Remington Military Rolling Block Rifle - First Look

[duelist1954]

This is a first look at a Remington military Rolling Block rifle I found at a Gun show in Louisville recently. It is chambered for the .43 Spanish cartridge. It is in pretty good shape for a gun that is almost 140 years old. We'll review the features of these rifles, and take a few shots before sending it off to the gunsmith for a trigger job.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSorXbSuEvA

 

[isaacdavis1214]

Great Video duelist!Just wondering though,how hard was it or how expensive was it to find .43 Spanish ammo?

 

[loose noose]

Duelist, another fine video, entertaining as well as educational, however, how much does the ammo cost, and is brass available for reloading.

 

[Sam1911]

Hmmm! Interesting! I need to go see if that neighbor of mine still has one for sale!

 

[duelist1954]

I bought 20 rounds of B-P .43 Spanish ammo from Buffalo Arms for around $60-$70. I bought 20 pieces of brass from Midway USA for about the same price.

The good news is, once you have the brass, it lasts virtually forever, if you take care of it. I have a Lyman mold, so bullets are free (I've got about a ton of lead).

 

[72coupe]

Looking forward to the next installment.

 

[Jaymo]

I have a single round of .43 Spanish, that a buddy gave me. It has a paper patched bullet.
Mike, you look like my doctor. Y'all could pass for twins. 'Cept for the fact that he's a troll, and not a Pennsylvanian.

 

[Cosmoline]

Thanks for the vid!

I really love my roller. It's a converted military action with a .50-70 barrel on it. It's kind of a poor man's Sharps, but with the right load and bullet it's darned accurate.

You can still find the surplus ones from the New York militia for reasonable prices. I would only ever use black powder since the actions have been known to KB with excess smokeless loads. There have been some bad incidents and at least one fatality with the Danish rolling blocks possibly because of bad smokeless loading data. Though they continued to be used in the smokeless era, I would never want a roller exposed to more than BP levels of pressure.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Just a note, there were four different rounds called the 43 Spanish. A carbine round that was shorter. Guns for this are rare but surface occasionally. I had one which I sold to a guy at a Richmond gun show 30 yrs ago. There is the 43 Reformado, which is not even a 43 cal but a strange bell shaped case with a 454 bullet. Also used a brass jacketed bullet. Then there is a 43 Spanish that takes a 433 bullet. (Some sources say it is the same as the Peabody 433, but I think that is some confusion. I read that some NY and New England militias used a 433, but again whether it was 433 Peabody or the 433 Spanish, I can't say.) Lastly there is the most common 43 Spanish, which has a takes a 439 bullet. This is the most commonly encountered of the 43 Spanish cartridges and rifles. The metric designations are:

11x46R (433 Carbine)
11x58R (433 full length 43 Spanish)
11.15 x 58R (439 bullet 43 Spanish) most common
11.5 x 57R (Reformado) Sort of a bottleneck with no neck

they all can be made from 43 Spanish basic brass.

The Spanish also made rolling blocks under license from Remington at their Oviedo arsenal.

 

[Pokyman]

The 43 Spanish can be made from 348 Winchester brass. You can get brass and reloading dies from Buffalo Arms.