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This is the First Percussion Firearm Authorized by the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, Waco, Texas

You can acquire a acquire a museum-quality firearm for your collection that is both elegant and historically significant.  Firsts are rare. The historic Texas Ranger Dragoon is the rarest of the rare.

It is from the first inscribed Samuel Colt presentation revolver of which we have any record.  It was presented by Samuel Colt to one of his most celebrated contemporaries, Major Ben McCulloch, a Texas Ranger whose frontier exploits during the mid-years of the 19th century have passed into legend.

An ardent supporter of Colt’s “repeaters,” McCulloch was widely regarded as one of the two most fearless men on the Texas frontier. The other was Ranger Jack Hays, another great Colt enthusiast.

With the presentation of the “McCulloch Dragoon,” Samuel Colt initiated a lifelong tradition that made his name synonymous with fine firearms throughout the 19th century. He had presented firearms to illustrious contemporaries before, accompanied by letters, but none had ever borne personal inscriptions, so far as we know.

This much is certain: the earliest surviving inscribed presentation Colt is Ben McCulloch’s Transition Dragoon, serial number 1337. Ranger McCulloch carried his cherished Colt for the remaining 13 years of his life.  During the Civil War it was with him. At the Battle of Pea Ridge, he died from a sniper’s bullet. Then it mysteriously vanished – only to reappear 13 years later in Texas.

Featured on the cylinder is the same battle scene between Col. Jack Hays and the Comanche Indians as that on the original McCulloch Dragoon – the earliest surviving specimen of an engraved presentation – inscribed Dragoon or Colt of any type.

Backstrap Engraving: “Presented by Sam. Colt to Maj. Ben McCulloch, Jan. 1, 1848”

The left grip features a sterling silver medallion, inscribed with the Texas Ranger motto:
Free as the breeze    Swift as a mustang    Tough as a cactus

A handsome display case with a Texas Ranger badge featured on the lid accompanies each revolver. Also included are authentic-style loading accessories: a Walker powder flask, bullet mold, and screwdriver-nipple wrench.

Click here to see the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum.

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