What we Gonna Do now, Butch?

While you go shooting your more common Centennial Army models and variations with the holy black, I’m sitting back now, considering myself lucky to be one of this great bunch of cowboys and getting all this help for the study from the USA and many European countries. It is almost a global project if you look at the countries stated in the survey chart. But I am also concerned that no other Western European Belgian Colt owners are stepping forward with their Centaures like from the Netherlands, Spain, Scandinavia, the UK, or from Canada? On the other hand I would have been surprised to receive contributions from Italy due to their strong replica industry. When I browse through all those CAS or BP forums there must be a strong blackpowder shooter and gun collecting community in these countries…

One comment regarding the question “are the Centaures re-issues or replicas”? There is no doubt about a licensing agreement between Sam Colt and the Belgian Consortium of which the Hanquets were a valued member. At the same time there exists no indication that Colt’s ever terminated or cancelled this contract. But it is historical fact that no 1860 Army was ever produced outside the Hartford factory…until 1959 at Rue Treppé Nr. 22, Liege, Belgium. Before Uberti turned out their replica 1963  and before Colt marketed their 2nd generations in the 1970s…Pards, the conclusions are all yours.

There are a couple of pending issues and loose ends regarding the history of the Belgian that need to be addressed.

Why do the regular NMA come with different barrel markings? More specifically what was the reasoning for adding CENTENNIAL TRADE MARK, and who was the driving force for it: Centennial Arms Corporation or FAUL? Who owns that trade mark, anyhow, FAUL's or Centennial Arms Corp.? And was the legend CHICAGO U.S.A. added by the Belgian factory or by their US distributor?

I hope we find the answers in lively FROCS forum discussions. I would like to see more range reports comparing the performance and handling characteristics of the Centaure to their Italian repro cousins or 2nd and 3rd generation Colts brothers. IMHO rarer specimen of the “1960 NEW MODEL ARMY” can have their place in your Civil War or Western gun collection next to their grand-uncles of 1st generation Colts. I took a third route and shipped my S/N 4079 to Austria to Karl Nedbal (www.nedbal.at) for conversion into a Richards. 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 my favorite .44 Colt caliber smokeless cartridges with inside lubed/.429 diameter bullets. For acceptable accuracy this would not only require cutting a correct chamber into the cylinder but also galvanizing the bore to the correct smaller diameter. The latter was felt possible because the factory bore of the Centaure is .441 to .442 only, compared to 1st generation Colts or their Italian replicas which normally have .451 diameter. Barrel lining was out of the question because once the barrel was cut to accept the ejector housing there would not be sufficient steel left for a technically feasible and legally acceptable (proof testing) installation of the liner.

#3 Because I like the unique Centaure proprietary naval engagement scene I hoped that Nedbal could use the extra cylinder that was included in the deal when I had acquired the pistol in 2005. My reasoning was that the confirmed hardness of the Belgian steel would easily stand the moderate pressure of my round. As it turned out this assumption did not hold water. Not because of the quality of the steel but because the factory cylinder notches were too deep to safely accept straight walled .44 cal. Colt cartridges. In addition, it was not cost-effective to add the necessary material in the front area of the chambers required to support the inside lubed bullets before they hit the cone of the barrel. So, Nedbal lathed a new cylinder from the right steel to proper specs with notches only 3 mm deep. The original cylinder engraving was photo-copied and engraved on the conversion cylinder.