.44 caliber. 7.5" octagon to round barrel. SN: 15563 (mfg. ca1856). Blued and color casehardened finish, brass backstrap and triggerguard, one-piece walnut grip. Single action percussion revolver with six-chambered smooth round cylinder. Top flat of barrel roll marked {ADDRESS SAML COLT NEW-YORK CITY}. Lower left of frame marked in two lines COLT'S/PATENT. Butt stamped CO twice and with an illegible scratched name. Matching serial numbers appear to match throughout, with the exception of the replaced wedge, repaired arbor which has no visible number and grip which has no number. Cylinder markings are not legible with serial number quite weak. Rear sight is a notch in the hammer nose and the front sight is a German silver blade. The Colt Dragoon was the improved version of the famous Colt Walker .44 handgun and between 1848 and 1860 some 18,000 of the guns were produced in three models. The Third Model Dragoon was manufactured in the largest numbers with about 9,000 produced between 1851 and 1860. Much of that production went to fill government contracts, while many of the late production civilian guns found themselves heading south in the months leading up the American Civil War. A decent entry level Colt Dragoon revolver.