$14 Remington Rolling Block shipped right to our front door

[Wyatt Burp]

Around the early 60s my dad bought this 7MM Remington Rolling block out of a gun magazine. Ye old timers (like me?) probably remember ads like "Ye Old Hunter". M1 Garands shipped right to the house. Mt dad paid 14 bucks for this one and 7 bucks for a wall hanger .43 Egyptian that I still have. Amazingly, we never shot it, but there was no shortage of other stuff to shoot. The bore is pretty rough and I do have a box of ammo.

 

[murphydog]

Cool story. Range report!

 

[Narragansett]

Can't remember exactly, but maybe about 1964 when I was the ripe old age of say 15, and before the FFA of 1968, I ordered a 1917 Enfield from the DCM for 8.00 delivered. Actually it was 7.00 but for an extra dollar you could get a special selection. Delivered meant your front door.

I still have it. about 1975 or 76, I bought 2 black walnut stocks, and new hand guards. These were new surplus. One stock was cut to be a sports stock and one along with the guards was made full military. Put about 20 hand rubbed coats of Formby's on it. It is parade pretty has been a safe queen since then.

 

[Shark Bait]

Cool gun. I love the old stuff. Thanks for the pics. It seems a shame not to shoot that beauty.

 

[Rudi]

I remember looking at adds in The American Rifleman. Just incredible deals on all types of old guns. But as a little kid it was just eye candy. My weekly allowance of .25 cents always got spent. Where is that time machine?

 

[Muley Gil]

In 1970, my mom took me to the big Baltimore antique gun show. I bought a .43 Spanish rolling block carbine for $75. Original black powder rounds were .50 cents apiece and I bought about a dozen. 3/4 of them went off. Of course, they were Berdan primed. I wound up charging the cases with black powder, topped with a .451" round ball. I would then chamber a round and lay a large pistol primer on the case's anvil and then firing the shot. When I wore out the anvils in my cases, I drilled out the cartridges to take a 209 shot shell primer.

While I was in college, I met a custom handloader who made me some cases from .45-70 brass. However, I didn't have any dies nor could i afford a new bullet mould. I wound up trading that rolling block for a 1898 Krag.

The Remington rolling block continues to remain my favorite rifle action and I now have a Uberti .357 magnum, a Remington Number 4 in .22 LR and a second Number 4 in .32 RF which I am converting to .32 S&W Long. A few years back, I found an affordable .43 Spanish rifle and the dies, plus a supply of bullets. I guess I've come full circle.

 

[walnutred]

I've had a few rolling blocks over the years. Only one I presently have is a 16ga version that my wife found her garage. I cleaned it up and it's actually in pretty decent shape. I'm thinking of taking it squirrel hunting just because.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

My first Rolling Block is an 1884 Spanish Reformado. I thought it was a 43 Spanish.

The 43 Reformado and the 43 Spanish are both 57mm long (2 1/4") The Spanish diameter is about .428" Diameter, the Reformado is .454" D. both bullets are 400 grain and a long RN or I would call it a semi-spitzer (45-70 bullets are the wrong profile!) They both use 70 to 80 grains of Black powder depending on how many lubed wads or cards you use. Being a very used and crude military rifle the accuracy is about 5 inches at 100 yards (my trapdoor does 3" @ 100Y)

My second Rolling Block is a Remington made 43 Egyptian, with the barrel cut off at the ring, bored out and a Springfield 50 Carbine barrel silver solider in place. I cut down 50-70 brass with a tubing cutter, prime with WLP primers and use 425 grain, conical bullets smeared with Bore Butter lube. I have a 1861 Springfield rear sight I installed and get about 4" at 50 yards. Recoil is very light!

Ivan

 

[2152hq]

I can remember begging my Dad to order a bunch of that surplus stuff when I was still a little kid.
I was fascinated by it!
The $25 M1917's,,the $10 RBlocks and on andon.

'No',,he'd say and get angry as well.
'That junk will never ever be worth even half of what they're tryin' to sell it for.'

:>(


I did get my first inexpensive Military Surplus rifle at age 14 I think it was.
$15 for an as issued/new condition Model 1893 'Spanish Mauser 7x57 mfgr by Lowe/Berlin All matching complete w/ bayonet.

The gunshop had wooden crates of them and others. It was a fun time.
But money was short,,you didn't have or make much either at the time.

 

[Muley Gil]

I can remember begging my Dad to order a bunch of that surplus stuff when I was still a little kid.
I was fascinated by it!
The $25 M1917's,,the $10 RBlocks and on andon.

'No',,he'd say and get angry as well.
'That junk will never ever be worth even half of what they're tryin' to sell it for.'

:>(


I did get my first inexpensive Military Surplus rifle at age 14 I think it was.
$15 for an as issued/new condition Model 1893 'Spanish Mauser 7x57 mfgr by Lowe/Berlin All matching complete w/ bayonet.

The gunshop had wooden crates of them and others. It was a fun time.
But money was short,,you didn't have or make much either at the time.

True. In 1973, a local gun shop had barrels of the straight pull 1911 Swiss rifles for $29.95. BUT, I was only making $1.98 an hour, making concrete pipe. And ammo wasn't that cheap or easy to find, at least at that shop.

 

[DWalt]

In the mid-60s I lived one Summer in Washington DC (near Bolling AFB). I had a screwy work schedule, working mainly evening and night shifts. The upside was I had free time during the daylight hours. I made many trips across the Potomac to visit the Interarms warehouses in Alexandria VA (which was also Ye Olde Hunter). Down on the river near their warehouses they had a showroom full of literally hundreds of milsurps, rifles and handguns, almost anything you could imagine, for sale, and you could buy any of them and just walk out the door. I bought a few things there, but unfortunately, I wasn't making much money, and I needed to spend most of it on rent, gas, food, and girls. I wish I could re-live that time in my life.

 

[biku324]

The Army Surplus store on west Sunshine, Springfield, MO in the mid-60s had barrels with surplus Argentine and Spanish Mausers, Enfields of all varieties, and Swiss Schmidt-Rubins. Usually $10 to $25 or so; I wanted one badly, but had to be content with a single shot 410 at the time (still have it).

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I bought a few things there, but unfortunately, I wasn't making much money, and I needed to spend most of it on rent, gas, food, and girls. I wish I could re-live that time in my life.

Which of the four needs would you do without, if you did it over again?

Ivan

 

[Muley Gil]

The Army Surplus store on west Sunshine, Springfield, MO in the mid-60s had barrels with surplus Argentine and Spanish Mausers, Enfields of all varieties, and Swiss Schmidt-Rubins. Usually $10 to $25 or so; I wanted one badly, but had to be content with a single shot 410 at the time (still have it).

You couldn't catch a ride to work?

 

[biku324]

You couldn't catch a ride to work?

Well, I was 11...

 

[Muley Gil]

Well, I was 11...

Oops, I meant to quote DWalt.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Back in the 1960s the Civilian Marksmanship Program offered tens of thousands of surplus arms to NRA members. M1 Carbines at $20 each. M1911-series .45 pistols at $25 each. Other odds and ends coming in from various National Guard armories included 1898 Krag rifles and a few Trapdoor Springfield rifles. The US Postal Service had a big inventory of US M1917 .45 revolvers (Colt and S&W) carried by the Postal Police from the 1930s to 1950s, then returned to military depots as surplus.

Every issue of Guns & Ammo or other such magazines had full-page advertisements for every possible variation of WW1 and WW2 surplus weapons from all over the world, all at chump change prices. Lee-Enfields, Mausers, Lugers, Lahtis, Astras, S&W Victory models, Colt Commandos, you name it and you could find it.

My days were spent in high school from 8AM to 2PM. My nights were spent on the night shift 10PM to 7AM at a service station, making 85 cents per hour plus a little extra on my labor charges (fix a flat tire for $2, I got a buck. Other crappy little jobs the day shift mechanics didn't want to do were left for the kid on the night shift). Six nights per week (54 hours), take-home pay was usually about $45, minus any gasoline charges. Mom was recovering from multiple surgeries, couldn't work for a couple of years, so my brother and I had to take care of the rent, utilities, groceries, etc.

Not much left over for guns and fun stuff. Then came the notice in the mail from the Selective Service Board, I transitioned from $45 per week to $94 per month (plus room, board, uniforms, equipment, ammunition, and free medical care that came in handy a few times).

 

[murphydog]

The Army Surplus store on west Sunshine, Springfield, MO in the mid-60s had barrels with surplus Argentine and Spanish Mausers, Enfields of all varieties, and Swiss Schmidt-Rubins. Usually $10 to $25 or so; I wanted one badly, but had to be content with a single shot 410 at the time (still have it).

Surplus City closed in 2016 after 54 years, and it is now a "powersports" (off-road ATV) dealer.

 

[SF VET]

Yeah, I remember buying Enfields and Mausers at ten bucks, out of barrels at a local five and dime store. Still have them. And the pages of adds for surplus weapons in the gun magazines. I remember the adds for French WWI machine guns, the ones with the circular mag under the frame. "...swore by by some, swore at by most..."

In the late '50's, my parents bought me a relic Mexican Rolling Block, I think in 7 mm, with a broken stock and missing parts. I used to play Army with it. Not long ago, in our downsizing move, I just threw it in the metal bin at a local recycling place. Kids nowadays shouldn't play with real weapons like we did. When we lived in Northern VA, I sometimes would get over to InterArms in Alexandria, where they had tanks and artillery pieces in their lot.

SF VET

 

[jrm53]

Back in the late 50's a friend that had more money than I did bought Mausers and ammo for them and I used to go to the REA (railway express agency) to get them, I can't remember if the rifles came to his house or not but I know the ammo came to the train station. Jeff