Centennial Arms 51' Navy

Well, I added another one to the stable today. This Centennial Arms Navy. It's a beauty!





I got it in a trade deal from another board. I traded a Pietta Sheriff's model Navy in .44 caliber for it. I already have several of them and wanted a proper .36 Navy with the correct barrel length. A deal was struck, and I became the proud owner of this gun.

Being a Centennial Arms gun, I believe these were made by Armi San Paolo. Please correct me if I'm wrong. This gun was made in the 1970's or 1980's, I'm just not sure when. The date code stamp is a bit confusing on this gun. Maybe you guys can help me figure it out?



Here's a closeup of the date code. XX is quite clear. What isn't clear (at least to me) is the third character. Is it an "I", "V", "7"? I'm not sure. If it is a "7", that makes no sense. And the difference between an "I" and a "V" is pretty big. Could be 1965, could be 1982. The gentleman I got it from says it was built in 1971. But that would be XIV. So you see the quandary.

Hopefully you guys can help me figure it out.

Acorn Mush said:

I just found a site that indicates your revolver was made in 1971. Here is the link. http://sackpeterson.com/models/italdates.htm

This is the second site I've seen with this info. Hope this helps.

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Thank you for that link. The list I have doesn't show XX7, XX8 or XX9 on it. That's why I was confused. Now we know for sure!

TheDr said:

Yep 1971.
Looks like it is a Schneider & Glassock.
Sorry if I misspelled the names.

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That was an excellent read! Thank you for that link.

If I read it correctly, the Schneider & Glassock guns had brass frames. Mine is steel. And that closing statement is great, about these guns being kind of scarce in the U.S.. I had never heard of one before I made this trade. I guess that's good and bad though. Good because it makes mine a little different from most everyone else's. Bad because parts are probably scarce or non-existent.

At any rate, it's an extremely well made pistol. The grip is far and away better feeling in my hand, than my Pietta or Uberti guns. You can see it's shaped different in the backstrap. Maybe closer to the actual Colt shape. I can't wait to shoot it and see how it does.

This is why I was confused.



This is the list I was looking at for the codes. 1971 is XXVII, which I realize is XX7. But I was looking for the arabic 7, not the Roman numeral, so I got a little confused.

TheDr said:

I had a buddy who had one similar back in the 80s. It was fun to shoot,and accuracy on his at 10 yards was almost exactly 1"high and 1" right.
Pretty dang good imo.

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That is good. Hopefully mine will do similar.

expat_alaska said:

XX7 is another way of representing XXVII by some repro makers which is 1971.

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Oops. Shotgun Dave beat me to posting the date stamp table. Thanks Dave!

Schneider & Glassick (of which there are only 3 verifiable specimens) produced primarily brass-framed guns.

I believe you have an Italian repro of an 1851 Navy with the steel color-cased frame and the roll engraved cylinder.

Very nice gun, sir!

Jim

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Thank you Sir!

That is the exact list I used. The list I have is a screen grab from one of your posts, elsewhere on the board. I keep that list handy so I can date any guns I come across. My confusion was from the arabic/Roman numerals. I knew that VII was 7 but I was looking for a "7".