Remington Rolling-Block 45-70 Shooting High

[bigjohnson]

I recently picked up a Remington Rolling-Block military rifle in 45-70. I took it out to my backyard range today and fired 20 rounds through it. At 50 yards, I shot a 5-shot 1 1/2 inch group in the black (after quite a number of misses and a lot of "Kentucky elevation"). But it was 14 inches above the point of aim. My understanding is that most military rifles of that period (1870s to 1890s) had battle sights set at about 275 yards. That would account for the high bullet impact at 50 yards, since the 45-70 has a trajectory like a rainbow.
Anyway, I am thinking that there are basically two ways to solve the problem of aligning the sights so that it will shoot to point of aim at 50 or 100 yards:
First is to modify the front sight so as to make it taller; and second is to cut a deeper groove in the rear sight.
Anybody out there ever deal with a situation like this? What is the best way to go, here?

 

[Jim Watson]

Cutting a deeper notch in the rear sight would not help unless you were going to hold a "fine bead" in the manner of muzzleloader tradition. A taller front sight is the answer. I don't know about Rolling Blocks, but they are fairly common on Trapdoors.

If the gun is in fine original shape be sure any change is reversible.

I have heard of things like epoxied sights but don't know how well they work.

I have seen a picture of a clamp-on front sight for such occasions, but do not recall the source.

 

[bigjohnson]

All the trapdoors I have seen have a small block silver-soldered to the barrel that has a slot cut in it for the sight blade. You put the blade in the slot, and there is a transverse pin that holds the sight blade in place.
This Remington has the same style front sight as is found on the 1861 Springfield muskets. It's a block with an almost triangular blade on the top...all one piece. If push comes to shove, I could mill off the sight blade, leaving the block on the barrel. Then cut a slot on the block like the trapdoors have, and put a blade in it and drill a hole for the transverse pin. I hate to do that, though. The gun is in excellent shape, with most of the original finish on both wood and metal. That's why I was thinking about cutting the notch on the rear sight about 1/16 deeper, and using the "fine bead" hold. I just don't think that a 1/16th change in the relative positions of the front and rear sights will amount to what I need at 50 yards. The distance between the front and rear sights in almost exactly 30 inches. 1/16th difference at 30 inches equals a hair less than 4 inches at 50 yards. That's not enough. So it looks like a front sight that is 1/4 inch taller might do the trick. Hmmmm. I'm going to have to think about that one for a bit.

 

[MMCSRET]

My Rolling Block in 43 Spanish shoots low.I set my sights at the 200 setting to get on at a hundred yards. I shoot black powder or American powder and have never tried smokeless. Maybe thats the difference!!! I also cast my own bullets, jacketed don't exist.

 

[bigjohnson]

I'm shooting cast bullet loads.... a 405 grain Lee hollow-based bullet with 25 grains of 4198. As soon as I get around to it, I'm going to load up some BP rounds using the same bullet with 54 grains of 3F. This is the load that I have been using in my trapdoor carbine, and I have found it to be extremely accurate, although the trapdoor also shot high until I put a taller blade in the front sight.

 

[Red Tornado]

From what you're saying, you have a Remington Rolling Block 45-70 in excellent shape. But I'm confused, where are the pictures? You know we need pictures, right? I don't have any input that hasn't already been said, I just tuned in for the pictures.
Good luck with it,
RT