These were produced between late in 1847 and 1848, serial number range approximately 1100 (the last civilian Walker) through about 1340 (the first Dragoon First Model).

The earlier pattern was a Walker carry-over with a cut-out in the back to accommodate the round contour of the grips and the second was straight-backed.

It has oval cylinder stops, a V-type mainspring, no wheel on the rear of the hammer, and a square back trigger guard.

Some of the third model Colt Dragoon Revolvers had frame cuts for detachable shoulder stocks, horizontal loading lever latches and folding leaf sights.

[1] Other variants included the Colt "1848 Pocket Pistol" now known as the Baby Dragoon, marketed in California with success during the Gold rush days.

These variations gave the Colt Dragoon Revolver a weight of 4 pounds 2 ounces (1.9 kg).

Famous users included Joaquin Murietta, the California bandit, Charley Parkhurst, California teamster and stagecoach driver, James Douglas Byrd, Town Marshal, Watsonville, California, 1868, Tiburcio Vasquez, Union general George B McClellan,[4] and fictional Augustus McCrae, in the novel Lonesome Dove, Mattie Ross in the novel True Grit and in the 2010 film (including the 1969 film of the same name) had Mattie Ross using a Colt Walker revolver, though John Wayne's character Rooster referred to it as a Colt's Dragoon.

Charley Parkhurst, while driving freight, was confronted by two bandits whom he/she shot with the Colt Holster Pistol.

According to Harper's Weekly, James Butler (Wild Bill Hickok) arrived in Springfield, Missouri carrying a Dragoon though it is generally accepted that he used a Colt 1851 Navy Revolver in his street duel with Davis Tutt.

Quality replica Dragoons are currently produced by the Aldo Uberti Company of Brescia, Italy and distributed in the United States by Taylors, Inc.; Cimarron Firearms, and others.

In Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry, Captain Gus McCrae is armed with a Colt's Dragoon revolver.