KenH
06-11-2015, 03:00 PM
Hello all - First allow me to say THANK YOU!! to all ya'll for having such a great site. I've been lurking for sometime now, reading up. I did a LOT of shooting 40 yrs ago with cast bullets (all I could afford then). I'm getting back into shooting a bit. I'm hoping someone can tell me if this rifle I've got is just a worn out 45-70, OR, if it's a funky case that was used by some of the foreign gov'ments who used so many of these old Rolling Blocks. I understand Remington made LOTS of them for foreign use, and many times they were odd case/calibers special to that country?
I hope this is the right forum for this since I'd LOVE to fire form 45-70 cases to shoot some VERY light cast boolit loads (700 fps range?), but from the dimensions I've got, I don't think this barrel can be used. Maybe I can rebarrel the action and get it shooting.
I acquired this rifle from a person who knew very little about it. He "thought" it was 45-70 but didn't know for sure.
141886
This image above is the full length image.
141887
This image above shows the left side of action
141888
This image above shows the only text on the rifle anywhere. Rest of metal is pretty rough and any text has gone.
Today I did a chamber cast and got the following dimensions:
141885
Length from end to where rifling starts: 2.55" tp 2.58" (not exact)
diameter where rifling starts: .509"
Diameter at inside of rim: .535"
The cast is pretty much a straight taper from the .509" back to the .535"
Groove at muzzle is .453" while bore seems to be about .438" all the way down as best I can tell. The chamber that holds the rim of brass seems to be about .669" with calipers where 45-70 brass is 0.605"
A 45-70 brass specs at .480 at neck and .505" at front of rim per an old Speer manual I've got. This shows the chamber is at least 0.030" oversized per a 45-70 brass, and the ejector rod just barely clips the rim of case to eject brass.
Thank ya'll in advance for any info or suggestions.
Ken H>
I hope this is the right forum for this since I'd LOVE to fire form 45-70 cases to shoot some VERY light cast boolit loads (700 fps range?), but from the dimensions I've got, I don't think this barrel can be used. Maybe I can rebarrel the action and get it shooting.
I acquired this rifle from a person who knew very little about it. He "thought" it was 45-70 but didn't know for sure.
141886
This image above is the full length image.
141887
This image above shows the left side of action
141888
This image above shows the only text on the rifle anywhere. Rest of metal is pretty rough and any text has gone.
Today I did a chamber cast and got the following dimensions:
141885
Length from end to where rifling starts: 2.55" tp 2.58" (not exact)
diameter where rifling starts: .509"
Diameter at inside of rim: .535"
The cast is pretty much a straight taper from the .509" back to the .535"
Groove at muzzle is .453" while bore seems to be about .438" all the way down as best I can tell. The chamber that holds the rim of brass seems to be about .669" with calipers where 45-70 brass is 0.605"
A 45-70 brass specs at .480 at neck and .505" at front of rim per an old Speer manual I've got. This shows the chamber is at least 0.030" oversized per a 45-70 brass, and the ejector rod just barely clips the rim of case to eject brass.
Thank ya'll in advance for any info or suggestions.
Ken H>