Niagara surprise! Classic Remington Rolling Block

[mcb66]

I bought this because I have always wanted a nice old smokeless rolling block. This one is in 7 M-M S.M.. It has a cool old Williams peep site installed with a 22.5" barrel. I noticed a bit of engraving under the site, so I removed it, this is what I found... I like the way it was sporterized, but they probably should have left well enough alone! 1 of 35 commissioned by William Randolph Hearst for the USS Niagara during the Spanish American War only 5 or so were known to still survive, now there is one more!

 

[TIMETRIPPER]

Nice find, even if sporterized! An early #5 action with the bar extractor, but the Niagara connection makes it special.
I had my #5 restocked and rebarreled to 38-55 WCF. The rifle had seen better days and I bought it for the action. It is a later version with the rotary extractor. Before the conversion I did take one shot with a 7x57 low pressure reload that a friend uses in his roller. The case split at the shoulder on firing. This is a common thing with the old Remington rollers chambered for the 7 MM SM ( 7MM Spanish Mauser) as they were often a little over long in the chamber. The solution to avoid split brass is to anneal the cases, new or old, and neck size only when reloading.
Thanks for posting with all those pics.

John