32 long rimfire Remington #4 Rolling Block

[Blanket]

Earlier this year I bought a Remington #4 that had a perfect bore and very tight. Been debating on how to make it shootable. Was at the gunshow this past weekend and found a guy that had a later box of Remington Cleanbore smokeless shells with 28 left. shot 4 into a tight group at 30 yards. Figure there is about 20 squirrels or rabbits better watch out. Dang I wish someone would make that round again

[Mk42gunner]

Probably fifteen or twenty years ago Navy Arms had some .32 Long rimfire (and maybe Short) made in Brazil. It used to be fairly common to find it at gun shows for $35-50 per box. If you do find some of it, don't waste your money. Very inconsistent results, split cases at the firing pin were common and the lube is very poor resulting in heavy leading.

I ended up converting my #2 to centerfire and using .32 Long Colt cases. If I had it to do over again; I would go ahead and rechamber it for .32 S&W Long.

Robert

[uscra112]

#4 Rollers in .32 RF have genuine collector value. There just weren't that many. I could not bring myself to modify mine, although I have converted Hopkins & Allen 932 and Stevens 1915 Favorite rifles to centerfire.

There's a guy on Gunbroker who sells .32 Long Colt Rimfire adapters made from Starline .32 S&W cases. He also has the correct heeled bullets. I use these in my #4 with excellent results. He advocates for using .22 caliber Ramset #2 charges, but I personally much prefer to use "acorn" blanks as primer and up to 2 grains of Bullseye. More wxpensive, but the acorn blanks are MUCH easier to punch out of the adapters when it's time to to reload, so the adapters will last much longer.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/784074820

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

BTW Dittos on that Navy Arms ammo. I got close to 30% splits at the rim with the one box I had.

[modified5]

I turned some cases out of aluminum stock on my mini lathe, pulled the bullet out of a .22 short and curved the case with fff black powder. It shot great. The blanks pushed out easily and they reloaded multiple times and never split.
Where there is a will, there is a way.

[uscra112]

You may well have circumvented one problem with making adapters from existing brass. The web of a .32 S&W case isn't deep enough to provide support to the .22 case, so the .22 case expands forward of the web, making it very hard to press it out of the adapter. That's why I like the acorn blanks - they are so short that they barely get past the web, and they're soft copper, which makes them fire more reliably with the weak hammer blow of some old boys' rifles.

[Blanket]

I can make turned adapters but wanted to shoot some original ammo

[uscra112]

Best chance then is to watch Gunbroker for broken boxes of old stuff, then. Less-than-full with torn flaps etc. doesn't bring the high collector prices.

[pietro]

.

I used the EASY button for shooting my .32cal #4 RB - I converted the firing pin/breechblock to centerfire in about a half-hour.

I:

1) Marked the center of the bore on the breechblock face via a Sharpie dropped downbore.

2) Removed the breechblock from the receiver and the firing pin (FP) from the breechblock

3) Drilled a 1/16" hole into the face of the breechblock at the marked spot, into the FP chamber

4) Ground the RF firing pin tip off the front of the FP, leaving a flat surface.

5) Re-installed the altered FP into the breechblock & using the previously drilled hole as a guide, "dimple" the flat face of the FP with the same 1/16" (sacrificial) drillbit.

6) Removed the FP from the breechblock and drilled the dimple in the flat face about 1/4" deep.

7) Ground the fluted section off the same 1/16" drillbit shank and epoxy or solder the shank into the FP hole.

The only other thing that needs be done is to re-install the altered FP into the breechblock, mark the tip & cut it off to the proper protrusion, polishing the cut to round.


The rifle was then usable with commercially-available ( Winchester makes a few runs a year) .32 Short Colt CF ammo.

The rifle can be use as-is, with 2 FP holes (RF/CF) in the breech face, or the RF hole plugged. (I didn't bother plugging the RF hole, YMMV)


.

[John Boy]

Dang I wish someone would make that round again

Blanket, here's how you bring that 32 RF Long back to life ...
http://www.hlebooks.com/32rfkit/prices.htm
* Then buy a can of 100 Flobert 6mm primers
* Powder charges are: 2-3grs Bullseye or 12-13gr of FFFg
* Bullets: From ten-mile off Gunbroker, the Ideal 299153, 90grs (original bullet for the 32 RF
* Extra Brass: Dixie has KA1202 Brass Rimfire Cases - $6.50 a case (too stiff of a price)
* I have sent a 32 RF Long case to Roberson Ctg Co and they will do a CNC test to modify a 32 Long CF to RF. If they agree to produce the RF brass, price SB in a $3.50 per range

And how did I get into this venture: a 95% vintage 1872 Tip Up followed me home

[Chev. William]

If you want to cast your own, look at Accurate Molds in the 31-090 series.
I have a 311090A wiht Matt's Bullets for casting heeled .32 bullets.
I have told him he can fill other's orders from my mold if he wishes.

My bullet heel is slightly larger in diameter, hence the "1" in the third position of the Accurate Mold designation.
The rest of the Bullet is per the 31-090A drawing.
Chev. William

[Kev18]

Dixie gun works sells .32 rimfire cartridges. They milled them out of brass and work with .22 blanks.

[Chev. William]

I won a Pair of Ebay Auctions last week and have now received the results:

- A Stevens Model 44 type Barrel marked ".25 R.F." with good remaining Blue exterior and a bore exhibiting good remaining rifling and a few small pits from years of BP cartridge use. a Rear, riveted Dovetail attached, 'Spring' sight with Stevens wide stepped elevation wedge is fitted slightly off side but no front sight is fitted. this barrel is stamped with a number 2 on the bottom half octagon flat near its front edge and the numbers 47 019 on the bottom of the round section barrel forward of the octagon to round transition. At the breech end of the bottom flat is what appears to be a deep punch mark. the roll stamped "J. Stevens A & T. CO." markings do not have any 'embellishments' before or after them. All the Markings seem to be Sharp so this seems to be an original Blued Finish without any later refinishing.

- A Remington "#4" Barrel marked ".25-10 R.F." with an exterior showing mostly Blue but with surface rust the last 1/4 of its length from the breech face forward and exhibiting a "Clean and Bright" bore but almost no remaining rifling. The Bore viewed from the chamber looks like smooth bore; but viewed from the Muzzle has 'Ghost' rifling visible. It looks like it has been shot about to the end of its rifling life; but kept Very Clean, then stored breech Face down in a Cabinet with a moisture leakage problem. This Barrel also seems to be designed for use in a "Take down" type receiver as the tenon has a 'Crosswise groove' on its bottom side and a narrow 'slot' Extending about 9/16 forward from the Tenon seating Face.The Tenon itself is about 7/16" long, with a upper rim shroud extending that about 1/4'. No Sights are fitted on this barrel. There is also a Stamped marking on the Bottom forward of the "Slot" that looks like a 'double headed arrow'.

All in all, a pair of interesting Barrels. Despite the difference in cartridge marking, they both seem to be chambered for .25 Stevens (Long) RF cartridge.

This illustrates the extent that 'rival' rifle makers went to to avoid marking their products in any way with the name of their rivals.

You won't find Colts, Marlins or Remingtons marked with '44WCF', just '44-40 CF'; nor Winchesters marlins nor Remingtons marked with '45 Colt' or for that matter any cartridge marking including "Colt" in its name. Colt And Smith and Wesson also voided naming rivals on their products.

Chev. William