doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com My Rolling Block project

I feel like a kid on a trip asking, "Are we there yet"?
Well the answer is YES! The postman delivered a nice big shipping crate a few minutes ago, and I couldn't get it open fast enough! Al Springer at Snowy Mountain Blue really outdid himself! (Is that really possible?) His colors on the action are as good as it gets, and spot on for a Remington!









I let Al do the polishing on the barrel since it wasn't fitted when I sent it to him. He always does a little extra touch up work anyway, and this barrel is perfection! As is his usual great rust bluing! The work done by Pat at C Sharps to fit and chamber is equally great!









Wood is some of the leftovers from Remington's late 1990's run. This is their high grade custom shop wood.





Barrel is a 34" #3.5 weight Green Mountain .40 caliber. It is chambered in the old .40-50 Sharps Straight.�
Still need to mount up the wood I fitted prior to sending it to Al Springer, but I'll get that taken care of this weekend.

That is going to be a nice rifle. Heavy as all get out, but nice. With that itty-bitty cartridge, it won't be much recoil at all. What are your plans for it?

Slipped the stocks on just to get a picture.

Vall, That is a dandy. Very nice
Think you will be well pleased with how it shoots.
The long range sight may be a little ambitious for the caliber, but will work.
Chuck

Nice !

I still think the roller's are one of the ugliest rifles ever made. However, to temper that, like the ugly little puppy, they have wormed their way into my heart and mind. While I will never consider them elegant, or even pretty, I sure like 'em and that one is a DANDY!!!! It comes very close to changing my mind about their appearance. Those case colors simply "pop" to wear out even more a worn out word.

Hi Vall, Very nice job.Really coming together.
As a couple others have asked, the 40-50 is fairly tame for a big rifle and tall sight, may I ask your usage plan for the rifle? Don't get me wrong I built a 40-50 on a Ballard and a lady friend shot it for a long time, that worked well out to 600 yrds.

Since I shoot long range, and I don't shoot BP, the .40-50SS will see smokeless loads. The .40-50SS went obsolete before smokeless powders hit the market, and it's an anemic BP cartridge. Had it survived to the smokeless powder era I think it might still be around today. 50 grs. of BP is not enough to properly push the 300-350 gr. bullets past midrange levels. Original Remington advertisements listed it as a caliber for the Midrange Creedmoor rifles, so a 500 yd. caliber at best.
I have another original Remington Rolling Block Sporter in .40-50SS, but have only had it for about a year, and haven't worked out long range loads as the original has a slower 1:20" twist.
I plan to try this one out to 1000 yds., and with smokeless powder loads in the 1350-1400 fps range I hope it performs well. The small case capacity is a plus over larger .40 calibers like my .40-65 and .40-85 caliber rifles. It will fill the case better, and should be more efficient. We'll see if that theory works out in reality. I have until July to get some loads worked up and tested.
I shoot my other Rolling Block in .40-65 using the RCBS 300 and 350 CSA bullets. It does quite well at 650-1000 yds., and has the same 1:16" twist Green Mountain barrel. So I think if I get my loads figured out for the smaller case it should do as well.
The sight is a Remington from the run they built for their Rolling Blocks in the late 1990's. Numrich sold them as parts, so I purchased all the pieces and assembled it. They were a thrifty $130 price, so no reason to buy a shorter sight for more money. And a midrange runs out of height before I get to 650 yds., so they wont work for me. Takes enough elevation to compensate for a 50'-60' arc in the bullet's flight out to 800-1000 yds.

Interesting project and idea that you are chasing. Is there an organized competition for smokeless loads like this?

I'll be interested to hear how it works out. I assume you are using a 14" twist or faster and a grease groove bullet.

Our annual shoot is about 18-20 guys and gals who get together each year to shoot for fun. Never to compete. But we have long range shoots at our club open to any type of weapon, and any type of powder.
The Quigley is also open to any type of powder and traditional style single shot rifles. I hope to make it there some day.

I have a 1:16" twist in this barrel, as I have in another Rolling Block in .40-65 Win. That gun also sees only smokeless loads with 18.0-18.5 grs. of 4198 and the same 300 or 350 gr. RCBS CSA bullet. I'm confident the smaller case of the .40-50SS will do even better with smokeless, although I may start at slightly smaller charge due to the smaller case capacity. Once I run them over the chronograph, and check groups I'll begin to raise the charge to see where it gets best accuracy, and hope it stays around 1300-1400 fps.