Rolling Block Fans?

[Jim Watson]

It is too bad the Rolling Blocks had such a glacially slow lock time, which rendered them only So-So as a target rifle.

That would have been news to the Creedmoor shooters in the 1870s and 1880s.
They held their own against the Sharps in Long Range competition. But then the Sharps hasn't got a real fast lock time, either. There wasn't much choice in those days, though.

 

[BCRider]

This is a case where technique can trump technology. A slow lock time simply increases the need for good technique on the shooter's part. Namely a proper follow through technique where the shooter maintains discipline until well after the shot is gone.

Oddly enough I'm learning this from shooting my flintlocks. Compared to my flinter the rolling block is like LIGHTNING! ! ! !....

 

[tark]

Wow, my new rolling block puts them into an inch at fifty yards. That's the good news. The bad news; the group is a foot high and six inches to the right with the rear sight at the lowest setting. Ammo is Federal 175 gr softpoint and Remington 140 gr softpoint and the gun puts them both into the same grouping, high and right. I had hoped the 145 gr stuff would shoot lower but it didn't.

Time to go to work on the reloading bench.

 

[barnbwt]

Or the smithing bench. No reason to think that barrel might have been bowed slightly at some point (on the sights bonked/bent/worn?) Sounds like the Rolling Block really was the most accurate gun in Red Dead Redemption

TCB

 

[LT.Diver]

I love it. The green bottle, the mysterious number 33, etc....Oh wait, you said rolling BLOCK.

 

[BCRider]

If you're making 1 inch groups then I'd say your ammo isn't far off at all. The sights on the other hand sound like they are off some other gun.......

 

[tark]

After doing a little research, I discovered that my gun is a 1902 action, with a barrel and sights off of an 1897 gun. This was common, as Remington used up all of the older parts during the transitional period. I moved the front sight in the dovetail and solved the windage problem, as to the elevation, I guess Ill aim at their knees and hit em' in the guts!

 

[barnbwt]

Hmmm, I wonder if the earlier 1902's (like mine, apparently) might not have the long chambers; that was supposedly a change made at some point during RB production as I understand it (and 1902 is smack in the middle of the smokeless RB production timeline)

I'd just get out a bastard file and make a new taller front sight blade, personally. For the accuracy you're getting it really is worth it (or maybe get a buddy to TIG a little blob up top and file it to match)

TCB

 

[tark]

Still MORE research! This is what I have found, regarding the "oversize" chambers on some 7mm Rolling blocks. It may or may not be true, what you read isn't always true! I had read all of my life that the 250-3000 AKA the 250 Savage was the first commercially loaded cartridge to exceed 3000 FPS; when in reality it was the 280 Ross in 1907. But I am straying.....

Apparently there WERE two 7mm rounds, the Spanish and the German. The difference was about .010 in length (and headspace). The 1902s were chambered for both, according to which country ordered them And they were marked; the Spanish chambers were marked with an "s" behind the caliber stamp on the barrel. All others had no mark. It is pretty much impossible to tell who the guns were made for, except for the rifles made for the Mexican Government; these bore serial numbers. All others did not.

My gun has a normal chamber and does not have the "s" stamp. Barnbwt I would guess that your rifle also does not have the "s"

I don't know if the above is true or not but it DOES offer one explaination to this little mystery. The Spanish Mauser rifles would have had no trouble digesting either round, the extractor would have held the round against the bolt face, something the Remington's extractor can't do.

 

[barnbwt]

Noop; no "s" marking, so maybe... Granted, I can barely make out the "CAL 7MM" portion (it's only visible as a difference in patina ). Stupid Spaniards; always makin' identical versions of everyone else's chamberings that are just different enough to make them unsafe (ref 7.62 CETME). So I take it that other S American nations used the German version; interesting (although, I suppose there were still some German-affiliated colonies down there). I wonder if the US bought guns (or US state bought) tended to be the 7MM Mauser vs. Spanish? Like I said, my rifle actually does have some sort of issue number on the lower tang, scratched in very shallowly by hand, but also very neatly, which makes me think it was done some time ago.

TCB

 

[Sergei Mosin]

That TX*** number scratched on it is probably a former owner's driver's license number. Used to be a fairly common way of identifying guns in case of theft.