Did it again, swapped for a Remington roller in 7mm mauser.

[koger]

A buddy had this for a year, never shot it as he was afraid to shoot it, hear all the horror stories about headspace, blah blah. I ended up trading him two cheaper guns for it, that I have had for some time. The wood has some wear on it, but good solid shape overall. the receiver still has most of the case, blue is great on the barrel, and the best part, the bore is pristine. Bright and shiny, rifling edges still square and sharp. This is in original configuration. I had one about 25 years ago, same condition but bore was not as nice, but a hell of a shooter. I had heard all the stories about headspace etc, but I don't worry about that. In Precision Shooter, there are two very thorough articles, about shooting the 7MM Mauser in the rolling block. Since these authors are very aware and knowledgeable about all things concerning rollers, and have forgot more than I will ever know about ballistics, I tend to go with their information. According to them, the signs of headspace issue on fired brass, was caused by too long a leade in the throat, or too hard of a bullet jacket, such as cupro nickel jackets. I do know if there was any issue with the one I had, I never saw signs of it. I had came into possession of 1000rds of Kynoch cupro Nickel clad 150gr fmj ammo. I ran close to 600 rounds thru this rifle, with no issues, and several boxes of factory ammo. Some of us used to get together every Saturday morning, at daylight, and shoot till 9am, at least 3 weeks out of the month. A buddy had some property where we could shoot from 300 to 900 yds, at a cliff face that had a about a 28" indention, circle shaped right in the middle of it. We had two rests on sleds, that we could tow back and forth and shoot from 300 out. The indention had so much copper imbedded into it, it turned green from the oxidizing.

Anyway, there was also an in depth article in PS also, about shooting one of these rifles, with cast boolits from 100yds out to 1100ish yds. They seemed to have done their homework, and I should be able to hit the ground running when it comes to cast boolit load development. For the record, I plan on shooting some sedate loads up to about 3/4 of max with jacketed bullets. Hopefully I will be able to post pics by the time it gets here the first of January. Any of you guys that have had history shooting one of these, please chime in and share your experience.

[Reverend Al]

I have a South American 7mm RB in average condition with a worn bore (not pitted, just well worn), but it still shoots very well with 175 round nose bullets and a modest charge of IMR4064 or IMR3031. SUPER long throat and you have to seat bullets out until they are barely held in the case mouth, but that's the way they shoot decently. I have a mould for it and even have some boolits cast and sitting on the reloading bench, but just haven't got around to loading cast in the old RB yet. Too many projects and not enough time!

[marlinman93]

Many decades ago I bought my first Rolling Block, and it was a 7mm smokeless version. Even back then guys were telling tales of headspace issues, and all sorts of other horror stories. So when I bought that first one in minty shape for $100 at a gun show I started out slowly. I got a Ideal mold for a gas check 140 gr. 7mm bullet and made up some bullets. I loaded the 7mm to around 1600 fps and began shooting it. It was a fantastic shooting rifle, and no signs of headspace issues.
Over the years I shot thousands of rounds through my 7mm Roller, but never did shoot any jacketed or any loads over 2,000 fps. I also simply neck sized my brass as I never found a need to full length size it after the first loading. I wish I'd kept that first one as subsequent 7mm's I bought were all lower condition, and quickly went away, or got torn down to make BPCR guns.
I'm pretty much an original 1800's Roller guy now, but if I ever came across another 7mm like that first one, and the price was good, I'd buy it and never sell it!

[koger]

Marlin man that is what I plan on doing with this rifle. The other one I had, had some barrel wear, but it was one of the, if not the best shooting roller I have ever shot. I plan on shooting cast a lot, am leaning to only hunting with cast slugs next few years, with mostly single shot rifles. I may have paid too high for this one, with the 2 guns I traded for it, I am into it for about $500. I feel like that is a good deal, since you see very few of the 7mm's and 90% of those have the barrel trashed. How do you guys think I did.

[Eddie Southgate]

I think you did fine but I sure miss the days when they were $17.95 for hand picked ones from about a half dozen different sources in the Gun magazines . When I was a youngster they started at $11.95 went to $14.95 and then the prime hand pick was $17.95 for the 7mm or .43 either one .

[TCLouis]

One of the few guns out there that would be interesting enough to get me to discussing price if I were find one at a show or in an local ad!

[marlinman93]

Marlin man that is what I plan on doing with this rifle. The other one I had, had some barrel wear, but it was one of the, if not the best shooting roller I have ever shot. I plan on shooting cast a lot, am leaning to only hunting with cast slugs next few years, with mostly single shot rifles. I may have paid too high for this one, with the 2 guns I traded for it, I am into it for about $500. I feel like that is a good deal, since you see very few of the 7mm's and 90% of those have the barrel trashed. How do you guys think I did.

I think that's a good price for a smokeless Rolling Block in the condition you described above. As you mentioned, most are in rough shape, and only good for donor actions.

[Reverend Al]

Looks can sure be deceiving. This old South American RB in 7mm that I have (Ecuadorian issue from memory?) is a bit rough outside and well worn in the bore (again, not pitted ... just very well worn) but it absolutely astounds me how well it still shoots with the right bullets seated out as far as I can seat them without having them fall back out of the case mouth. (And they are still not touching the throat!) Who says you can't luck into a silk purse that still looks like a sow's ear?

[koger]

Rev al, he took bore pics with aTeslon bore camera, the rifling is bright and shiny, and the rifling still has its sharp corners. The metal overall, is just great, blue and casehardening, and the block face where the cartridge sits against does not have any imprint on it.

[Reverend Al]

He's a lucky man! Mine is a lot rougher than that inside and out ... but it's still a shooter!

[John Boy]

In with the collection of Rolling Blocks is a No 5, 7mm Mauser carbine with a Uruguay cartouche - bore is mint

[bigted]

Koger,

I load for a worn out Remington roller 43 Spanish, a worn trapdoor 45-70 and a old '73' Winchester chambered in 38 WCF.

The '43' takes a .451 inch soft lead 400ish grain boolit ... the trapdoor takes a .462 inch 400ish boolit and the 38WCF takes a .406 soft lead boolit.

These and indeed most guns I load for do VERY well by filling the fired case with lead ... no sizing.

I remove the crimp ... if any left ... and measure the neck inside diameter. This is the diameter of boolits I cast for them. If I can not find this diameter boolit mold, then another order to Tom at "Accurate Molds" for the boolit I want at the diameter I need.

[Green Frog]

Sometime back in the late '50s when those re-imported rolling blocks were available by the barrel full, my grand uncle picked out a couple from one of the big surplus dealers. They were complete barreled actions, lacking wood, sights, and stock hardware. One he started to work on... he took the barrel off, but then he lost interest and there it sat for a couple of decades. My youngest brother ended up with it in the early '80s and we had a friend reshape the receiver top to octagon shape and added one of the last of the old Numrich "Creedmoor" kits that came complete except for the receiver. The barrel was bent upon receipt, but he actually straightened it and got a fairly decent 45-70 shooter out of it.

The second was left complete until about that same time and Uncle Raymond asked me to find a stock for it. I found a complete stock with hardware at a gun show and put the whole thing together. I found a rear sight soon after, but never found the front sight blade, and that project has been sitting on the back row of the safe since sometime in the late '80s. Reading this thread has gotten a spark of an idea to get it out and see what can be done with it. A quick check of the bore and chamber will be my first step and if they look acceptable I guess I'll have to cobble together some sort of front sight and look for a good mould to at least get it shooting. See what you guys have done to me? Haven't you ever heard you should "leave sleeping frogs lie?"

Froggie

[Buzzard II]

koger,
If you get tired of it, give me a shout!
Bob

[oscarflytyer]

Following this one. First 7x57 RB, third RB overall.