And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Sunday, July 11, 2021
Ejector mechanism of a Remington rolling block
Other than a .22, the first rifle I ever had was a .43 Spanish in a Remington Rolling Block action. I totally recognize this.
I bought the same rifle/caliber last December for $350. Of course, ammo availability is ZILCH! The patina is quite similar to this one and in original configuration. The choices are to leave it as is (wall hanger) or.... re-sleeve the bore to a more practical cartridge, say... 38-55 Winchester.
The Remington Rolling Blocks are supposed to be really strong, but there's strength, and then there's strength. I had a chance to examine one that blew up. It was - IIRC - South American military surplus, in 7mm Mauser. It was fired with an ordinary factory or surplus round. You could look at the grain structure in the broken parts (to see where the fracture started) and at how they were bent, and it was apparent that the case head blew adjacent to the extractor, which can be seen in the photo. (This particular rifle seems to be chambered for a rimmed cartridge, not 7mm Mauser, but you can see how much of the chamber wall is cut away to make room for the extractor.) The hammer, the breech block, and their two pivot pins looked as if you could install them in an undamaged action and have no problem. But the gas inflated the action and split it apart. (There's a lot of surface area inside the action, for the high-pressure gas to act upon; and there are also a lot of internal surfaces meeting in square corners, which means there would be a lot of stress risers or concentration. Notch sensitivity.) So the rolling block is good for relatively strong breech thrust, but not gas-gone wrong. By contrast, the Trapdoor Springfield is considered to be weak, but experimenters have shown that (with a gun in good condition/ammo suitable for the gun/don't try this at home) you could remove the breechblock's hinge pin and still fire the gun safely, as long as the block's latching mechanism was intact and functional. The later Springfields also had gas relief cuts between the block and the receiver, to let the gas safety escape if a cartridge failed. For anyone who cares, or might be interested.
I bought the same rifle/caliber last December for $350. Of course, ammo availability is ZILCH! The patina is quite similar to this one and in original configuration. The choices are to leave it as is (wall hanger) or.... re-sleeve the bore to a more practical cartridge, say... 38-55 Winchester.
ReplyDeleteI have one in .32RF. Really a huge PITA to custom make ammo for it..........
ReplyDeleteAngus,
ReplyDeleteI had one of the Remingtons that, in 1974, I had re-sleeved and chambered for 45ACP.
The Remington Rolling Blocks are supposed to be really strong, but there's strength, and then there's strength. I had a chance to examine one that blew up. It was - IIRC - South American military surplus, in 7mm Mauser. It was fired with an ordinary factory or surplus round. You could look at the grain structure in the broken parts (to see where the fracture started) and at how they were bent, and it was apparent that the case head blew adjacent to the extractor, which can be seen in the photo. (This particular rifle seems to be chambered for a rimmed cartridge, not 7mm Mauser, but you can see how much of the chamber wall is cut away to make room for the extractor.) The hammer, the breech block, and their two pivot pins looked as if you could install them in an undamaged action and have no problem. But the gas inflated the action and split it apart. (There's a lot of surface area inside the action, for the high-pressure gas to act upon; and there are also a lot of internal surfaces meeting in square corners, which means there would be a lot of stress risers or concentration. Notch sensitivity.) So the rolling block is good for relatively strong breech thrust, but not gas-gone wrong. By contrast, the Trapdoor Springfield is considered to be weak, but experimenters have shown that (with a gun in good condition/ammo suitable for the gun/don't try this at home) you could remove the breechblock's hinge pin and still fire the gun safely, as long as the block's latching mechanism was intact and functional. The later Springfields also had gas relief cuts between the block and the receiver, to let the gas safety escape if a cartridge failed.
ReplyDeleteFor anyone who cares, or might be interested.