Virginian Dragoon 44 Magnum Strength

[jimbocarrey]

So I just bought an Interarms Virginian Dragoon in 44 magnum, it's got an 8 3/8" barrel. The grips that came with it were black rubber that the previous previous owner mutilated trying to melt finger grooves into them. Bottom line is its going to need new grips so I'm going to try my hand at making some here in the next couple days. I'll post some pictures when I'm done, it's a pretty gun. It seems to be stainless steel but is not matte finished like the other Virginians that I've seen pictures of, it seems polished and shiny. Not sure of its polished stainless or if it has a nickel plating or something? Anyone know if they made them with nickel? Anyways I had a question about the strength of these revolvers. It seems even beefier yet than a super blackhawk but I don't know if I should shoot the hottest 44 magnum load by buffalo bore out of it. I emailed the company and the guy said that the Virginian Dragoon isn't on their list of approved guns because it's so obscure, however he said that he's heard from customers that have used them in their Dragoons and worked fine. Just thought I'd get you opinion on this. The load I'm referring to is the buffalo bore +p+ 340 grain at 1478 fps. Thanks in advance!

[jglsprings]

My money is on the gun holding up better be than you will with those loads.

[walnut1704]

I don't believe they ever made those in nickle. All I recall is stainless and blue. They had a previous model they imported that was called just "Virginian". It was an extremely high quality Colt SAA reproduction made by Hammerli in Switzerland. That's the only revolver I know of that Hammerli ever made. They are known more for their uber-quality target pistols.

Unfortunately this was during the late 70's? Early 80's? which was the golden age of Magnums. The Hammerli gun couldn't handle the .44 Magnum (it came in .357 and .45 Colt). Interams built their own factory to produce the Virginian Dragoon which was a totally different design, considerably beefed up for the .44 Magnum. The Hammerli was dropped once the Dragoon production got up to speed.

It's a well made gun and will take anything a Super Blackhawk will, assuming it is still in good repair. They had a good reputation.

You can always spot the Hammerli guns. Case-hardened frame and a nickle grip frame. The Dragoon is a good gun but the Hammerli was the equal of the Colts of the day.

[Bob Wright]

As a matter of fact, towards the end of the production of the Virginian, the production was shifted from Hammerli to Uberti.

It was on this revolver, the Virginian, that the "Swiss Safe" safety (?) feature was introduced. Probably the worst safety ever devised.


I have heard it said that the grips were interchangeable between a Colt SAA and the Virginian, but all the ones I ever handled had a slightly different shaped backstrap, with less flare at the butt.

Bob Wright

[jimbocarrey]

Jglsprings lol you're probably right, I'll be glad for the extra weight of this gun when it comes to shooting those rounds.
Walnut thanks for the info, I've heard of the hammerli Virginian, I'd love to get my hands on one of those. I think these guns are very underrated from what I've seen, they can be had at prices well below ruger, even though they were originally priced higher than the blackhawk brand new. I'm sure that and the transfer bar for the ruger is what put the Dragoon out of production. This one has an odd length barrel so I'm having a little trouble finding a holster for it, most are made for 7.5" barrels.
Bob I agree the Swiss safety stinks, but worst safety ever? Ever hear of a heritage rough rider? Lol At least with the dragoon you can just not use it or grind the end of the base pin off.

[DPris]

I've never heard of a Uberti big-bore Virginian as any part of a Hammerli descendant.
I had a US-made Interarms Virginian .44 Mag in about '82, toward the end of production.

The guns were very strong.
No nickeled versions to the best of my knowledge.
Denis

[SIGSHR]

IIRC the Virginian was a Colt SAA copy made by Haemmerli, imported by Interams, the Virginian Dragoon wasmade by Interarms. I'd be more concerned about accuracy, some of the early ones had oversized throats and were inaccurate. Spare parts for them are extremely hard to find. And I recall Elmer Keith wrote that he winced when he saw "maximum loads" mentioned.

[Bob Wright]

jimbocarry:

Bob I agree the Swiss safety stinks, but worst safety ever? Ever hear of a heritage rough rider? Lol At least with the dragoon you can just not use it or grind the end of the base pin off

.

By worst I meant as far as a practical safety was concerned. Imagine carrying that sixgun in the "safe" position then having to disengage it as you draw in an emergency situation.

Bob Wright

[Bob Wright]

Dpris:

I have to backtrack some here, it was the Hammerli made Dakota that transitioned over to Uberti. While the Virginian had a chrome (not nickle)plated backstrap, the Dakota had brass triggerguard and backstraps. This from John Taffin's article on the Sixguns forum.

Bob Wright

[kozak6]

There's no parts and no service.

If it was cheap and you don't care about it, run it hot.

If you like the pistol at all, go easy on it so it will last.

[T. O'Heir]

Cast frames using either 4140 steel or 416 stainless.
"In terms of strength and overall dimensions, these were very close to that of a Blackhawk..."
Read this.
http://www.singleactions.com/VADragoons.pdf
"...Spare parts for them are extremely hard to find..." Unless you need grip screws or a trigger guard. Gunparts has those. $3.15 each for the screw. $30.85 for the guard, that's essentially a grip frame. snicker.

[jimbocarrey]

Bob I'm just joking, the Swiss safe is pretty worthless if you need the gun in a hurry but for hunting I could see using it. Although I'd still just carry 5. A cool feature of this gun is that it has 2 little holes on either side of one of the chambers so you know for sure which chamber is empty. Very handy.
Kozak very good point. I wish buffalo bore had a load in between their heavy stuff and the +p+ monster load. I guess a 305gr at 1300fps would be good enough for bear defense.
I did have another question, I noticed this gun has grooves on both sides of the top strap, is this for mounting a scope?

[Stargater53]

Mine was beautiful. Stainless, with a 7-inch barrel. I took mine out of the box, inspected it carefully and checked the sights. A little rough to see in full sunlight, but not too horrible. I pulled the hammer of the big gun back and sqeezed the trigger.

As the hammer hit, it completely shattered...like glass. There were parts everywhere. I lived just a few miles from Interarms, in Virginia, and took my gun there. They took my gun and while I went to lunch there in Alexandria, they put a new hammer in. After I got it back I went to the range to sight it in.

Wrong!

I used all six chambers and I couldn't get any groupings at all. I was printing all over the target. When I got it home, I checked out the cylinder and the chambers seemed to be little more than drilled holes! There had been some attempt to add throats to the chambers, but not enough to stabilize the bullets. So I sold the gun to a friend who was willing to take it back to Interarms and get it fixed.

Thus was my experience with the gun.

[DPris]

The VD I had would not regulate.
I had the rear sight over as far as it'd go, could not center POI.
I could never get it to shoot straight.

The grips also rotated around the grip screws slightly, the panels moved forward at the bottom under recoil & presented edges sharp enough to cut my fingers.

I didn't keep it very long.

Had an FFL at the time, dealer special price was $150.
Looked very impressive, thought I'd gotten a great deal.
Till I fired it.
Denis

[peggysue]

I've had mine since i bought it in 1977. It is a very well made robust 44MAG. Mine has been flaw less. Never had problems with the grip. I would have tighten the screws if mine moved however.

[DPris]

Duh.
I did, made no difference.
Denis

[WIL TERRY]

IN A 44MAG, a 340gr projectile at 1478fps is a ludicrous load so far off the chart as to begger comparison, AND do not give me any of that crap about 'em using " blended propellents "...Special propellents etc etc. I KNOW BETTER !!! I have not loaded and shot up over 800M rounds since 1960 and worked for two ammunition companies for nothing !!!
And so it goes...

[4V50 Gary]

I remember the Virginian Dragoon being imported by Interarms in '76. They should have been proofed for SAAMI spec loads.

[walnut1704]

Well I am working off my memory with the .357 Virginian by Hammerli that I owned. Not sure about the backstrap being chrome vs nickel. I always thought it was nickel. I thought it was advertised that way and that was my impression of it. I owned other nickel S&W's at the time and like to think I know the difference by sight. But I could be wrong. It was a long time ago.

I've never seen a Virginian that wasn't marked Hammerli. Not that you see a whole lot of them. If Uberti ever made the Virginian I have never seen or heard of one.

I believe Interarms did have some trouble with their initial production, but straightened it our pretty quickly. Obviously from the replies they did manage to screw up some of them. The few I'm aware of were good guns. But boy, it's been decades.

[peggysue]

Mine is Interarms... never had a problem with it...I still have it...LOL

[DPris]

I really wanted to like mine.
Very disappointed in it.
Denis

[peggysue]

I thought you got rid of it and did not keep it very long...

[DPris]

I really wanted to like mine.
I was happy to get that $150 deal
I was very disappointed in it.
I could not make it shoot straight.
The grips kept turning (despite tightening the screws).
I did not keep it.
Denis

[peggysue]

I Made a mistake. I got mine in 1977 while still in college for $310 new sr nr 93XX, This was pre internet and I had to have a gun dealer order it.The design itself was much stronger than the Colt SAA, with a larger frame and cylinder for the .44 Magnum cartridge; and the addition of a ramp front sight and fully adjustable rear sight.
In 1976, production was assumed by Interarms Industries of Midland, VA. The decision to break ties with Hammerli was largely based on dollar depreciation as experienced in the mid-1970s.
Interarms stopped manufacturing the Virginian towards the end of 1984.
Dragoons were available through all of 1985 and some of 1986, but these were
really back-stocked guns from the 1984 run. While the model was profitable in
the early 1980s, eventually there wasn’t enough demand to warrant full-scale
production. List price was also an issue in that a new Blackhawk could be had
for around $200 in the mid-1980s……the Virginian Dragoon on the other hand
started at $280.
Here is a picture I took this morning. Comparing it to my 2004 45 Vaquero.
My USA made Interarms Dragoon has We the People 1776-1976 on it. I did not get my FFL until 1989.

[bobn]

when I worked at the frontiersman in st louis pk we sold a ton of them. they were 20 bucks more than a super blackhawk. I wish I got one, but I never kept any of the guns I bought in those discount, always available guns time.
....model 10s, 259, uzis 599, hks 91 599, 279 for the dragoon, 259 for a 9422, krag, mi carbines, trapdoors never more than 189. sickens me to think back. bobn