Uberti Whitneyville Dragoon Percussion Revolver

After the demise of his Paterson venture in 1842, Sam Colt’s dream of a firearms empire seemed doomed. But we are told that everything comes to him who waits and the old saying “it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good” certainly proved true for Sam in 1846. The winds of war between the United States and Mexico blew fortune into the path of Colt, when the US Army was looking for pistols to equip its mounted troops.

The story of Sam Colt and Samuel Walker is welldocumented and the huge revolver that resulted from their collaboration, subsequently named after Walker following his death, was the first in a long line of percussion revolvers produced by the Colt factory until 1873.

All of these revolvers have, at some time, been reproduced by modern European manufacturers, with many still being made today. That Uberti have chosen to recreate one of the rarer of these models is to their credit. The one thousand military Walker revolvers, along with one hundred or so for commercial sales, were produced under contract by Eli Whitney Jnr. as Colt did not have his own premises at the time. Part of the deal was that Colt would take the machinery and any surplus parts once he was in a position to open his own shop. The initial contract with the Army was a foot in the door for Sam’s aspirations to supply the military with weapons and he was determined not to repeat the mistakes made several years earlier.

As successful as the Walker was, it had one major drawback and that was its size. It was never meant to be carried on the person – Clint Eastwood excepted – but pairs of pistols were conveyed in pommel holsters by mounted troops. Nevertheless, at a shade over fifteen inches long and weighing four pounds nine ounces, it was still quite a handful. The Walker proved to be just what the Army was looking for and, despite some failures among the one thousand issued, by the time these revolvers were in action, Colt already had a contract in his pocket for a further thousand. From this time on, his company was to be a major supplier of revolvers to the military for the remainder of the 19th Century, and well into the following millennia.

Waste not, want not

Listening to the reports from active soldiers, Colt made a number of modifications to the revolvers supplied in the second contract. Shortening the barrel by one and a half inches (down to seven and a half) and taking a quarter of an inch off the cylinder improved the weight. A new spring latch near the muzzle kept the loading lever in place during recoil. The backstrap was changed from iron to brass and the curved junction of the grip and rear frame was tidied up. This new square junction simplified production and features on all subsequent single action revolver production from Colt. The resulting revolver, now regarded as the First Model Dragoon, at half a pound lighter and one and a half inches shorter than the Walker, was a big improvement.

Collectors of Colt revolvers will tell you of variations from the standard pattern throughout the range of models, stemming from the factory’s practice, whenever possible, of using up old parts when specifications changed. As mentioned above, part of Sam’s deal with Whitney was the acquisition of any parts on hand at the completion of the Walker contract, and these parts were incorporated into a number of revolvers made up for the civilian market. It is a reproduction of one such pistol that we have here. The frame and grip straps are from the Walker, while the shorter cylinder and barrel assembly have the characteristics of the First Model Dragoon.

Need for Improvement

Probably the weakest element of the Walker revolver was the lack of a suitable catch on the loading lever. A small piece of spring steel dovetailed into the barrel fitted into a slot milled in the flat at the rear of the lever. Retention of the lever was poor and it had a tendency to drop upon discharge and the cylinder was prevented from turning by the rammer entering a chamber. This is a bit of a nuisance on a shooting range but must have been even more so with the enemy troops bearing down on you. Colt remedied this fault with a catch and latch arrangement at the muzzle end of the lever.

The massive cylinder on the Walker could take charges of up to 60-grains of black powder and coupled with the dubious quality of the steel used, this led to a number of burst cylinders on this model. The shorter cylinder and constant improvement in materials all but eliminated the problem. Coupled with a shortened barrel, the reduction in cylinder length shaved around seven ounces off the weight of the pistol. The Whitneyville Dragoon was really just a stop gap to use up the surplus Walker parts but paved the way for the First Model Dragoon, which saw further improvements in the design.

Accurate clone

Uberti have made a practice over the years of production reproductions that are as close to the originals as possible, and this revolver continues that tradition. Your average shooter or re-enactor would know of the Walker and Dragoons but this model might have escaped those who are not too familiar with the history of Colt. With this in mind, I feel the Whitneyville Dragoon is aimed more at the collector market, probably more so on the other side of the Atlantic. Irrespective of your reason for buying this pistol, you will not be disappointed with your purchase.

The barrel, cylinder and back strap are black with a brass, square-back trigger guard. The frame and loading lever are case coloured and on this example the frame colours are superior to the lever. A particularly nice touch is the fact that the trigger and cylinder locking bolt screws do not pass right through the frame, just as on the originals. The walnut grips have the now familiar Uberti red/brown high gloss finish. All edges are sharp and the wood to metal fit is very good.

The cylinder is rolled with a representation of a fight between the Texas Rangers and a band of Comanche Indians. The cylinder locking notches are oval and the bolt head itself has been shaped to fit tightly – another nice compliance with originality. There is a single safety pin on the rear of the cylinder, which locates into the slot in the hammer face, allowing the pistol to be carried fully loaded, a practice not recommended.

The rear sight follows the patter that was used throughout the Colt percussion era, being a v-notch cut into the tip of the hammer. On this model, the front sight is a blade soldered on to the barrel. The set-up is adequate for the use this revolver will be put to, though I have seen one or two shooters cut that v-notch a little deeper. Unlike later Colt revolvers, which used a flat mainspring screwed to the trigger guard, the Whitneyville has a v-spring slotted on to a steel peg. The hammer has well-cut, but not sharp, chequering and little effort is needed to cock the pistol. The large grip will suit all but the smallest of hands.

Man stopper

I have seen it said that the Walker was the most powerful revolver available up to the advent of the .357 magnum. Certainly, that 60-grains of powder would ensure that the lead ball had enough energy to do its job. My starting load was 35-grains of Henry Krank fine black powder and a .454-inch, 145-grain lead ball, the two separated by a lubricated, greased wad, and ignited by Remington No. 11 percussion caps.

Recoil is very manageable with one hand, but control is improved with a two-hand hold. Either way, it was not difficult to keep the shots on an A4 sized piece of paper at 20-metres and more proficient shooters will be able to cut my group sizes down considerably. I tried a larger spout on the flask (when I got home I found it was throwing a shade under 40-grains) but the accuracy dropped off slightly and there was a barely perceivable increase in recoil, so for me it was a waste of powder.

The gun never missed a beat and I did not have one case of the ‘broken cap in the hammer channel’ disease that often occurs with these open top Colttype revolvers. With the lower powder charge, I was half way through the seventh cylinder full when I noticed fouling beginning to slow down the rotation, but I managed another eight shots before I deemed it necessary to take the cylinder out for a clean. A brush through the centre of the cylinder, a quick wipe of the arbour and a little grease in the grooves and we were ready to go again. There is some evidence of filing on the cylinder locking bolt of this example and the cylinder lock-up was tight as a drum.

Conclusion

At a touch over four pounds, this is a heavy pistol and I would not want to be shooting it all day, but it proved an enjoyable experience and those with a penchant for ‘bigger is better’ will get a lot of fun out of the Whitneyville Dragoon.

There were only around 240 of these revolvers made in 1847 and the survival rate is unknown, making them a prize for Colt collectors. I would venture that this Uberti recreation is also fairly rare compared to other models they make. If you’ve got the collecting bug, grab one now.