The Colt First Model Dragoon Revolver was manufactured circa 1848 through to 1850 with a total of about 7,000 produced. They continued the sequence from the Whitneyville Hartford Dragoon from serial number 1341 through to about 8000. Serial numbers are found on all major parts.

The revolver is in .44 caliber, weighs 4 pounds and 2 ounces and has a 7½ inch part round and part octagonal barrel. The barrel and cylinder were blued with casehardened frame, hammer and loading lever. The back-strap and square-back trigger-guard are of brass and silver-plated on commercial models and left plain on military contract guns. The six shot cylinder with oval cylinder stops was roll engraved with the Texas Ranger and Comanche Indian fight scene. The early cylinders had only one safety pin on the rear of the cylinder which locked into a slot on the hammer face to stop accidental discharge. Later cylinders incorporated six pins located between each chamber.

The revolver was furnished with one-piece walnut grips which were varnished for the commercial market and oil-stained for the military contracts. Also military issue First Model Dragoons have government inspector cartouches on the grips and letter stampings on various metal parts. Some late First Models were cut to accept detachable shoulder stocks.

The barrel address reads ‘ADDRESS SAML COLT NEW-YORK CITY’ with the ‘COLT/PATENT’ stamping on the left side of the frame with ‘U.S.’ below on Government contract revolvers. The cylinder also has a roll-engraved panel marking in large letters ‘COLT'S PATENT’ along with a second panel of ‘MODEL U.S.M.R.’ (U.S. Mounted Rifles) with the serial number stamped within. Some models have the rarer marking of ‘U.S. DRAGOONS’ instead of the U.S.M.R. markings.

Philip Boulton of Southampton, England has collated and recorded a survival rate of at least 7.82% of the original production of First, Second and Third Dragoon revolvers. For in-depth reference on Colt Dragoon revolvers see ‘The Book of Colt Firearms- 3rd Edition’ by R.L. Wilson.