Does anyone have any idea of what the heck I've got here?

[old bear]

My next door neighbor stopped by over the other day, with a new treasure. All he knew about it was located in an overgrown storage barn on his family’s property, in Florida. All I could add is, it’s really old and best used as a boat anchor.

Really, all we know, it’s a Rolling Block carbine with a bore measurement of .54 caliber.

I soaked it in Break-Free for 24 hours and cleaned layers of crud off using 0000 steel wool. I was unable to uncover ANY markings which would indicate when or where it was manufactured, or who the maker may have been.
So can any of you offer any information about this old guy?

Thanks All.

 

[snuffy51]

I'm no expert, I just like old guns. Just not lucky as some people. If you need a boat anchor, I have a couple that even have most of the vinyl coating left I will trade for it.

 

[rags]

Don't know what it is, but the Prop Rod is over the top!

 

[old bear]

Don't know what it is, but the Prop Rod is over the top!

Why yes it is. Thanks to Mr. Sal

 

[Drm50]

Definite Rolling Block. .54 cal throws me never saw a Remington
in .54cal. They did make all kind of cals for foreign countries.
They made a lot of them between 43 & 45 cal, in metric designations. Early ones were produced in Cf & Rf models. I have
seen them in 58 cal. There were other outfits that produced
similar rifles, Whitney was one of the better known. Then you
had your Belgian knock offs. Who knows what cals they might have produced. To me in in rough shape, it looks like a Remington.

 

[Kinman]

I'm sure you've got yourself one of the dozens of different Remington Rolling Block military carbines that were manufactured back in the day. I see them quite often down at the rifle club, most of them that are shot today use blackpowder cartridges. I spend most of my time shooting blackpowder muzzleloaders. There is one guy that is a native Aussie, he's crazy about any of the Martini type rifles and I think I've seen him shooting a Rolling Block or two. The Spanish and Danish used alot of Rolling Blocks.

 

[Arik]

Swedish rolling block.

They came in
12.7x42
12.7x44
10.15x61

 

[DWalt]

As stated earlier, there were huge numbers of Remington rolling block rifles and carbines sold all over the world in various military calibers, and there are some copies made in foreign countries. Even the Pope's Swiss Guards had some. It might be difficult to tell more about what that one could be, given its condition. Regardless, it's in "Relic" condition, worth only what someone would pay for a wall decoration.

 

[Gazz]

I do not believe it is a Remington and suspect it is a European made copy. I looked through several of my references and could not find any Remington with the "*** crack" sort of feature in the side of the frame but do believe I have seen it before, on a rolling block firearm that is. I have more books that I can paw through and if I find anything I will add more to the thread.
Certainly not a Swedish as it does not have the distinctive *** crack feature. Many of the Swedish RB's were originally made by Remington I believe.

 

[DWalt]

Just from the receiver profile, I'd agree there's a high probability it's some foreign copy, not a Remington product. Someone who knows more about rolling blocks and their variations might be in a better position to ID it more precisely.

 

[old bear]

Great information/educated guesses fells. Thanks. Do to the lack of ANY markings, I've been thinking foreign knock off or some backwoods gun shop. As for the caliber, the owner was the one to gauge that, but he's a sharp guy.

Anyone else have any guesses??

 

[Texas Star]

Fred-

Any idea why there's a hole bored in the side?

It probably takes a ctg. in 11mm or a 12mm variant. I think some countries call .45 bore a 12.7mm. I think I've seen 11.43mm also used for what we call the .45 ACP.

Anyone got a Norwegian M-1914 variant of the Colt 1911? I forgot how caliber is expressed on that. How is caliber expressed in Brazilian and Argentine examples of the Colt .45 auto? The Ballester-Molina? I haven't handled any of these in awhile.

A British hunter in India (Kenneth Anderson's son) has called his 10.75mm Mauser sporter a .423 Mauser.

 

[Alk8944]

12.7 mm is .50 caliber, not .45!

Is it rifled, or smooth bore? .54 is roughly 28 ga. and it may have been converted as a cheap shotgun. The notch in the frame appears to be clearance for the thumbpiece on the breech block, to allow it to rotate farther. This would have been necessary to provide clearance for the larger diameter shotgun cartridge to be loaded/un-loaded from the gun. At one time it was quite common to see Trap Door Springfield rifles which had been smooth bored to .20 ga. as "Forage Guns" used for subsistence hunting by troops in the field.

 

[Kinman]

This got me interested so I did a little research, the only Rolling Block action I could find that resembled that particular curved side plate was a Nagant-Brevet double barrelled shotgun pistol. It could be that they had to relieve that notch into the metal in order to get the latch down far enough to put in a shotgun shell. The hole is for another bolt that is obviously missing.

 

[Wyatt Burp]

Well, whatever it is, it doesn't look like a carbine but a cut down rifle. The stock is cut off flat and the barrel looks too long for a carbine. Someone mentioned that hole in the frame. could it be where a side lever went in it something like the Remington Hepburn, but is now missing?

 

[Cyrano]

There's a hole bored in the side of the frame becuse that's where the hammer pivot pin went in.

The frame contour looks vaguely European to me, rather than Remington. I wouldn't be surprised to find it was made by Nagant.

Military carbines were generally meant for cavalry, and didn't have slings as they were carried in some sort of scabbard. The sling swivels on this one make me think it's a cut down rifle.

 

[Frank46]

Reminton rolling block shotgun probably made by either husquvarna or carl gustav. The dip in the sidewalls is the give away. Could be a 20 guage. Frank

 

[2152hq]

I'd go with a Nagant (Belgian) mfg.
The frame cut is also similar to the 1877 Nagant SxS pistol as Kinman stated.
Nagant also made a SxS shotgun/rifle using the RB action and that too had the same style of side wall cut though a bit larger to accomodate the larger thumb piece(s) used on that particular piece.

...and maybe someone just thought that style looked good and decided to file in the cuts on some other make of RB clone.

The empty thru hole is for the breech block pin.
The blind hole is for the attachment screw to hold a small plate in place that secures both the block and the hammer pins in place from falling free.

Hang it on the wall and tell storys about it...

 

[Hellraiser]

Does anyone have any idea of what the heck I've got here?

Yep... classic case of gunsyphyllis. However...

I do proguno-medical work.... and can take that awful thing off'n yore hands. Let me know when you want my email address for shippin' stuff. Put an extry 50 bucks in the box... to cover the haz-mat fees that you shoulda paid up front.

 

[KingBee]

I think Frank 46 nailed it. The receiver looks like my Husqvarna 16 ga.