Dragoon Shooting Today

[Norton Commando]

Well, my shooting range is shut down due to nearby grass fires, so I headed out to the country to shoot my new Dragoon. I've shot an original Colt Army, a pattern Colt Army and a pattern 1858 Remington and I must say that this Dragoon is more fun to shoot than any of them. I think it has something to do with the Dragoon’s sheer size compared to the others. Even with 40 grains of Pyrodex P there is little or no recoil. What’s more the trigger pull is light and crisp, just nearly perfect; I love it!

However, I found that after 36 rounds the action was getting a bit stiff. At first I attributed the stiffness to the 0.006" cylinder clearance. But after separating the barrel from the frame, I discovered that the annulus between the arbor and its hole in the cylinder was the culprit. It seems that the light oil on the mating parts had mixed with powder residue to form a gummy substance, which made rotating the cylinder quite stiff.

Now as you can see from the following pictures I need more practice, but I'll get there. And true to form, the Dragoon shoots a bit high at 10 yards, so I’ll have to make some aiming adjustments when shooting at this relatively short distance. I’m betting that it should be nearly spot-on at 50 yards, if I can see that far. I can’t wait to try some longer range shots.

 

[BHP FAN]

Congrats! A lot of folks think the Dragoon was the perfect Colt, and ''improved Walker-pre-Army, if you will.

 

[tom e gun]

thats a beautiful area, what is that arched structure?

 

[chicharrones]

Your target looks familiar, NortonCommando. This is mine from my first cap and ball experience ever, just a few weeks ago. First 6 shots down the tube.

As you can see, my new Pietta 1860 got the same cylinder stopping fouling as yours. I had to quit after 24 shots fired.

Congrats on your Dragoon. I guess there is more boom per trigger pull which can be entertaining.

 

[Norton Commando]

Hi there Chicharrones,

Are you by chance in the fried pig skin business?

Yep, your target is certainly familiar; I bought mine at Carters Country off of Treaschwig for 50 cents each, which I thought was a good deal. However, I didn’t shoot at Carters gun range, instead I shot on some property that my wife owns, which is located just south of North Zulch, Texas.

Congratulations on your fine looking Colt Army. The wood on your grips looks really nice as does your target! If you're ever shooting in the Houston area, perhaps we could hook-up.

Tom e gun - that arched structure is all that remains of an old school house in Singleton, Texas, which is south of where we were shooting. I thought it was an interesting structure so I snapped a couple of pictures; here’s another one from inside the school looking out.

 

[chicharrones]

It looks like you have a nice place to shoot, NortonCommando. Good photos.

My user name is mostly a reflection of one of my favorite snack foods when I was a young adult. There were times during a job that all I had time to grab for lunch was a bag of pork skins and a soda. I hardly eat them anymore.