IMA Egyptian Rolling Blocks

[THerbert]

I was just perusing the IMA website, and came a cross a listing for 1869 Egyptian rolling blocks that they are selling as wall hangers, for $350. They consider them to be "display only" guns, because the firing pins and extractors have been removed. They still have the original .43 barrels.

Has anyone purchased one of these on the forum, and either returned it to firing condition in the orginal .43, or used it as a basis for a rifle in another caliber?

[Buckshot]

............At one time many, many moons back Numrich (GPC) was selling old military Rem RB's as wall hangers for a cheap enough price that I bought one. I didn't want nor did I need a wall hanger, so my purchace was in hopes of getting at least a useable action. And happily enough, that's about what I ended up with. The barrel was a total wash. The barrel bands were almost rusted away. Forend was punky. It was obvious someone, somewhere probably got a ton of these old rifles and did do some simple refurbishing to make them LOOK halfway decent.

I think this because it actually had a very nice buttstock, but it was some yellow wood, so nice as it was it had to go. Yes I tried to stain it, but no bueno por ca-ca. It also had a really nice rather heavy cast brass buttplate. I still have the buttplate and the action. The action was set up for a rotary extractor but it was missing. Everything else was there insluding a frozen firing pin. Believe me, it was considerably less then $350 [smilie=s: At the time I had an 01 FFL and could have bought 3-4 really nice milsurps for that much!

...............Buckshot

[3006guns]

Hmmphh. I remember rolling blocks being sold for $12.95 back in the early sixties. The suggestion of the importer was to make them into a gun room lamp, although most of the ones I looked at were in pretty decent shape.

My, how times have changed.

When you get down to it, $350 is a lot when you're "hoping" to get a good one! Not to mention 1869 metalurgy from a "foreign" country.....

[AkMike]

Not to mention 1869 metalurgy from a "foreign" country.....

Remington made the Egyptian rifles. I've got one that was re barreled to a 45-70.

[NickSS]

I have owned one egytian RB and have seen dozens of others over the years. They all had one thing in common they were buffed till all edges were roundded and the barrels were warped the one I owned I got as a throw in with a bigger deal and I did nothing with it. Apparently to get it to shoot reasonably straight some one bent the rear sight elevator so that the sighting notch was a good 3/8 inch to one side. I sold it to a guy who wanted to make a lamp out of it for $50 and I thought I got the better of the deal.

[Hardcast416taylor]

The action being of weaker metals than are used today is an issue for making into a shooter. If you don`t mind making a low pressure round on the action you`ll have a shooter. For $350 you are basically getting an action, without internal firing parts. A trigger guard with trigger, and a buttplate attached to wood that is close to 150+ years old. The action should be re-heat case hardened and once you start sanding/grinding you`ll remove almost that was hardening there was. My advice is to get a nice spaggetti RB.Robert

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Somewhere back in time Numerich not only sold rollers, but conversion kits for them to shoot 45-70. I found one of those already done in(upstate N.Y.) in the 70's for $50. and it was..and still is, in excellent condition. The barrel part of the kit is huge and heavy. The back end is octagonal and measures 15/16 across the flats and the front end is slightly less in diameter and round. If it had a claw on the end of it one could easily pull railroad spikes. There is a lot of Egyptian writing/symbols on the internal parts. I changed the rear sight which was some kind of contraption from a muzzleloader to a buckhorn style one with an elevator and it shoots very well. Bullet used is the Lyman 457124-405 grain RN with moderate amount of medium burning powder and an MV of around 1200-1300 fps. With all that weight the recoil is ok, but lugging the gun around is definitely not fun so I use it off the bench most of the time. LLS

[Buckshot]

Somewhere back in time Numerich not only sold rollers, but conversion kits for them to shoot 45-70.

...............Numrich offered 2 bbl kits. One was 45-70 and the other was for the .444 Marlin. Pretty frisky on their part since that is a full blown 40,000+ PSI cartridge.

..............Buckshot

[mroliver77]

They offered two 45-70 barrels, an oct/round barrel marked "Creedmore" and a full length oct marked as " Buffalo". Mine is the former built on a 7x57 smokeless action. Nice barrel, heavy but shoots very well.
J

[bob208]

i have one marked buffalo.on a smokless action. and it does shoot real good.

[THerbert]

Yeah, now that I think about it, $350 would be a lot to spend "hoping" to get a good one. By the time you put a decent barrel on it, and probably replacing the wood, you'd be pretty close to what a replica costs -- or maybe not.

I just looked at the Cimarron website and the Buffalo Arms website, and all of the rolling blocks, made by Pedersoli, are at least $1550. And if you want one in a caliber other than .45-70, you're out of luck!

Actually, I was thinking of this as a project. I'm currently working on one of the Gahendra Martinis, which should be a shooter. The bore was in really good condition, and it was complete on arrival. The only problem was the screw that holds the mainspring to the bottom tang was stripped, or the spring was. so, I drilled and tapped the spring to a larger thread, and now I just need to make a screw for it, which I'll probably do this weekend, now that it has cooled down, and I can work at the lathe comfortably -- my shop isn't air-conditioned. After that, it's just reassembly.

Then I'll need a new project, and I don't have a rolling block. I was thinking of building one in a smaller caliber, like a .38-55, or maybe in a pistol caliber. Something that you can shoot all day long for not much money, and no recoil bruise!

[Don McDowell]

The thing to keep in mind even if you did get one that could be made shootable, is the cost of feeding it in it's 43 egyptian form. The brass can be made from 50-90 formed and trimmed, the dies can be had for a couple hundred , but after all that you can't be real sure if that barrel will shoot or not. The one I have has a .448 groove diameter, so paper patching is about all a fella can do without special ordering a mould.
Keep your eyes peeled on the auction sites, it's not uncommon to pickup a Pedersoli or Uberti made roller for around 500, that would give you a rifle you could shoot until you scrounged enough jingle to put a different barrel on it.

[nwellons]

I paid $350 for an Egyptian RB a couple of years ago. The bad news is the front site is bent and I didn't notice that for months because it took that long to get it ready to shoot. The good news is that it was cheap enough to buy and cheap to shoot.

I bought a box of brass formed for .43 Egyptian but for dies, I just neck size with a .45 Colt followed by a .45ACP. (I got the 2 complete die sets together for $25 on eBay figuring one just might work but need both.) It is great fun to shoot with BP but it shoots left about 1' at 100 yards. Not much of a target rifle but very fun to shoot. I have not been able to budge the bent, welded front site.

It is in quite good, but repaired condition. Newer nice buttstock, new roller, and decent enough barrel, for an Egyptian. Would be a great shooter if I could get it "adjusted."