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Thread: Rolling Block Rifle - Rare or BUBBA ??

  1. #21
    Boolit Mold
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    Right on! With the "sealed breech" issue cleared up, hopefully it will be (relatively) smooth sailing...

  2. #22
    Boolit Master

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    I look forward to seeing close ups of the action and an explanation of what's going on inside. I'm sure you'll get it straightened out and shooting soon!

  3. #23
    Boolit Master marlinman93's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ndnchf View Post
    I look forward to seeing close ups of the action and an explanation of what's going on inside. I'm sure you'll get it straightened out and shooting soon!
    I hope so too! I'm really thinking this could be a very quick fix, but don't want to get my hopes up too high.

  4. #24
    Boolit Master Baltimoreed's Avatar
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    I bought a WF revolver from them and the gentleman I spoke with was very accommodating, pulled the gun from storage so to have it in hand and answering all my detailed questions and even knocked off some of the price, their wiggle room, of a very expensive piece. I would buy from them again. I am very pleased with my Webley.

  5. #25
    Boolit Grand Master

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    never seen one with a trigger guard like that
    I Am Descended From Men Who Would Not Be Ruled

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  6. #26
    Boolit Master marlinman93's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jonp View Post
    never seen one with a trigger guard like that
    I've seen that type of trigger guard, but never on a Rolling Block. I have seen very early Rolling Blocks with two piece lower tang and trigger guard, and that might be what this was, and someone simply changed the heavier factory guard out.

  7. #27
    Boolit Master marlinman93's Avatar
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    It arrived today!! Well packed, and no damage during shipment.
    Now for the funny part. Their idea of a "sealed breech" was hilarious. I cocked the hammer, and tried to open the breech block but it wouldn't move. I then pulled the hammer back slightly and the breech block opened easily. One of two things going on. Either someone filed the full cock notch a little so it wont allow the breech block to open without bringing the hammer back slightly, or the notch is worn. An easy fix either way.
    Looked through the breech block and it needs a firing pin and firing pin screw. I thought I had one, but mine is a smokeless firing pin, so I'll turn out a larger BP pin. Also want to make a new trigger return spring from piano wire. This trigger isn't bad, but a piano wire spring will drop it from around 4.5 lbs. to probably 2 lbs.
    Cracks in the stock are so tiny I'll likely just saturate them with super glue and call it good. But there is one chip missing at the right side where it meets the receiver, which will need a filler piece of walnut fitted to fix it.
    Strange part is the hammer and breech block look to have been gold washed at some time in it's early life? Still has remnants of the gold down in recesses. Bore was filthy, and appeared it was put away dirty decades ago, but good strong rifling. It should clean up and be a good shooter.
    I really like the receiver shaping, and still puzzles me who did the work? The tang screw is another surprise. It goes in from the bottom up instead of top down. Very weird!

  8. #28
    Boolit Master Shawlerbrook's Avatar
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    MM we want pictures.

  9. #29
    Boolit Master

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    Glad it turned out well. Yes pics please. I've made new, lighter trigger springs for #1s from a piece of hacksaw blade. They work very well also.

  10. #30
    Boolit Master marlinman93's Avatar
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    I've got it torn down already, so I'll get some close ups of the various parts to post.
    I was surprised to see the hammer and trigger spurs both appear to be Sporting Rifle items, or so expertly reshaped they have the look. The checkering on both spurs is very nice, and looks original. The hammer spur is rounded in both directions front to back, and side to side. An interesting shaped spur.
    I thought the buttstock appeared to be a military stock reshaped, but it's not. The buttplate is a sporting style, and no sign of a top return in the wood. Checkering looks like a Sporting Rifle, but well worn where it's very faint. I'll probably just leave the checkering alone, and not refresh it. Forearm hasn't had any checkering, and is held on by a cross screw through the barrel on the sling swivel mount. Has little narrow 3/4" sling loops.

  11. #31
    Boolit Master marlinman93's Avatar
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    Here's a few disassembly images.
    The receiver stripped down. Those who've messed with Rolling Blocks might notice the top tang difference. Thinner, and shorter than a military.





    Lower tang with separate trigger guard. Surprisingly riveted in place, not screwed.



    Hammer spur checkering.



    Breech block spur checkering.



    And the unusual cocking notches on the hammer. Unusual to see the rounded breaking edge on the full cock notch.


  12. #32
    Boolit Master

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    Very interesting. I look forward to seeing its rejuvenation!

  13. #33
    Boolit Master marlinman93's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ndnchf View Post
    Very interesting. I look forward to seeing its rejuvenation!
    Thanks. It will take much less to get it running than I planned for. Since I'm quarantined, and also recovering from gallbladder surgery last week, I hoped it would be a longer project. I'd like to be out building my '39 Chev coupe, but doctor said i need to limit my lifting and exercise for awhile, and this wont take much time.

  14. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by marlinman93 View Post
    Well I just got off the phone with Simpson's and their description is incorrect. The breech block is not sealed. The sales person said the rifle's bore is open, as s the firing pin hole in the breech block. But after cocking the hammer, the breech block wont drop back, so it's stuck, not blocked.
    I'll give you more details once it arrives. I couldn't pass up such a unique Rolling Block at $300 and I'm betting the pin is stuck in the breech block, and once freed up it will just require a firing pin, and possibly a new breech block pin. Since those firing pins are extremely simple to make, and I have lots of breech and hammer pins, it's an easy fix.
    I'll be interested in hearing how you make out. It was too rich for my blood, but I did find a couple of Stevens Favorites I could afford, and I'll have a couple of projects to work on soon myself. As I was drifting off to sleep last night I was speculating on how I'd go about making cartridges for mine. Dimensions, and boring, and where to get the brass, and I seem to recall some good dreams. May do them as black powder only, but maybe not. Brother tells me there's a thread here somewhere about .32rf work others have done.

  15. #35
    Boolit Master marlinman93's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scrounge View Post
    I'll be interested in hearing how you make out. It was too rich for my blood, .
    Tough to buy a complete Rolling Block of any kind under $300. I sure wouldn't call it too rich. If anything I'd call it too cheap.

  16. #36
    Boolit Master marlinman93's Avatar
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    Got a fair number of mechanical repairs made today. Found a screw the right size for the firing pin screw, and it happened to be threaded full length. So I cut it to length and turned the threads off the shank, leaving about 1/8" of threads below the head to thread into the breech block. Then turned the head diameter down in both thickness and diameter to fit the recess. After that I made up a firing pin from some tool steel I had and after a few test trials with a felt marker to indicate where it was rubbing, I got it fitting well. Cut a notch for the retaining screw and it's done.
    I test fitted the hammer and breech pins, and the hammer pin was dragging inside the hammer and not allowing the hammer to drop resistance free. Polished it up, and oiled with some Kroil, and reassembled both pins. Cleaned up the retaining screw slots, and heads, and reinstalled them.
    The trigger was a little heavier than I liked so I bent up some .045" piano wire into a new trigger return spring. Dropped it down to around 2.5-3 lbs. and feels good now.
    I opened up the crack in the forearm and used toothpicks to work clear epoxy into the crack. Then wrapped the barrel in saran wrap and clamped the forearm to close the crack. Cleaned and clamped the hairline cracks in the buttstock, and saturated the cracks with super glue to stabilize them. Too tight to do anything else, but just clamp them.
    Cleaned the bore once I found my shotgun brushes and a 16 ga. brush was a good tight fit to try to get the rifling cleaner. It will need some time, and a tight jag with lead remover patches to get it like new. But it's a whole lot better than when it arrived here the other day!
    Cleaning up the parts revealed the "worn" looking checkering on the breech block spur wasn't worn. It was full of dirt! Once cleaned the checkering is as strong as that on the hammer.
    And turns out the trigger guard is screwed on from the inside of the lower tang. Found the screw heads when I tore it apart.


    I'll be making brass from .50-70 as it's just over a buck a case. Need rims turned down slightly, and base diameter also reduced. But cheaper, and easier than using .348 Win. brass.

  17. #37
    Boolit Master
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    I am curious, are the hammer and breech block interchangeable with a Remington or Swedish action, or is it a commercial action ?

    Looks like it will make a dandy little woods carbine. My last deer was shot with an original length Swede musket, in my tree strip, yours would have been much handier.

  18. #38
    Boolit Master marlinman93's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gewehr-Guy View Post
    I am curious, are the hammer and breech block interchangeable with a Remington or Swedish action, or is it a commercial action ?

    Looks like it will make a dandy little woods carbine. My last deer was shot with an original length Swede musket, in my tree strip, yours would have been much handier.
    I haven't tried swapping parts with any of my other Rolling Blocks, so can't answer that. The hammer isn't cut for a fly, and normally all real Remington Sporting Rifle hammers are cut for a fly whether they are single set trigger or not. Of course these don't look like military or sporting hammer and breech block. They have their own unique shape.

  19. #39
    Boolit Mold
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    That is really great! Did you find any markings of any sort on it?

  20. #40
    Boolit Master marlinman93's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cloudy View Post
    That is really great! Did you find any markings of any sort on it?
    Almost none. A serial number on the barrel, under the forearm. A large "N" stamped on the breech block face by the firing pin. Nothing else.
    Surprisingly I expected to see the normal receiver stamps used on these guns, plus proof marks. But it has none of those markings to show it might have been a military rework. And receiver is full width, so I believe it's always been a sporter, and not a military rework.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check