Oh I can't wait to see her finished and all together

Going to re-blue or chrome it?

Chrome??? Not hardly. Don't know of anyone who'd chrome plate a gun, usually its nickel if one wanted a super bright gun. Old guns, WotR vintage, might be left bare bright steel. The Argentine guns would have been blued, though it would somewhat neat looking bright. However, if I do BP shooting with it, the bright steel is a chore to clean and risks nearly instant rust.

Nickel has its own problems.

Chrome is expensive but an excellent way to make a gun last a long time.

http://originalmetaloy.com/pricing.html

Wasn't familiar. But not an effect I'd be looking for, nor an expense I could easily swing. Still intent on original finish.

I have seen a mercuric-based bluing compound from the old Herter's catalog. Otherwise, I've used Birchwood Casey products.

I've had reasonable results with BC product before, redid an old Marlin 30-30 successfully. A gunsmith friend suggested Van's, and I just ordered some to see how well it works.

I want to see it shooting!

I'll likely not do BP loads, as I dislike the clean up needed afterwords, so won't have much of a dramatic instant fog bank effect.

Try American Pioneer black powder substitute.

Non corrosive, leaves only a thin, white film as residue with no heavy fouling, and plenty of white smoke.

I use it now in all my black powder.
Volume for volume, not by weight.

Looking forward to seeing this one finished.



-Badger-

Oh, cool!

What condition is the stock and fore? Repairing the wood bits is sometimes harder than the steel.

I had an 1873 Springfield 45-70 trapdoor conversion I picked up in Hawaii (of all places). I hardly had to touch the steel, but the stock was a disaster. It took months before I was satisfied with it.

The butt end has some dings but not too bad, the fore end is kind of chewed up but serviceable. Not going to do anything but glue some cracks, too many real gouges and bites taken out to try and refinish. Might eventually look into getting a replacement.

A while back I missed out on getting a 1865(?) 50-70 trapdoor, so am thinking mad thoughts about making a hybrid 58 cal. trapdoor. Later model action in a centerfire version of the original cartridge.

I thought .58 was a muzzle-load round. Do they even make .58 cartridges?

Yes, the first version of the Trapdoor simply cut open the barrel and had the breech block plug the original bore with a couple versions of a .58 calibre cartridge, the first version being a rim fire. There were a few other guns of the period that did .58 cal., including a revolver or two in .577

I didn't know they did that with .58. I'd like to see how that breech block fit behind the bore for that big a round.
Muzzle load used around 6 grains of powder. What would the equivalent smokeless charge be?

The trap door system seemed pretty much the same for the various calibres. I think you mean grams, as a common BP musket charge would have been around 100 grains or about 6.5 grams. The .58 cal. Berdan musket cartridge for the first trap doors was loaded to about 80-85 grains of BP or in modern reloads of about 25 grains of smokeless for the same bullet weight and velocity. The original trap doors quickly went from .58 to .50 and then .45 for improved performance.

Yep. The Brits converted Enfields to breachloading with the Snyder system and the .577 Snyder centerfire cartridge.

-Badger-

I would bet the kick on one of those would be stronger than a regular cartridge fed gun. but never having fired one, I cannot tell for sure.

It shoots a regular, but rather large cartridge, not unlike a 45-70. Given the size and weight of the gun, ought not have much problem with recoil though.

45-70... Didn't the Sharpes rifle fire something like that? made famous in the movie Valdez is Coming, hit targets a mile out.

Not exactly. Though in smokeless powder it could have some reach. Not quite so much with BP. There were a LOT of different cartridges that a Sharps could be built for and some of them might have more reach in smokeless.

Recoil Impulse. Faster projectile creates a faster push.

Why Black powder kicks less than a .458 Winchester Magnum. Bullet Velocity equals Recoil velocity.

And a large chunk of iron mongery helps mitigate that recoil, got a nearly 36 inch barrel. While I plan to do smokeless, looking at loads closer to BP, mostly to keep wear and tear down to a minimum. Besides, I'd be just punching paper.

The Sharpes breachloaders came in many calibers, post civil war.

In the movie Quigley down under the rifle is chambered in .45-110.

Very long range gun, but requires learning how to hold it right to compensate for bullet drop.

-Badger-

Accurate ranging is critical for such with such a lobbing tragectory. Back during the WotR, ranks of advancing troops kept an interval of about 30 yards or so between them so that shots fired at longer ranges and missing the first rank would hit the ground short of the second rank.

Not to mention, loading the black powder cartridges is something of a skill. You do tend to get better velocities with bigger bullets and black powder than you do with smokeless.

Aaah! How cool!

Still would like to get a Martini action in almost any calibre. Missed out on a sweet little thing in 32-20 years ago.

I actually have an old Martini Henry somewhere (sand firing pin). It was a 19th century 'police trooper' model - smoothbore carbine, of all things!

Owned a Greener MK III police shotgun that someone had sleeved the barrel to .45/70 and fitted with a rear sight from a Martini Henry carbine and a dove tailed on brass front sight. Was interesting conversion but not that accurate. Dang heavy too.

Interesting piece with a fascinating operating system. Good luck with it.

I've dreamed of owning a Remington Rolling Block for years. Every time I see a nice one at a gun show, I realize it would cost more than my car insurance for a year...

Fortunately, the local shop had a couple of less than pristine pieces, both a bit rough on the outside but crispy bores. The one I got was marked as an Argentine military contract, the other a slightly different pattern barrel without the octogonal breech end and I don't recall a model stamp.

Oooh, you have my interest.

Very nice! I owned one and enjoyed firing it. I may have brass, bullets and a mould still. If I do you are welcome to them.

I'd pay for them in an instant. Thanks. I'm told a semi-acceptable conversion can be done using 45-70 brass, but I'm not entirely convinced. Otherwise, 348 Winchester is suppose to be doable.

I'd so love to build a rolling block in .50-70--the rifle that saved the Arctic explorers of the Jeanette expedition. I so wish you even more joy in your ongoing project.

From the looks of it, that would mean only a barrel swap or re-bored barrel.

If I were you, I would make the conversion. .50-70 will be a nation easier to load, reload, and shoot.

For the rolling block, I want the obscure cartridge. Just checked, and I can make them out of Remington magnum brass. Kind of minimal rim, but the case body looks pretty good. Just turn down the belt, resize and trim and there you go. I also ordered some proper brass too.

Good enough!

Just did my first test case using 300 Win Mag brass. Looks pretty good. Might also be able to do 43 Mauser cases with them as well.

Light loads, inspect, inspect, inspect!

Looking good! I used to know a number of good gunsmiths out in WA, one of whom actually was set up to do hot bluing.

Also: https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Cate.....ASE-43-SPANISH

I'd previously ordered reloading dies from them just last week. And now take advantage of the link to get a few cases.

When it's done I'll happily wrassle ya for it!

Used to have one in 7mm Mauser. Problem was that previous owners had used modern high-pressure rounds in it and the works were stretched, causing head separations. I had a gunsmith try to tighten it up, but wasn't successful.

Stretched the works? If the breech block locks up properly then alls good at that end. Sounds more like a chamber/barrel problem. But, for the sake of argument, the action was somehow out of position, like the breech block was backing off the breech of the barrel, then replacing, or at minimum, shimming the breech block and or hammer would fix things.