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What
we Gonna do now, Butch? # The Cowboy Way # The Long and Winding Road to the Centaure Richards
Conversion # The Making of a Centaure
Richards Conversion # Detour to the Bulls Eye # More Views of the Centaure Richards
Conversion |
The Cowboy Way: while
you go shooting your Centennial Army models with the holy black, I’m sitting
back now on my porch, considering myself lucky to be one of this great bunch of
cowboys & cowgirls and getting all this help for the study from the USA,
many European countries and even down-under. It is almost a global project now
if you look at the countries listed in the Acknowledgement page or the survey
chart. But I am also concerned that no other Northern or Western European
Belgian Colt owners are stepping forward with their Centaures like from Portugal
or Scandinavia? When I browse through all those CAS or BP forums there are
active cowboy action and black powder shooting communities but also quite a
number of Western gun collectors in these countries…
On
the other hand I would have been greatly surprised to receive any contributions
from Italy due to their highly competitive replica industry in the Gardone
Valley.
The Long
and Winding Road to the Centaure Richards Conversion: IMHO rarer specimens of the RNMAs like
the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th or 7th
variation, the Civilian, Cavalry, Pocket Army or Marshal Models, and certainly
the beautiful factory and custom engraved variants should have their rightful
place in your Civil War or Western gun collection next to their grand-uncles of
1st generation Colt 1860 Armies. The more common sub-variations of 1st
and 3rd variations of the Regular New Model Army with their rebated,
plain or roll-engraved cylinders with a naval engagement scene in Ormsby style,
will surely appreciate a regular diet of powder, wad, ball and cap on the
range…but please, clean them painstakingly afterwards to maintain their value.
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ASM Richards Army Conversion #522 with my .44 Colt
reloads |
Rear view of
#522 |
For years I had this hankering for a modern made
period correct Richards conversion to shoot my favourite inside lubed .44 Colt
ammo loaded with smokeless powder. That is after I obtained an Uberti
Richards-Mason Army conversion and one of their Open Tops in 2002, both in .44
Colt. As for a companion rifle a gunsmith converted my brass framed Uberti
Henry from .44-40 to .44 Colt. So pistols and rifle use the same ammo.
Eventually in March 2004 I found a replica
described as Richards Army made by the now defunct Italian company Armi san
Marco. She was advertised in .44 Colt cal. with original box at an internet auction in the USA. The price was hot and I just
had to have her. A Texas friend made the purchase for me,
took care of the export paperwork with a little help from the NRA, and off she
went with the next plane to Europe.
I am frankly admitting that I did not research
the ASM conversions in detail back then regarding PCness, and checking the
pictures at that auction would have been prudent, too…because I was just happy
to find an Army size Richards conversion to complete my line of modern made
Colt Army conversion clones at a decent price. When all importation formalities
were completed at Frankfurt Airport customs and I unpacked the parcel pistol
#522 looked awesome with frame and hammer in beautiful case colors and deeply
blued barrel, cylinder and back-strap. In that respect above pictures do not do
her justice. To that period looking arrangement the
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Colt Richards conversions # 4663 &
5596 courtesy Chain-Fire, USA |
polished nickel plated trigger guard made
a pretty contrast. Functioning and accuracy was fine, light
trigger pull and all, but somehow she did not look right. No, it was not the
scaled-up frame, cylinder and barrel which irritated me since my Uberti
conversions had these areas strengthened, too. Have a look at the left
picture of 2 Colt Richards for comparison. These originals were converted at
Colt’s in Hartford during the 1870s. Then it hit me: her straight cylinder and
frame without step, |
combined with this “short lip” machined to
the conversion ring and the separate gas ring just were not right. So, she had
to go, made another German pard happy who wanted an unpretentious but different
looking shooter in .44 Colt and not a .38 Special or .45 Colt SAA clone like
many of the other modern cowboys. After that experience, however, I did my
homework on the ASM conversions. I discovered that Armi san Marco had made
Richards conversions “that never were”: 1951 and 1861 “Navy Richards” in .38
Special and in various barrel lengths. To make things worse a pard called his
model of an ASM Richards Army “Il Barstardo” in my favourite US forum. Which
says it all, doesn’t it?
But I still wanted that period correct Richards
Army conversion…
Finally in Fall 2007 the time was right. After
more research among fellow collectors and inquiries in German internet forums likeWaffen-Online www.forum.waffen-online.de I was
ready for the next move to get a Richards.
The Making
of a Centaure Richards Conversion: this time I shipped my 1965 vintage Centaure RNMA #4079 to Karl Nedbal in
Vösendorf near Vienna, Austria (http://www.nedbal.at/), for conversion into a period
correct Richards. In the European gun forums Nedbal was recommended as a
knowledgeable conversion smith
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Nedbal
conversions from Uberti C&B pistols: Colt
Richards Army with ivory grips (top) and Richards-Mason Navy (bottom) |
with years of experience of converting Italian
replicas of C&B Colt and Remington revolvers into cartridge firing pistols.
Above are pieces of Nedbal-art converted by the master.
He is using mostly Uberti C&B revolvers for these tasks but also works on
other maker’s guns delivered by his clients. Until we met his preferred
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4 x
.44 cal. left to right: .44 Russian made from .44 Mag case, .44 Colt, .44
Special, .44 Magnum |
Note
difference in rim dia of .44 Colt, .44 Special, .44 Colt cartridge for Army conversions was the venerable .44 Special since commercially
made rounds are readily available in Austria. To accommodate the wider rim of
this cartridge his newly lathed conversion cylinders have their chambers
bored-through with a slight cant. To shoot this caliber he recommends lining
the C&B barrels. I should have listened to him. That would have saved me
mucho dinero…. |
Here is my
wish-list for Herr Nedbal:
#1 a one-of-a-kind pistol
because to the best of my knowledge no Centaure has ever been converted to
shoot cartridges.
#2 I wanted her converted to
shoot .44 Colt caliber smokeless cartridges with inside lubed .429 diameter
bullets (see above). Chambers were to be bored parallel (!) to the arbor. Because
the rim of the .44 Colt is smaller than the .44 Special a cant was not needed.
For acceptable accuracy this would require reaming chambers into the
bored-through C&B cylinder and also galvanizing the bore to this smaller
diameter. The application of the galvanizing technique was felt
feasible because the factory groove diameter of the Centaure is ca. .446 only, whereas 1st generation Colts or their Italian replicas
normally have ca. .451-.454. This galvanizing was a more complex and
difficult task than anticipated. Only with the fourth attempt an acceptable
groove diameter seemed to have been obtained...
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#3 I prefer the unique Centaure
proprietary naval engagement scene over the more
traditional Colt/Ormsby-style one. So I suggested that Nedbal used my extra
cylinder #969 that was included when I had acquired #4079 back in 2005. My
reasoning was that the confirmed hardness of the Belgian steel would easily
stand the moderate pressures of my .44 Colt reloads. As it turned out his
assumption did not work out.
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Not because of the quality of the steel but because
the cylinder notches were cut too deep by the factory some 40 years ago. The
Proof house would not have accepted that for cartridges. Also, it was not
cost-effective to add material to the forward portion of the chambers to support the inside lubed bullets
before they hit the barrel cone. Nedbal overcame these obstacles and lathed a new |
cylinder from 1.7225-42 CrMo4-V320 steel to proper specs with notches
of the correct depth. The original Centaure naval scene of the cylinder was
copied and engraved on the new conversion cylinder.
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…and contoured |
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cut |
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frame prepared
for cutting recoil shield, original arbor removed |
The separate deep grease groove is lathed already,
the slot is being cut into the new arbor |
#4 Gated conversion ring & new
arbor
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Conversion ring fitted to frame, new arbor ready to
be srewed into frame |
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#6 Centaure Richards assembled but…
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#7 How does she compare to an original Colt Richards? See for
yourself. Almost like twins, aren’t they?
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Nedbal Centaure Richards almost completed, old
front sight still in place
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…when this bore at
the muzzle end of the barrel has rifling oversize to the rifling at the breech
end” which is what there was, and installed a conventional liner…which
works fine using my regular cowboy loads at CAS but
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also regular bulls eye
shooting distances, see left quickly engaged targets: |
More views of the Centaure Richards
Conversion:
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Left side of #4079 |
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44 CAL
is embossed in trigger-guard, screws are domed |
Rear
sight and loading gate closed |
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Close-up
of right side with the hammer cocked and loading gate open |
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My
better half (left), Karl Nedbal (center) and
his missus (right). Willie the dog
hiding |
Vösendorf near Vienna/Austria: the master Nedbal
(center) with his missus (right) and my better half (left) in front of this
shop. The war department as my better half is also known is holding one of
Nedbal’s sought after gated Remington New Model Army conversions in .44
Special cal., made from a 1970’s Uberti C&B pistol. Incidentally, this Remmie eventually found its way
to FROCS #7 Bumble Bee … when he suffered from cold detoxification after an
acute Bacillus Conversicus infection … but that is another story. |
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