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Walkers & Dragoons / Re: An original 3d model
« on: August 01, 2022, 04:32:51 PM »Yep, nice to see ya!!
The Cylinder threw me at first!!! I couldn't believe the ratchet teeth were like that !! Lol!! Are the action parts still "1st Gen." or have they been changed or maybe altered modern parts? How about a picture of the machining of the frame for the action parts ? I had a '60 Army in the shop (1863 build) and was very surprised at how rough it was inside!! The hand slot looked to be done with 3 passes with a drill bit and a swipe with a file!
Mike
Oh! Didn´t catch this Mike! Here goes though...
Yes. they´re rather coarse inside, agreed on that, but then again.. progress was made in like leaps at the time why a given production method sure wasn´t set in stone by any measure.
As for the 1st.. dunno, but i´ve had a 2nd on the bench too and they are about dead ringers within.
Sry to say (welp.. ) gun is since long back with its owner. OTOH i´ve gotten to know the owner rather well (he lives like 1000km north of me) why i could sure ask him to snap pics of whatever it is you feel you need brother!
Pick your poison and let me know and we´ll take it from there..
But yeah. One thing that struck at least me getting to work on Dragoons at the start was their VERY VERY coarse rifling. This DOES look like it was done with a coarse rasp approx. Just look at the pic of the muzzle up there to get an idea, and then compare that to the 1860 you had in the door.
Like night and day, and when an original 1860 in turn is compared to what´s being delivered today.. Ditto for rifling DEPTH which is insanely so on an original Dragoon.
Why that is has been debated back n forth until pigs fly to be honest, and it´s by far anything Colt specific. It´s just the way things were done in the 1840´s and 1850´s. Then the industrial revolution struck and..
Tip/word of advice. There´s actually a No of vids up on YT of original rifling machinery running. A number of gents have been at it, and have had these old pieces of kit running again. Let´s put it this way, a modern day rifling button is a rather far cry off here..
I for one get REAL nerdy when i start to give thought what these men were actually capable of seeing the cards they were dealt. What we´re able to today... vs in the 1850´s, not even on the same map.
That said plz be aware that an old original 1860 or 1858 can very well be a "50 points" gun when shot off hand/one handed at 25 meters/yards. Ie; a series of a 5 shot string can hand you all 50 points there to be had.
Then of course we can go back n forth about progressive rifling and what not that was all the rage at one point. Actually had me a small "Wesson rifle" originating from Maine that sported that. Intended for "sugar loaf" pills.
Handed more modern dittos though.. Thing is, gun was a carbine and still sported a set trigger. Some schmuck had violated the piece installing modern glass at some point.. (original sights were long gone)
In many a ways a gun even more crude than that 1860... and it still was an accurate little rifle out to even semi long ranges. Approx 40caliber. Progressive rifling, ending in like 1;30 or so.