Beaumont M1873 Colonial
- Category
- Rifle
- Barrel
- 832 mm
- Weight, empty
- 4.42 kg
- Introduced
- 1873
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Beaumont M1873 Colonial was a single-shot bolt-action service rifle developed from Edouard de Beaumont's M1871 for the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) in the Dutch East Indies. Chambered for the 11mm Beaumont black-powder centerfire cartridge, it retained the M1871's hallmark V-shaped leaf mainspring concealed inside the hollow bolt handle. For tropical colonial service its barrel, breech, sights, and bayonet were browned rather than left bright to resist corrosion in humid climates, and its quadrant rear sight was graduated in paces out to 1,200.
Sent to fight in the steaming jungles of the Dutch East Indies, the Colonial Beaumont was deliberately given a dull browned finish so that no glint of bright steel would betray a soldier in the green, and so that the relentless tropical humidity would not eat its metalwork alive.
Also called the Klein-Geweer M.73. Roughly 35,000 were issued to KNIL forces during the colonial campaigns of the 1870s and 1880s. Built at the Dutch state works and by contractors including P. Stevens and E. de Beaumont of Maastricht and J.F.J. Bar of Delft.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- Geweerfabriek Hembrug
- Category
- Rifle
- Country
- Netherlands
- Status
- Out of production
- Produced
- 1873 to 1881
- Variant of
- Colonial pattern
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 832 mm
- Overall length
- 1320 mm
- Weight, empty
- 4.42 kg
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Bolt action
- Firing mechanism
- Striker fired
- Trigger
- Single stage
- Capacity
- 1
- Magazine
- Internal
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Steel
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Wood
- Finish
- Browned
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Muzzle velocity
- 405 m/s
- Muzzle energy
- 1722 J
- Effective range
- 600 m
- Maximum range
- 1000 m
- Rate of fire
- 12 rpm
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
No load solved for this record yetThe flight path is computed from a cartridge and a bullet. This record has no ammunition filed against its chambering, so there is nothing to solve.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Single shot
Metallic cartridge
Leaf mainspring in bolt handle- Browned metalwork
Split bridge receiver
Bayonet lug
Quadrant rear sight
Standing
How it compares
Each figure against the firearms of the same type and cartridge that record it, or of the same type where that cartridge has too few. Positions are read to the nearest tenth.
| Measurement | This firearm | Median | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empty weightAmong 1,612 rifles | 4.42 kg | 3.50 kg | Heavier than about 90% |
| Overall lengthAmong 1,557 rifles | 1320 mm | 1080 mm | Longer than about 90% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 1,659 rifles | 832 mm | 584 mm | Longer than about 90% |
| Magazine capacityAmong 1,611 rifles | 1 | 5 | Holds fewer rounds than about 90% |
Answers
Questions about the Beaumont M1873 Colonial
How much does the Beaumont M1873 Colonial weigh?
The Beaumont M1873 Colonial weighs 4.42 kg (9.73 lb) empty.
What caliber is the Beaumont M1873 Colonial?
The Beaumont M1873 Colonial is chambered in 11x52mmR Dutch Beaumont.
How many rounds does the Beaumont M1873 Colonial hold?
The Beaumont M1873 Colonial holds 1 rounds, fed from an internal magazine.
How long is the Beaumont M1873 Colonial?
The Beaumont M1873 Colonial is 1320 mm (52.0 in) long overall, with a 832 mm (32.8 in) barrel.
Who makes the Beaumont M1873 Colonial?
The Beaumont M1873 Colonial is made by Geweerfabriek Hembrug (Netherlands). It was designed by Edouard de Beaumont.
When was the Beaumont M1873 Colonial introduced?
The Beaumont M1873 Colonial was introduced in 1873 and discontinued in 1881.
How does the Beaumont M1873 Colonial operate?
The Beaumont M1873 Colonial uses a bolt action, and its firing mechanism is striker fired.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
In service
- Royal Netherlands East Indies Army
- 1873
Provenance
Confidence in this record
66%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/dutch-m1873-colonial-rifle' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "dutch-m1873-colonial-rifle", "name": "Beaumont M1873 Colonial", "manufacturer": { "id": "hembrug-zaandam", "name": "Geweerfabriek Hembrug", "countryCode": "NL", "foundedYear": 1679, "website": null, "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "updatedAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "version": "fe83c3872cc981eea7f93e8605c860b11b13a06dddb30f170c6d6caa33fb4cbd" }, "category": { "id": "rifle", "name": "Rifle", "description": "Long-barreled firearms designed for accurate shooting" }, "country_of_origin": "NL", "year_introduced": 1873, "barrel_length_mm": 832, "weight_empty_g": 4415, "action_type": "bolt_action"}