The Remington Rolling Block, and related single shot musings.

[Podmonkey]

Does anyone here own a Remington Rolling Block, or one of the reproductions? I recently watched a lengthy and entertaining video of the Rolling Block rifle on C&Rsenal channel and I have become fascinated with it. Interesting history and mechanism, the action was described as being a "kinesthetic joy" to operate. Unfortunately while reproductions are out there it seems ownership of a Rolling Block is more about stewardship of a historic peice than casual shooting which is all I am interested in for guns I own. I like guns I can ride hard and put away wet and not have slightest concern for doing so.
Still it occurred to me that a Ruger No. 1 could provide some of the old timey enjoyment of the Remington rifle, even if the former lacks the clickity snickity feel of the former. And then I started reading about the famed Sharp's Rifle and I wondered if it would be fair to say that the Ruger is just the modern rendition of the Sharps?
Then I got to thinking if I did get a No. 1 what caliber would it be in? It's my understanding that the No. 1 has been chambered in just about every centerfire rifle cartridge there is, and surely either .223 or .308 would be the most convenient and economical choice. However if one is trying to capture a bit of the Old West feel in a single shot rifle .45-70 would be the only real choice.
Anyway , I just wanted to ramble on a bit on my interest of the week, last two weeks actually. And, y'know discuss guns on a gun forum, God forbid!

 

[dsdmmat]

I have a Ruger #1 in 223 while it is a falling block style action it is still a fun gun to shoot.

I bought it because I did not have a falling block action rifle. I think I have about 100 rounds through it in the 8 years I have owned it.

 

[MuttCat]

Once upon a time I had one in 7mm Mauser. I explored turning it into a 45-70...Numrich at one time sold barrels for this. But now it would be stupid money and I sold it. It can be done though if you want to hunt buffalo.

 

[Podmonkey]

Once upon a time I had one in 7mm Mauser. I explored turning it into a 45-70...Numrich at one time sold barrels for this. But now it would be stupid money and I sold it. It can be done though if you want to hunt buffalo. View attachment 165150

What was it like to shoot?

 

[MuttCat]

I never fired it. If you read up on it, the 7mm Mauser was a pretty new cartridge at the time...hardly standardized. It's a handloading thing that can be done, but factory stuff is dicey...case length, headspacing, iffy chambers. The action is considered to be robust though.

 

[Podmonkey]

I never fired it. If you read up on it, the 7mm Mauser was a pretty new cartridge at the time...hardly standardized. It's a handloading thing that can be done, but factory stuff is dicey...case length, headspacing, iffy chambers. The action is considered to be robust though.

I am familiar with the 7mm Mauser, it was, and still is a popular round for a long time, particularly in Southern Europe and South America. Commercial ammo was available globally and is still available today. In fact I just checked, just now, 7x57 is available from multiple online retailers from a variety of manufacturers. Sellier & Bello.t seems to be the most prominent brand ATM. I also saw in stock 7x57 from Remington, Federal and PPU as well as others. The cartridge is anything but obscure, even today.
Is what you are saying is that Rolling Blocks had iffy chamber specs in 7x57? So your's was a proper antique then?

 

[MuttCat]

Yes, it was the real deal built in Ilion. One time I bought several rifles from a woman my wife knew. Her father was in a nursing home and she wanted to get rid of the rifles; the #5 rolling block was one of them. The breach and hammer were locked up and I had to run the cleaning rod down it to make sure it wasn't loaded. I did get it fixed...the trigger spring had broken and somebody tried to fix it by brazing...a big glob of which jambed the action up.

I though about turning it into a 45-70, and in fact went to see Doug Turnbull about it. It sat at his shop for a couple months and nothing was done, so I brought it home.

There is a guy online who makes beautiful repro stocks for it, and the metal can be refinished easily. The tricky part is the barrel threading to fit a new barrel. The Numrich barrels do show up once in a blue moon, but they were junk as many bores were off center.

 

[repete]

This isn't a true replica but it's fun and pretty, I like shiny objects. It's a Pedersoli in .45LC. I thought abought rechambering it to .454 or .45-70 but got away from all the published handgun load info and found some fairly hot loads for Contenders and found 19.3 gr of Win296 pushes a305 gr gas checked lead semi wadcutter pretty accurately. I want to take it out this deer season.

 

[Jsmegs77]

One of my all time favorites, that I very sadly missed out on. Grandfather had one in his safe, in .45-90. In his older years he was advised by anti gun members of the family to start selling things off, and that one went.

 

[HANK the CRANK]

I have a 44 rimfire,I also tried very hard to purchase a rolling block in 50-70,I believe it was made for NY Militia had bayonet and was in excellent shape,my pockets were too shallow!

 

[turbobike]

Made in 1970 and is 45-70. Tasco Period scope and Soule tang sight and windage adjustable front sight.

 

[Airedale]

Picked up this Spanish made Star in 30-30 at last spring's Syracuse gun show, been wanting a Rolling Block for a long time but they are hard to find in smaller calibers and lighter weights. My old eyes make sighting tough so I did a little work on the sights putting on a fiber optic front and opening the shallow V on the rear which made for a much better sight picture.

Al