Here's a sweet .50-45 Cadet RB by Ed Webber

[Montanaguy]

Years ago I visited with a Montana gunsmith named Ed Webber who built an 1885 High Wall for me in cal. .40-65. In addition to much range time with it, I also successfully used it to take a bison. Ed was also an avid Remington Rolling Block collector and American Custom Gunmakers' Guild member. He passed away not long ago and I encountered and purchased a little Rolling Block carbine he had built for himself. It's in cal. .50-45, a cartridge I knew nothing about, so I began the process of acquiring brass and finding out how to feed it. As many of you know, .50-70 brass is scarce but in my internet searching I was fortunate to find a business called Ammunition Artifacts. They actually had beautiful annealed .50-45 brass available and 20 cases were in my hands in less than a week. If you go to their site you will be amazed at the incredible variety of brass they provide. Their service is amazing as well. Meanwhile, I already had two .50 moulds casting 440 and 300 grain bullets for my .50 Alaskan. I cut down many .50 AK cases to make additional cartridges. They work well despite the small rim diameter. And despite winter/spring conditions in Montana I've been able to get to my range and test some loads. But this post is mainly to show you what a master gunsmith produced as a personal firearm. And to note how fortunate I am to have acquired it and taken it to the range and develop cast loads for it. Here are some photos for your perusal.

[Nobade]

Very nice! A keeper for sure. I hadn't heard of that cartridge, is it just a shortened 50-70 or does it have other changes also?

[Abert Rim]

That's a stunning rifle, in stunning wood. The cartridges remind me of the .56-50s I used to load for an ArmiSport Spencer.

[Thom_44]

Those early cartridges has a very short military life sadly, and even shorter life on the civilian market. But they can do wonders on game animals.

But yes, they were superceded by the 45-70 for buffalo shooters

[BobT]

What a beautiful little rifle, and an interesting cartridge. Thank you for sharing!

[elk hunter]

The 50-45-400 was for a US Navy rolling block carbine introduced just after the Civil War. The carbines were sold off before 1871. Many of them were rebarrelled and sold to the French for use in the Franco-Prussian war at that time. At one Time Dixie Gun Works had the surplus barrels for sale. I have a Remington rolling block carbine that was rebarrelled with one those barrels. I use cut down 50-70 cases. Fun to shoot and fairly accurate.

[marlinman93]

The first .50 Navy Remington Rolling Block guns were the 1865 Rolling Block .50 Navy rimfires. Those guns got reworked to add trigger guards, and breech blocks 2 years later to become Model 1867 .50 Navy centerfires. The .50-45 was based on the CF .50 Navy case, and is simply a cut down version of those longer cases. I use .50-70 cut to .90" length to make ammo for mine.
The original Remington "Cadet" rifle in .50 Navy were built off the leftover 1867 pistol receivers with tangs reworked to straight, and rifle buttstocks and full military forearms and barrels. The other "Cadet" rifles were a .32 rimfire blank firing rifle, and a #1 1/2 action "Cadet" in .45-70 chambering.
The gorgeous "Cadet" above by Ed Webber is far more beautiful, and on a full sized frame that Remington never used on Cadets. Ed was a master gunsmith, specializing in Rolling Blocks, and made some wonderful Rolling Block rifles!