Centaure (1960 NMA) SN:4123 Advice and Pictures

[reverendfranz]

I bought this on thursday, A Belgian 1960 New Model Army, SN 4123, but Mykeal's post reminded me i should put up some pictures. I also would like a little advice, as I am new to both black powder and the Centaures, I purchased a Pietta from Cabelas a few weeks ago, (after looking for a Belgian and not being able to find one ) but haven't shot it much. The Centaure looks to be in ok shape, though it was very dirty when i bought it, and i still need to clean it up a bit. It has a touch of what looks like surface rust at the muzzle, though the rest of the barrel looks spotless, and there are two patches of spotty bluing (which i dont really understand, as mechanicly, there is very little wear) and a very large spot of missing bluing on the cylinder. What is the best way to clean up or treat the rust at the muzzle, and should i reblue the gun or cylinder, or leave it as it is?

The grips are in pretty good shape, but are varnished, as far as i can tell, is there anything i should do to take care of them, or should i strip them and oil them?

Also, what size caps are recommended, as i have a tin of number 11 Remington caps for the Pietta, but they dont seem particularly tight on either gun? im not really sure how tight they should be, or if i should just try to get two sets of new nipples to insure uniformity between the two revolvers.

The pictures aren't too fancy, just snapshots, but i wanted something to send with the FROCS survey and took these today.

The last picture is of it with its Italian brother.

Any advice or guidance is appreciated.

 

[bubba15301]

what is a frocs survey?

 

[mykeal]

bubba15301 - FROCS survey is a questionnarie developed by a group of Belgian Centaure collectors to build a database of characteristics of all known examples. Their web site is
http://www.1960nma.org/index.html

reverendfranz - The finish damage on your gun appears to be holster damage; the gun was likely stored in a leather holster for long periods of time. Refinishing is a matter of personal choice; were it my gun I would eventually have it done. The best choice would be to have the barrel assembly and cylinder completely reblued rather than patched.

There are many commercial products that can be used to remove the rust without harming the bluing; Blue Wonder and Birchwood Casey both make excellent rust removal products.

There is no good answer to cap size. Cap dimensions vary greatly between brands and even within a given brand and size (one of my favorite sayings is that you don't get 3 decimal place precision for 4 cents). All I can advise is to buy some and try them.

 

[DoubleDeuce 1]

I agree with Mykeal... holster storage damage. FROCS has a lot of useful and interesting information. Even with the cosmetic stuff, it looks like you have a very nice revolver.

 

[madcratebuilder]

If you decide to re-blue your Centaure, that Belgium steel takes Art's Belgian blue very nicely. It well look better than the original bluing.

I see on your revolver the Centaure has the rifle pointing down, I believe that's the rare one, most have it pointing up.

 

[Smokin_Gun]

FROCS Member #24 here reverendfranz ... nice lookin' Centaure you have there nice Pietta too...you can use a rust remover and or 0004 steel wool and PermaBlue paste not liquid untill you get to use that Bluing that MCB mentioned.
Visit the sFROCS site and join up talk to Wolf Admin and get the form on line there or email info to him in Germany. He'll hook you up.
I my self would remove the rust and use that cold blue for now. The Remington #10 caps seem to work on both of my Centaures SN767 & SN925. More info to be had on the FROCS forum ... Congrads on the 1860 Colts.
SN767

 

[reverendfranz]

Thanks for all the replies. I think ill use something like the blue wonder cleaner to clean it up a bit and leave it as it is for a while, it doesnt look bad in most light, and it adds a little bit of age to it, i think, though ill probably reblue the entire thing somewhere down the road. I had no idea a holster would do that, do they soak leather for holsters in vinegar or something? hah. Ive used Arts Blue in the past, so ill definately keep that one in mind as well

Im still waiting to hear back about a login for the 1960nma forum, but i did have another question, if anyone knows. The mainspring on the centaure is much heavier than the one on the pietta, and when i dissasembled it, i could see that someone had taken a grinder or sanding drum to the back of it, presumably to lighten it. Does this sound right, or should the hammer pressure be more like the pietta? The difference in hammer shape in addition to the heavier spring makes it pretty uncomfortable to draw back the hammer with the thumb.

 

[mykeal]

The hammer on my new (to me) Centaure is the same (give or take a little) as both my other 1860 Armys, one Pietta and one Euroarms.

 

[arcticap]

I like how the Centaures look, nice grips & case coloring,
and especially their imitation of the "Rampant Colt".
What does that mark to its right signify?

 

[mykeal]

That's a 'perron', or arrow, or 'feather duster'. It's an inspection mark. The sideways 'S' next to a star is code for the inspector's name.

 

[madcratebuilder]

I like how the Centaures look, nice grips & case coloring,
and especially their imitation of the "Rampant Colt".
What does that mark to its right signify?

That's the rare Centaure with the rifle pointing down. On most the rifle points up.

 

[reverendfranz]

According to Wolf (who runs the FROCS survey) the *S is the inspection mark of one Charles Deanen who worked there from 1952 to 1968. the Perron, or Feather Duster, or palm tree mark is the inspection mark for rifled barrels.

 

[madcratebuilder]

The hammer tension on my Centaure is about the same as the rest of my 1860's. Is it possible the spring has been replaced at one time?

 

[reverendfranz]

Very possible. I dont know anything about the history of this particular revolver, and the grind marks on the top of the mainspring did not look factory to me.