Rifling Twist in revolver....1860 Army Colt Centaure Centennial made in Belgium.

[rifle]

I've got a Centaure 1860 Army Colt made back in the "60's" in Belgium. The rifling twist seems faster than any I've ever seen before. I checked it with a tight jag and patch and from what I can tell the rifling twist is a fast 1-15 or 1-16.  Other one I have is a common example of the Belgian Colts with a slow 1-64 approx. twist. in the barrel rifling. Then if I remember right others have a 1-32 type. Don't quote me on that 1-32 type though. I'd have to go back and check that again.
I have too many cap&ballers to keep straight in my old buffalo huntin head. I don't keep records about rifling twist. I should though. Usually I just get one out toi shoot and look at it when I swipe the barrel of oil and use alcohol to degrese the bore before I rub in some "lube pill" wax/lube or Wonder Lube. I do that so once the shootin starts the barrels stay pretty clean from the use of "lube pills" on the powder.
Anyway I look in the barrels when I swipe the oil or grease out. That's when I take note of what I'm shooting.
Anyway......I don't ever remember finding a cap&baller with a fast twist in the barrel like 1-15 or 1-16. Maybe I have and fergetted about it.  That fast of a teist seems more for conical bullets in 45caliber to me. Forty-five Colts are rifled around 1-14 or 1-15 usually right?
So....what the heck is a gun that fires lead round balls doing with a fast twist in the barrel like a conical shooter?
Ifin I remember right the gun shoots standard loads of 28gr. FFFg Holy Black just fine. Better than fine really. Like making bulls-eyes at 40+ paces(my paces are long steps a little longer than a yard since I stretch it out).
Usually the cap&ballers all seem to have a much slower twist to the barrels rifling. That 1-30 or 1-32 being the norm it seems at least for the Italian made guns. The Belgians seemed to carry an even slower twist like 1-64 or so.
Wonder where this odd ball I have came from? I know it's a Centaure but where did the dang fast twist come from?
I'll have to look up Long Johns Wolf and ask if he knows. You know...the Pard that started that FROCS Forum. The Friends of the Centaure Society forum.
Anyway...what would a fast teist be doing in a cap&baller? Target twist for gallery loads maybe? I shoot standard loads for the 1860 Army since the gun is an 1860 Army model. I don't see much sense in shooting gallery loads.
Any opinions about this anomaly? Could the gun be set up to fire conicals? Were some models made for that? Cap&ballers made to shoot conicals?

[Joe Lansing]

    All of the originals were made to fire conical or round. Look at the original moulds. They were double cavity.....conical and round.
Shooting round only is just simpler. The CW paper combustible cartridges were mostly, if not all, loaded with conicals. My original Starr is great with conicals.

                                                                            J.L.

[Pettifogger]

Most of the original 1860's had gain twist rifling and were designed to work with round ball or conicals.

[rifle]

I've heard originals were gain twist. Wonder what the end result was in regards to the twist? You know .....how much the ball turned while in the barrels? I was mostly wondering about the repos though since that's where my world is. Not able to procurr a nice original because of the price.
I've got one repo that has the gain twist and that's a Pietta Remington. Shots well with balls or conicals.
I've only this one time found a Colt type repo with a fast twist in the rifling. This Centennial Centaure 1860 Army Colt. I'm not counting barrels that are sleeved with a fast twist liner.
Othere Centennials I've seen have a relatively slow twist....slower than the Italian repos. Much slower.
I wonder how rare this Centaure Army Colt is with the fast twist.
I'll have to get with the "FROCS" forum people and see what's up in the production scheme of things.
I guess concerning the originals with the gain twist the manufacturers figured it was a help to the accuracy shooting both balls and conicals right?
Well, life is full of mystery I guess. I guess I'll have to shoot this Centaure Colt I have to see what it'll do both ways.....balls and conicals. Darn....another Colt type revolver to shoot and test. Will my work never be done?
The last Centaure I tested had rifling grooves maybe a .001 in. deep. Maybe. I think they were a little less than .001 in. actually.
I got it to be a darn good consistant shooter. It wasn't too bad to begin with only shooting a flyer now and then.
I reamed the chambers to be .006 in. over the groove diameter and it really is very consistant now. I just can't see any logical reason it wants to do it's consistant shooting all to the right. Barrels straight with the frame. Hammers centered. Crowns good and concentric with the bore. Forcing cone is good and concentric with the bore. Front sight is centered. Muzzle end is not larger inside diameter than the rest of the barrel.  Another mystery. I don't like my revs to shoot off center. Sure I can move the rear sight over but....that doesn't help point shooting any.

[Long Johns Wolf]

Interesting topic Rifle: what is the S/N of this Centaure with the fast twist?
Long Johns Wolf