Trego's Mountain Ear

In the early seventies, a glance at GCA 68 showed how far the anti gun forces  had moved legislatively in my college years.  As percussion guns weren’t (and still aren’t) classified as firearms, I looked for a version of a revolving rifle to give me a repeater that I could carry if the gunbanners got even more legislation passed.

There was a carbine based on the Remington New Model Army revolver – an appealing little rifle, but limited by the capacity of the small cylinder.  I still like the looks, but it seems a bit underpowered for deer.   This photo is in the Midway Arms catalog, and they’re asking $609.99 for one today (and out of stock, to boot).

So, having rejected the Remington Replica, I opted for a variant of the Colt Third Model Dragoon.  Colt had developed the Dragoon to replace the Walker, mostly because the Walker’s cylinders kept blowing up with 60 grains of black powder loaded.  The Dragoon cylinders had held together for 40 grain loads through 3 variants.   This photo, and description is taken from an ad at guns international:

“Armi San Marco produced this 1851 3rd Model Dragoon with an 18″ Barrel. It was marketed by both Navy Arms and EMF. It originally came with a steel hardware shoulder stock and holster. There were around 5000 produced. The production of the steel hardware shoulder stocks ceased in around 1974-75 The Dragoon stocks are very rare with either the brass or steel hardware. The last steel hardware STOCK sold was in April, 2013, for $1000. The Dragoon brass hardware stocks are in the $800+ range.”

Mine, with a 4200 range serial number supports this advertising story – it must have been one of the last made with a steel hardware stock.  I will admit, I never figured that it would be worth $1,500.  I bought it figuring it would be roughly equivalent to a model 1873 Winchester in 44-40.  It definitely is far outclassed by the old 30-30.  It has Express sights with 3 settings, but is probably, at best, a 50 yard hunting rifle.  I’ve only used it on paper – and in the 50 years since I bought it, the gun banners have continued to lose in their attempts to ban handguns and rifles.  It’s fun to shoot, and reasonably accurate.