1867 Rolling Block pistol

[Bazoo]

I'm just a little irritated. No sign of the little target pistol, so on Thu. last week after 10 days of waiting, I contacted the seller to ask for a tracking number? He replied the gun is still sitting there, and he was waiting for a copy of my FFL dealer's license! Grrrh!
I told him I'd sent an email with the dealer's number, address, and attached a picture of his FFL license, to which he replied he got that, but didn't get the attachment? Now why he simply couldn't have told me that when it happened is beyond me? Instead he had his money, and just sat there doing nothing for 10 days! Not happy at all with his lack of communication.
I sent another copy, and told him to tell me when he got it. He did so right away, but said he's waiting until Tuesday to ship. You'd think he'd ship it Friday, but he says he only ships twice a week, so waiting for Tuesday. Again irritating.
So hopefully on Tuesday I'll get a tracing number, and start the waiting all over again!

Man that's tough to hear. I hope he does indeed get off his keister tuesday. When I clicked on this thread I thought.. Oooo, I wonder if there's new pics of the 22 Rolling Block?

[marlinman93]

Man that's tough to hear. I hope he does indeed get off his keister tuesday. When I clicked on this thread I thought.. Oooo, I wonder if there's new pics of the 22 Rolling Block?

Wish it was an update with new pics!

[BP Dave]

Here's a photo update.

And his cousin.

[marlinman93]

Finally got a notice it's shipping, and tracking number. So now the waiting begins again.

[marlinman93]

My friend called today to tell me a package arrived there in my name! So heading out tomorrow to pick up the Rolling Block pistol!

[nuclearcricket]

happy days, looking forward to a full report once you stop dancing with glee
Sam

[Bazoo]

Took a spell. I’m looking forward to the pics and report!

[ndnchf]

Standing by for an update! These are neat pistols and closely related to my beloved #2 sporting rifles. What I'd really like to find is a nice Navy model 1865 spur trigger pistol. That would be a lot of fun to shoot!

[marlinman93]

Standing by for an update! These are neat pistols and closely related to my beloved #2 sporting rifles. What I'd really like to find is a nice Navy model 1865 spur trigger pistol. That would be a lot of fun to shoot!

I don't think any ever made it Steve? If they did they'd be extremely rare since all were recalled to be converted to Model 1867's in .50 Navy CF and trigger guards. I've heard spme possibly made it, but never seen or heard of one.

[marlinman93]

It's in my grimy little hands now and I love it!
The bore is excellent, original Remington. Barrel is a later 1901 barrel, as is the breech block; but receiver is the earlier 1891 so no FFL needed! The trigger is wonderful, and crisp, light, and clean breaking! I wondered about the large grips and the shape before, but when I picked it up it instantly felt like a perfect grip, and the angle points great for me. The bore is wonderful and I expect it will shoot excellent.
There are 3 different numbers on the gun. One on the side of the grip frame that is likely the serial number, and two under the forearm on the barrel. One is the same font as the frame, and likely from whatever gun the donor barrel came off? The other is larger font and probably Arthur Hubalek's shop number for the work he did on this gun. Of course the barrel has "A.HUBALEK" on top that he stamped on his guns, and barrels.

I had to see how the grip frame was done, and it is a bit of a surprise. The grips are 3 piece with two outside panels, and a filler that fits inside the grip frame to support the grips. The filler has two pointed pins on each side and the grip panels have holes for those pins to sit in. Then two brass screws through the filler block to hold the side panels on.

The frame is overlapped with the original tangs and each half is thinned to half thickness so they are the same thickness once attached. The bottom of the grip frame is extremely thick top to bottom at over 3/4"! Maybe to add some weight back in the grip to compensate for the long 10" barrel? Here's a couple pictures of the grip area:











The front half of the grip frame is bolted to the rear half at the lower area so if you remove the lower tang/trigger guard, you can separate the grip frame also. The filler block is so closely fit it wont come out, so guessing it can only be removed by splitting the grip frame, and removing the trigger guard.

[ndnchf]

Glad to hear you finally got it and its a good one! The m1865s are very scarce, but I see one advertised every now and then. But finding an affordable one is probably a pipe dream...

[Bazoo]

Dang that's cool as heck. I'd love to find a clean 22 like that. Thank you for sharing. Congratulations!

[marlinman93]

Glad to hear you finally got it and its a good one! The m1865s are very scarce, but I see one advertised every now and then. But finding an affordable one is probably a pipe dream...

If Flayderman's Guide is correct they built 6500 Model 1865's and 6358 got reworked by Remington into what's called the Model 1867 pistols. Not sure why the 142 short of all? I figured in the 2 years they were used maybe some got absconded with, dropped overboard, or somehow not sent back to be reworked?
I have never seen one except in pictures, and never seen one yet at an auction. I too would like to own one, but it's not a big deal if I don't.

[ndnchf]

There is one on gunsiniternational now. A bit pricey.

[marlinman93]

There is one on gunsiniternational now. A bit pricey.

Gorgeous pistol, and I see why it exists being a civilian model, and not military marked.

[ndnchf]

Gorgeous pistol, and I see why it exists being a civilian model, and not military marked.

Yes, perhaps one that got away!

[marlinman93]

Yes, perhaps one that got away!

Flayderman's mentions some overruns of different variations being sold to civilians. And I think one was the 1867 conversions he mentioned being sold to England as civilian model. Seems odd a conversion from Navy returns would be sold to civilians though? I have a friend who has one of those with British proof marks.

[ndnchf]

The m1865 was being made about the same period that as the type 2 split breech carbines (but these were sub-contracted to Savage). It is interesting that Remington made the #3 saw-handle, single shot deringer from 1865-1888. It used the same basic split breech design. I'm sure the navy ordnance board was familiar with the split breech and its shortcomings. Their preference was for the new solid breech block, and much simpler design. Ahh, but a .50 cal split breech pistol would be neat.

[marlinman93]

Happened upon an old Pbase website I haven't seen in years, assembled by the late Harold Prusca "Hal" of Virginia. On his site he had quite a collection of fine old firearms, but in particular a number of very special Rolling Block pistols! And by chance he is the previous owner of my Hubalek Rolling Block, and has much nicer pictures of it than I could ever do!

Unfortunately Hal was struck by an illegal immigrant working on a local farm, and lost his eyesight in the accident. Then later died from complications of that accident, and his collection was auctioned off. But we're lucky to still have all the images he saved!



https://pbase.com/halp/root&page=all



https://pbase.com/halp/rb_pistol

[6string]

If you guys like Remington Rolling Block pistols, you might want to investigate a guy named Al Georg. He was a pioneer handgun hunter and gunsmith. He made a few rolling block pistols from original Remington rifle actions, usually for a small rifle cartridge. He wrote an article in the 1960s on one he did for 30 Carbine. Apparently, it got the attention of the authorities as it was an illegal rifle to pistol conversion.
Years later, Val Forgett of Navy Arms fame, had Navy Arms do a IHMSA silhouette version of the rolling block pistol. It had a 14" vent rib barrel, thumb-rest grip, and was chambered in 30-30.

It's too bad we don't see more single shot pistols along these lines. It's a great looking package and a lot easier to deal with than a bulky Remington XP-100.