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Title:	REVOLVER -  COLT REVOLVER THIRD MODEL DRAGOON .44 SN# 16642
Maker/Manufacturer:	COLT
Date of Manufacture:	1858
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 1144
Measurements:	OL: 35.5CM 14" BL: 18.5CM 7 3/8"

Object Description:

COLT REVOLVER THIRD MODEL DRAGOON .44 SN# 16931
Manufactured by Colt, Hartford, Ct. in 1858 - Standard 3rd Model Dragoon, 6-shot single-action revolver. Martially marked. 4-screw frame. Part round, part octagonal barrel. One piece walnut grips. Casehardened frame. Blued barrel. Left frame stock screw missing. This is the first Colt revolver with a detachable shoulder stock. Approximately 10,500 manufactured between 1851 and 1861.

Markings:
Barrel: ADDRESS SAML COLT NEW YORK CITY.
Frame: COLTS/PATENT/US.
Cylinder: 16642.
Triggerguard: V.
All other parts matching serial number: 16931.
Grips: WAT in oval. WAT = William A. Thornton.

1909 Catalog #7015 - "Revolver. Colt's Dragoon Revolver. Cal..44. 7 1/2-inch barrel. Guard No. 16931. Cylinder No. 16642. Fitted for extension stock and target work. Probably made in 1850."

Exhibit label: "COLT THIRD MODEL DRAGOON .44 caliber, 1851-1861, 10,500 made. Colt's third model accounts for about half of the entire production of Dragoon arms. This model is equipped with long range sights for use with a detachable shoulder stock."

Notes: "An estimated 1,200 to 1,500 Third Models were cut for attachment of shoulder stocks. The stocks were in three basic types - the First pattern attached to the revolver via two prongs which engaged two slots in the backstrap; the Second type attached by one prong engaging a slot in the backstrap, and a hook which clamped onto the butt; the Third, and most commonly encountered pattern, had extension on its yoke which fit into cutouts on each side of the revolver's recoil shield, and had a hook which clamped onto the butt. All three stock designs were made from plain (standard) or with canteen inserts. Backstrap slots serve basically to identify Third Model Dragoons cut for the First and Second type shoulder stocks; pistols cut for the Third type are standard with four-screw frames, notched recoil shields, a groove in the heel of the backstrap, folding leaf sights dovetailed onto the barrel (through the roll die markings), blued steel backstrap, and half moon shaped front sight." - Flayderman.

"Several contracts were ordered for Dragoon Colts by the government from 1847 through 1860, but the total of these orders (Walker included) reached only 9,380. The entire production of the various models totaled about 22,000, thus the bulk of sales was to civilians.
Credit for the improvements which evolved in the Dragoons over their short period of production must be shared by Sam Colt, his superintendent E.K. Root, Ordnance Inspector W.A. Thornton, and service and civilian shooters who responded to the maker's call for comments on performance. Thornton was the first U.S. inspector of Colt products, beginning in the Paterson era. His WAT punchmark is seen on more percussion Colt revolvers than that of any other Ordnance official.
As with so many model names for nineteenth century firearms, the Dragoon designation did not originate with the factory (to Sam Colt the type was known as the Old Model Holster Pistol), but with today's collectors. Dragoon was the name commonly applied in the mid-nineteenth century to mounted troops, better known from the Civil War era onward as cavalry.
Troops in the field quickly accepted these hand cannons, and as quickly as the government would contract and issue them, the Dragoon Colts replaced the obsolete single-shot 'horse pistols' in the cavalrymen's saddle holsters. For mounted service, pairs of pistols were standard issue, and these were regularly carried in large, pouchlike, completely enclosed holsters attached to the pommel.
Hard to believe, Colt still ran up against some resistance to his new repeaters from some of the less enlightened top, albeit most armchair, brass. Colonel George Talcott of the Ordnance Department was quoted in a report published by the U.S. Senate, April 1848, claiming: 'That there is want of solidity in the parts most exposed to the action of the charge; that there is a liability of the moveable parts to become unserviceable from wear, from rust, and dirt; that there is an rve in the office of President of the United States. Taylor wrote: 'I have been much pleased with an examination of your new modelled repeating pistols, and feel satisfied that, under all circumstances, they may be safely relied on.' Another endorsement was from Colonel Jefferson Davis, soon to be appointed U.S. Secretary of War, and in 1861 elected President of the Confederate States of America. He commented: 'For the attack of Mexican guerillas, they have been, and no doubt will be, found most efficient.' Colt cultivated a well-practiced knack for picking friends in high places, not coincidentally, all three gentlemen were recipients of presentation Colt revolvers.
Pressure from Congress and from officers in the field, and the increasing public recognition of the merit of Colt arms, compelled the Ordnance Department to accept the Dragoon repeaters. Talcott, apparently holding some personal resentment against the inventor, tried to arrange for U.S. government manufacture on a licensing arrangement. Colt, knowing full well that circumstances were decidedly in his favor, would have none of that. He responded with the assurance that he alone was 'the most capable person to direct in the manufacture of an arm on his own invention.'" - Wilson.

"By the 1850's, Colt's revolving pistols had reached a high degree of efficiency and popularity. The Chief of Ordnance still considered them to be too complicated and too expensive, and therefore a violation of accepted practices. These were his principal objections when he wrote in 1850: 'Colt's pistols may be used to advantage in the hands of skillful or careful men; (but) it would be premature to exclude entirely the use of the dragoon pistol; that the pistol, being a weapon calculated and suitable for personal defense alone, had its efficiency in this respect increased when made to repeat; that the repeating pistols (Colt's) cannot be advantageously used by the mass of our private soldiers for want of the necessary discretion, coolness, and skill; and that they should be furnished to them in limited numbers only, to be placed in the hands of such men as their officers may select to be so armed.
I do not think it would be advisable at this time to purchase Colt's patent, and to undertake to make these pistols at the national armories. The cost of the patent right and of the requisite machinery to commence the manufacture of these pistols would be very great....'" - Davis

References:
Davis, Carl L. SMALL ARMS IN THE UNION ARMY, 1861-1865. University Microfilms. Ann Arbor, Mi. 1972.
Flayderman, Norm. FLAYDERMAN'S GUIDE TO ANTIQUE AMERICAN FIREARMS...AND THEIR VALUES. 7th Ed. Krause Publications. Iola, Wi. 1998.
McAulay, John D. CIVIL WAR PISTOLS. Andrew Mowbray, Inc. Lincoln, R.I. 1992.
Wilson, R.L. COLT AN AMERICAN LEGEND. Artabras. N.Y., N.Y. 1985.

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The National Park Service would like information on the following revolver:
Army #9322 - COLT FIRST MODEL DRAGOON SN# 7590. If anyone has any information on this revolver please contact:
Springfield Armory NHS
One Armory Square
ATTN: Law Enforcement Office
Springfield, Ma. 01105