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

This new forum is great! And thanks to all the posters who thoughtfully include the gorgeous pictures.

I have a Rem. rolling block, in 7mm (1902 date). My father bought it at Sears in SF in the early 60's. (I can't recall if that rifle came home before or after the Enfield Jungle Carbine, also from Sears, but I do remember they didn't arrive home at the same time.)

Back to my question. Possibly after viewing all this gun porn, I have started wondering, what about restoring that rolling block? Not me, but who would I go to? I would like it rebarreled to
1st choice: 50-70
2nd choice: 45-70
I would like a shootable, huntable, rifle, not a museum piece. I would rather sink the money into the barrel and sights, than engraving or fancy wood.
Is my caliber choice feasable? My rifle is complete except for the "v" part of the long range rear sight, and the cleaning rod. The bore looks shot, but I don't want it in 7mm anyway.
Any suggestions or ideas? Could this be done for around $1000? Less would be great!
Thanks,
Lou

When you say 'restore' do you mean restocking as well as rebarreling? A rebarrel in either of the two calibers you mentioned would be very feasible and relatively inexpensive, certainly a lot less than your maximum. When you include restocking, however, the cost will double if the job is done right. However in a pinch I suppose you could use the miltary wood if suitably altered but the buttstock has entirely too much drop, for me at least.

The esteemed Mr hst (Glenn Fewless) is a good source of info on this subject since he's not only a Guild gunsmith but also a closet roller freak as well as a gen-u-wine certified National Championship Shooting Hero. He's pretty funny, too, but I keep reminding him that looks aren't everything! (enormous grin)

No, all joking aside, hst and First Shirt (Greg Pennell) are two folks on this forum who are in the business and can answer all your questions regarding specific choices and economics. I and many others recommend them highly FWIW.

BTW your 1902 action IMO is the best choice for altering into an octagon-top like the original high-grade Remington sporters and is also one of the strongest with the best extractor system. But that's just my opinion and I'm not a roller expert. ssdave on the ASSRA forum is a really nice fellow and knows lots more about 'em than I do and can answer any roller-specific questions you may have.
Regards, Joe

Joe,
I would want it restocked, but nothing fancy. I too think I would want less drop.
What's the ASSRA forum? I am not able to decode. __?_ single shot rifle association. ssdave = single shot dave?
Thanks for the encouragement.
Lou

Lou M,

The conversion you are asking (except rebarreled in 7x57), about is offered for sale today on the ASSRA Forum "For Sale" section.

waterman

Lou M,

Here is the URL of the American Single Shot Rifle Association classified listing Waterman referred to.

http://www.assra.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1221277721

Lou M,
If you're able to do some of the grunt work, I think you could easily have the Roller rebuilt as a basic hunting rifle, with no frills.
This would mean you'd need to purchase 90% inletted stocks and then fit and finish them yourself. You'd also need to do any polishing and filing yourself. Then you could have a barrel professionally fitted and you can polish that yourself too.
I did such a project with a Ballard #4 Perfection, and ended up at $1200, after paying $200 for a complete gun that had an unuseable barrel and stocks. I also overpaid Ballard Rifle Co. $450 to case the receiver, which was $200 more than they quoted! The end product included buying a tang sight, and Lyman globe front sight too.
It's nothing fancy, or special, but I enjoy it a lot. Here's a poor picture of it:



Vall

LouM:

The action should be a good one to work with. The rifle was an attempt to bring the Roller in to the new century with a modern cartridge and imitation gun powder. The steel is of better quality. The extractor is good, but the Swedish and Danish actions had a better one. The firing pin is of an adequately small diameter, saving you from making that modification.

The smokeless actions had a larger barrel shank diameter than the earlier actions, which make it a little touch and go for the octagon top. You really should add metal to the receiver ring rather than cut it away for the octagon.

The action certainly would be up to either chambering you are considering.

Howsomever, you are going to have a tough time building the rifle you desire at the price you suggest without doing some of the work yourself. One thing you might consider, if you have the inclination and some basic skills, is to look into the summer gunsmithing courses offered at many of the schools. There are classes at Trinidad State Junior College in Colorado on single shot metalsmithing, stockmaking and a number of related subjects. They are generally two week courses and are set up to allow the student to work on his or her own project under adult supervision. All things considered this may not be the cheapest route to a new rifle, but for many being able to build their own rifle is, like, way cool.


Glenn

You should call Perry Mittelstadt in Cedar Edge Co. 1-970-856-7569.Perry does beautiful work and is a rolling block man himself. He does great case coloring, has his own stock duplicator and has either refinished or built me several nice RBs in many different calibers from .22rf to .50-100 Sharps St. He is easy to deal with and quite reasonable