Major Characteristics & Unique Features of the “1960 NEW MODEL ARMY” # Steel & Brass # Back-straps # Bores # Chamber Sizes – Diameter # Chamber Size – Interior Depth # Position of Ratchet Teeth # Evolution of the Arbor # Muzzle Crown # Diameter Barrel # Front Sights # Finish # Wooden Grips

This newly produced Belgian Colt Army M 1860 or “1960 NEW MODEL ARMY” (NMA) as termed by some was manufactured by Fabriques d’Armes Unies de Liège (FAUL) in Liège, Belgium. It is the first mass produced clone of the venerable Colt M 1860 Army of Civil War fame. Only ca. 16,000 specimens were made between 1959 through 1973. In the 20^th century FAUL was the corporation succeeding the famous Belgium consortium of 7 gun makers around Jean Baptiste Hanquet with the April 1853 license to manufacture Samuel Colt’s C&B revolvers (other sources say 1852: COLT BREVETE). This license was never terminated. The Hanquet family behind the company has a proud gun history back to 1796.

Steel & Brass: FAUL used high quality forged carbon steel of particular hardness for barrels, cylinders, frames, back-straps, loading presses, etc.. Their steel is harder than the steel alloy used for the making of Italian C&B clones! Only during the later years of production a few guns were made from stainless steel. The stainless steel alloy is of the magnetic kind.

Trigger-guards of the Belgian were made of brass, as were the originals.

Welded back-strap of #3035

Cast back-strap of #11691

Back-straps were welded together from three separate parts in the early years but were cast during the outer years.

Bores of the Belgian Colts have constant twist, shallow rifling and usually 7 grooves & lands. A number of early production pistols with 6 grooves & lands are known. During the later years of production FAUL installed 8 groove & land barrels as found in many RNMAs and Marshals of 1972/73 manufacture. They also experimented with 12 grooves & lands! Barrel groove diameter is .445/.446.

Bore of #6464: 7 grooves

Bore of #12371: 8 grooves

Chamber Sizes - Diameter of the Centaures are adjusted the same as the barrel groove diameter, i. e. .445/.446. This important aspect sets them apart from all modern made cap & ballers made during the 20^th centaury and almost all made after the turn of the 21^st century. This determines the good accuracy of the Belgians.

The recommended ball size is .451 diameter round ball. Any differences here? Take a closer look: Right you are! It is the interior depth of the chambers. They do not only seem to have different lengths or depths rather, they do actually have as our pard Lucasia FROCS #18 recently discovered!

Chamber of #N 87

Chambers of #676 (left) & 925 (right)

Chamber of #4612

Chambers of #11477

Chamber Size – Interior Depth: To qualify and quantify Lucasia’s observations chambers of all different Centaure models, variations and also a few sub-variations over a wide range of serial numbers were measured (RNMAs #87 through 18408, Civilians, all variations Cavalry models, Marshals, factory engraved variants), thanks to the pards all around the globe. Measurements taken were

a. distance from the rim of the chamber to the bottom/base of the nipple

b. distance from the rim of the chamber to the shoulder/step above the base of the nipple.

Most pards used the extension pin of a (digital) caliper for their measurements. “Suspect” or appearantly “off” measurements due to different types of nipples installed (3 threads early type, 4 threads “regular” type, 5 threads replacement nipples), obvious tolerances in production, not properly calibrated digital calipers (not “zeroed”) and other erroneous data were excluded from the final math.

It should be noted that the Centaure chambers have this pronounced shoulder or step mentioned before. However, the Belgians used drills with differently shaped tips, from relatively pointed to quite flat, to cut these shoulders.

Give or take the fraction of a mite of a millimeter or an inch here are the surprising results:

# Distance from rim to base of the nipples is about the same in all models and over all serial numbers, averaging at ca. 33,24 mm/1.309 in.

# Distance of rim to shoulder, however, is a different story altogether. Depending on the depths of the shoulder this determines the volume of the chamber, the charge that can be loaded. Three groups of significantly different lengths (volumes) of the chambers were found and categorized. They can be related to serial numbers and/or year of production.

· Large chambers: in early production (1959) models to #2851 (1963) for sure but possibly as high as into the low 3000s. This includes the rare Civilians and early Cavalry Models (1^st variation) with their fluted cylinders.

The distance from the rim of the chamber to the shoulder averages 30,06 mm/1.183 in (range from 29,08 mm/1.144 in of #C752 to 30,99 mm/1.220 in in #87).

The chambers of these early cylinders have the largest capacity of all Centaure pistols.

· Mid-size chambers: slightly smaller than the early chambers and from #3128 (1964) to ca. #6969 (1967). The change from the large chambers was probably made sometime in the period 1963/64, between #2851 and #3128.

The distance from the rim to the shoulder averages 27,35 mm/1.076 in with a range of 25,91/1.020 in in pistol #5652 to 28,50 mm/1.122 in of #4601.

Looking at it from the shooter’s angle these chambers have 89 % of the volume of the above early ones!

If you need knock-down power in your shooting like for some CAS stages a Belgian with a cylinder sporting the early or mid-sized chambers is the way to go.

· Small chambers: from ca. #7201 (1968) to the end of the production (1973). Actually the change from the mid-size to the small chamber was probably implemented sometime during the second half of 1967, between #6969 and #7201.

The average distance from the rim of the chamber to the shoulder is only 22,75 mm/.896 in. Distances range from as small as 21,30 mm/0.839 of #F11117 to as “big” as 23,37 mm/0.920 in of #9934.

All models, variations and sub-variations made during this period have these small chambers, no matter if the

# steel is of the carbon or stainless alloy kind,

# cylinder is rebated or fluted,

# barrel length is 8” or 5,5”,

# finish is of the blued/CCH or stainless look/”in the white” variety.

These small size chambers accommodate only 70 % of the powder of the early large ones.

If bulls eye shooting is your sport with light loads under round balls for best accuracy a Centaure equipped with a cylinder with such small chambers is the ticket.

Having established these 3 different chamber sizes the question here is about the WHY? Why did FAUL reduce the depth of the chambers? And why in 2 steps? Has the position of the bolt notch anything to do with these changes? The deepest points of the 6 bolt notches are positioned ca. 32.75 mm/1.289 in from the rim of the cylinder towards the nipples, on the exterior of the smaller, rear portion of the cylinder. But their square cuts begin already ca. 29,55 mm/1.163 in and end ca. 35,95/1.415 in from the rim. That would place part of the notches over the rear portion of the early large chambers, would weaken the chamber walls there. Through the change to the mid-size and later to the small chambers these bolt notches were now safely behind the chambers.

And there is something else. Above measurements compared to chambers of a 1^st gen. Colt Army #4553 provide another perspective. Disregarding the fact that Colt Army .44 cal. chambers have a greater diameter than the Centaures because they are actually a .45 caliber (we knew that already, didn’t we?), in our specimen from the Civil War era the distance from the rim to the piston base is 33,60 mm/1.323 in. This is close to what you find in your Centaure (33,24 mm/1.309 in). But here the similarity ends because the Colt does not have a shoulder like the Centaure, just a small radius which begins ca. 2 mm/.079 in above the base of the chamber! In other words this Colt Army has an even bigger chamber volume than the early Centaures…and 6 weak spots in the rear portion of their chamber walls!

So, one could speculate that the smaller Centaure chambers compared to the 1^st gen. Colt Armies were a safety measure introduced by the Belgians to offset advances in 20^th century black powder technology…?! What do you think? Please, share your thoughts with the pards & pardettes over at the forum.

“If you measure this distance on the exterior of the cylinder starting at the rim and going toward the nipple, you will find that the distance from the rim to be beginning of the rebate shoulder is exactly the same as the interior depth of the chamber from the rim to the shoulder” notes Chain-Fire FROCS #14 and continues: “Therefore, it is my assumption and belief that this chamber design was developed to strengthen the rebated portion of the cylinder – thus preventing burst cylinders in this area. This feature may have proven particularly beneficial for fluted cylinder chambers which have especially thin chamber walls in this area.”

Position of Ratchet Teeth was changed during the production life of the Belgians for reasons unknown today.

· In later production models the ratchet teeth usually line up centered on each nipple. This is observed from ca. #3000 or around 1964, whereas

· they were rotated clockwise a good amount in early RNMAs, Civilian Models (C-prefix), 1^st variation Cavalry Models (F-prefix) and Pocket Armies.

Early type ratchet teeth of #1790

Later type ratchet teeth of #11327

Most revolvers sport 8“ barrels and the so-called 3-screw frame with recoil shield and back-strap cut for stock attachment, like below RNMA, 1^st variation, 2nd sub-variation #12106

#12106

A number of pistols are found with these general characteristics but with back-straps without the notch in the toe. I believe these back-straps sans notches are left-over parts from the early 1960 Civilian Model and the special order Pocket Army project that were later fed into the production of the RNMAs. This is considered good housekeeping practice in line with old Colt’s fashion to use available parts from the inventory. I consider them a sub-variation of the Regular New Model Army.

#925 backstrap cut for shoulder stock

Butt of #8563 without notch in the toe

Evolution of the Arbor

The majority of the Centaures studied have their arbor fixed in the frame by a horizontal, a few only by a vertical lock pin. Yon can see the end of the pin when you cock the hammer.

1^st version arbour: note square ended arbour with separate deep grease groove	1^st version arbor: most of the early production RNMAs, the Civilians, Cavalry Models (1^stvariation) and Pocket Armies feature an arbor with a separate deep grease groove close to the slot for the barrel wedge. This feature is very rare on later pistols. In addition they have the historically correct square ended bottomed arbour, tight in the hole” like 1^st and 2^nd generation Colts, see left picture of #C418.
2^nd version arbor: note shallow separate grease groove	2^nd version arbor: next in the development from around 1963 was a slightly tapered ended arbor with a separate shallow grease groove, see picture on the left of #4601.
3^rd version arbor: no separate grease groove but tapered ended arbor	3^rd version arbour: the factory altered this feature later to the tapered ended arbor without separate grease groove, see picture of #8940 on left side. If these evolutionary steps to the tapered arbor were done to please demanding competition shooters is not known but many of the Belgian Colts were successfully used by target shooters due to their inherent accuracy.
4^th version arbour: square ended, without separate grease groove	4^th version arbour: a couple of the late production pistols have a 4^th version of the arbor, namely square ended again like the 1^st version but again without the separate grease groove. Such arbors found in early production pistols probably had some arbor repair job done. #11899 (left picture) has this type of arbor.

#10522 has been reported in the survey even with a trigger stop, see below! This is probably a customs job.

#10522 left side view: see trigger stop

Right side view of #10522

Contrary to 2^nd and 3^rd gen. Colt Armies the Centaures were furbished with a crowned muzzle. This muzzle crown was modified during the life of the Belgian from a flat muzzle crown during the first production runs like original Colt 1860 Army revolvers, as exemplified by #C418 from 1960 (below left) , to a rounded one of stainless steel RNMA #12307 from 1972 (below right).

At the same time the diameter of the barrel at the muzzle was increased from 17,2 mm/.675 in (#C418) to 17,4 mm/.686 in (#12307).

Front sights: Except for the special production Pocket Armies FAUL installed low profile period correct front sights of blade type in early production revolvers Armies. These blades were later increased in height at the expense of historical accuracy, possibly to enhance shooting to point of aim.

1960 production PC early low profile front sight of #C320…

...and 1971 production tall front sight of #F11117

As we all know competition shooters in general but particularly bulls eye shooters are a different breed. They have their very own ideas about what is best in the front sight department…

Crescent shape custom front sight of Cavalry Model #F82 (top) compared to 1st gen. Colt (bottom)

Crescent shape custom front sight of #4601 dovetailed on barrel

Above and below are a few examples of Centaures with custom & small scale production front sights.

Front sight of #6150 modified for quick-draw competition? It’s dovetailed on barrel		Factory bead sight of #11327
The first owner of #2722 liked it extremely tall…	…but the current collector-owner prefers the factory sight & de-installed the tall custom front sight!

The usual finish was a modern bluing process resulting in a deep gray-black luster applied to barrel, cylinder and back-strap whereas frame, arbor, hammer and loading press received a color case hardening using a cyanide process. Ca. 1967 FAUL started trial production of Regular New Model Armies in high gloss polish/”in the white” finish (stainless look: surface specially heat treated). RNMAs and Marshals with this glossy finish were regularly available from 1971. From 1972 RNMAs in stainless steel were added to the line.

The wooden grips are of the period correct one-piece kind. Most came with an oiled finish under a layer of protective shellac, but varnished grips could be had. Most Civilan Models and all Pocket Armies inspected were supplied with varnished grips.

Some regular prodiction pistols were assembled with a silverish Centaure logo medallion inlaid in the upper end of both grip panels. This enhancement is more often found in factory engraved specimens like in #11851 below left.

Oiled grips of #11851 with centaur medallion in both grip panels

Varnished grips of #F85 with aftermarket Colt medallions & carving

WDN/December 4, 2011

©2007 Wolf D. Niederastroth

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