Historic info on Colt cones

[PJ Hardtack]

In the August issue of "Man At Arms" magazine, there is an article on Colt's Dragoons with shoulder stocks and the battle Colt fought to have them approved and adopted.

"Capt. Thornton soon had four inspectors at Colt, with A. King supervisng.But on the 7th of August, he advised Craig that Mr. King had reported a problem with the "cones" (nipples) being inspected.
They were like those of the two pistols the Chief of Ordnance had sent as models for the inspection, but the interposition of six thicknesses of writing paper would not prevent the blow of the hammer from battering up the point of the cones if the points are not protected by a percussion cap.
Thornton recommended that the cones be shortened. This recommendation was approved, but fixing the problem caused additional delays in the inspection."

First time I've ever read anything about such a test and you have to wonder about the criteria - the use of 6 thicknesses of paper. Looks like the US Army liked to dry fire their guns in training and wanted not to batter the cones.

The delays mentioned prevented the adoption of the shoulder stocked Dragoon as a standard arm, giving Colt the time to market the 1860 Army so stocked, an arm deemed more suitable for mounted troops than the shoulder stocked Dragoon.

[Bottom Dealin Mike]

Thanks for posting this. I can't get enough of period info like this.