oval stops on a Walker cylinder....is the 1st model Dragoon.
It is important to notice though, that Hoof Hearted's Dragoon's Walker conversion cylinder.....has rectangular bolt stops on its cylinder. (Look carefully in the pics of it I posted). So perhaps Hoof Hearted
DID use a 2nd model Dragoon, but had his Walker conversion cylinder made with rectangular bolt stops instead of the usual oval Walker stops. That likely means he also changed out his oval bolt to a rectangular one.
Big-Blue, like I said, that isn't my revolver and I didn't do the modification. But I think I can tell from posts by "Duelist 54" (Mike), and using Hoof Hearted's modified example, coupled with common sense and logic, deduce how it might be done.
"Duelist 54" wrote earlier in this thread:....
Duelist 54 wrote:
"I don't have a 1st model Dragoon, but the Walker cylinder will work on a 3rd Dragoon frame. It indexes and locks up OK. I think the chambers will line up with the bore. You will need to take half an inch off of the forcing cone, That's basically all you have to play with, so I'm not sure you can get it to fit without milling down the frame contact area of the barrel as well. Probably you'll need to shorten the rammer too.You will also need to mill out the ball clearance area on the barrel because the longer cylinder is going to make that disappear.
Duelist 54 also said the arbor's are the same diameter on the Dragoon and the Walker.
So going by what Duelist 54 (Mike) said, and using logic and common sense,
as well as seeing the example of "Hoof Hearted"'s modified dragoon,...it looks like you'd start off using a 1st model Dragoon. As we've seen on Hoof Hearted Dragoon, the Walker cylinder will fit into the frame "window" if one mills down the forcing cone some. And like Duelist 54 (Mike) said, since you no longer have that large gap between the cylinder and the frame that previously was there because of the longer forcing cone, that means once you mill down that forcing cone, the area of the frame that is cut out for you to place the ball into a chamber, MAY be more rearward and closer to the cylinder and not be large enough and may have to be enlarged for a ball or conical to load into a chamber. Perhaps not. Wouldn't know for sure until you milled down the forcing cone and then went to load a ball or conical to see if they had enough clearance to load into a chamber. But Mike thinks it might need enlarging and it just may. So there's that to consider. And you MAY need to shorten the rear section of the Dragoon's rammer....but maybe not.
First thing I'd do would be to mill down the forcing cone and get the Walker cylinder fitted to the 1st model Dragoon's frame "window". Then I'd see if the conical shaped loading port needed enlarging or not. Then I'd see if the rear section of the rammer needed to be shortened or not.
That looks like about it to me. Can anyone else add anything to that? Did I miss anything?
Big-Blue wrote:
"Maybe installing a Dragoon loading lever catch on a Walker would be better than modifying a Dragoon to take a Walker cylinder.
Anybody know anything about installing a Dragoon catch on a Walker?"
The whole reason I thought about if it was possible to do this mod of putting a Walker cylinder on a Dragoon, was to use a Dragoon, so that would decrease the size and weight of that large flat area of the Walker's barrel where the wedge goes so it wasn't as long and as heavy as on the Walker, as well as to get the slightly shorter and handier barrel length of the Dragoon. It's subjective whether it is "better" to just put a Dragoon's rammer on a Walker rather than modifying a Dragoon to take a Walker cylinder.....but I think it is better to modify the Dragoon to take the Walker's cylinder....in my opinion.
But if you just wanted a Dragoon catch on a Walker, what I would do would be to measure the length of the Dragoon rammer, then simply file a dovetail into the bottom of the Walker's barrel, tap the rammer catch into place, remove the old Walker rammer's spring from the Walker barrel, replace the Dragoon rammer's rear section with the Walker's rammer rear section, then snap the rammer into its catch.....and you're done. But.....you still have the same longer and heavier flats section of the Walker's barrel (where the wedge goes) instead of the shorter and lighter barrel flats section of the Dragoon's, and you'd still have the longer barrel of the Walker too.
Another thing you could do to avoid having to buy a Dragoon rammer's front section, would be to just buy the Dragoon rammer's catch. Then file that dovetail into the bottom of the barrel and tap the catch into place like I said, then cut off the very end of the rounded Walker's rammer and file a slot and drill a hole for a pin across the end of the Walker's rammer, and install a sliding catch and spring. So you'd be simply modifying the very end of the front of the original Walker rammer to be held by a spring loaded catch at its front.
See what I mean about that longer flats section of the Walker's barrel where the wedge goes in these below comparison pics? I'm not talking about the round barrel section, but that part of the barrel with the flats on it where the wedge goes. The Dragoon's is much shorter and therefore has to be lighter, plus the Dragoon's barrel is a little shorter and thus lighter too. That's why I think it would be "better" to modify the 1st model Dragoon to take a Walker cylinder rather than simply changing the Walker to have a front spring loaded catch on its rammer.
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