I have an interesting Roper revolving magazine shotgun . They used a proprietary shell, and I am looking for some in 12 gauge. Besides being a revolving magazine shotgun, the Roper had a set of screw in chokes at the muzzle. Very early in the last half of the 1800s. I would appreciate any help in finding some. Thanks , Daryl

With all due respect, shouldn't you be using 6 point impact sockets and a Channel Lock that is bigger, with plastic handle covers?

Just kidding! Interesting gun, thanks for showing it. I can’t find regular ammunition.

Best,
Ted

Ted, if you need any sockets, I probably have them. I had lots of trouble removing a percussion nipple on a set of Manton barrels. It had a square head and none of my existing sockets seemed to do the job and heat and soaking in penetrating oil for weeks did not help either. I finally went on ebay and ordered several types. None of them worked, so I started to make a tool to fit the nipple. I was about half done when a friend, who is a much better mechanic than I am, bought the gun. Still have lots of virgin sockets.

After a couple more years of Democrat rule, we all might have a better chance of finding this obsolete Roper ammunition than regular shells Ted.

The guy who promised us he would "BUILD BACK BETTER" has built nothing. We are not back where we were. And nothing is better either!

But Daryl does show us some interesting guns.

Daryl,
Can you show a few pictures of the shells out of the carrier, what metal are they made of, brass? I imagine they could be made, a lathe operation, would need some dimensions, etc. A friend has a CNC lathe and may be interested.
Dennis

The ones I saw were steel. Do not know if they all were. Saw some on EBay a couple years ago. Not correctly identified but certain what they were.

Great project for a CNC lathe!

Mine gets delivered this weekend. It should be a handy addition to the shop.

I would love to see pictures of these shells from other angles.

Thanks for sharing Daryl!

Daryl,
Can you show a few pictures of the shells out of the carrier, what metal are they made of, brass? I imagine they could be made, a lathe operation, would need some dimensions, etc. A friend has a CNC lathe and may be interested.
Dennis

Thank you gentlemen. All of the Roper shells I have heard of were steel. That said, I think there were rifle shells, too. I'll attach some pictures, but I don't have one to measure. They came in at least 16 and 12 gauges. The picture with the orangish background seems to show multiple gauges,or maybe rifle shells, some of which are a bit unlike the first one I'll post.



Here seems to be a variety of Roper shells. I do not know where I got the picture.


Here is a gun and shells for sale a while back. As I recall it was a 16 gauge.


Here's the Roper patent #53881 of Aprl 10, 1866

Nice article
https://surplused.com/index.php/202...p-shotgun-designs-part-1-of-3-1833-1889/

The site is Spanish, but appears to show the 16g dimensions
https://municion.org/producto/16-cal-16-gauge-roper-shotshell-short-groove/



https://forum.cartridgecollectors.org/t/listing-of-shotshells-calibers/1562/29?page=2
Roper produced shotguns and rifles. The shotguns were in 12 and 16 gauge; these were usually only offered with smooth bore barrels. However, some of their shotguns were sold with a rifled barrel insert and replacement cylinder, which obviously reduced the size of the bore to some other caliber, probably for use with their .41 caliber cartridges. The Roper rifles were produced in .41 caliber; these had rifled barrels, but could be had with a second barrel with a smooth bore. The early Roper shells and cartridges used percussion caps; the later ones were Berdan primed.

Scroll down to lot #204 - a 20g 2.43" Roper steel shotshell
https://www.proxibid.com/asp/CatalogPrint.asp?aid=146127

A Roper cartridge
https://www.gunboards.com/threads/unusual-cartridge.1181965/

Wow
https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/50/1105/rare-cased-roper-revolving-shotgun-with-accessories

Drew, thank you so much. The Roper and related history is just the best. Of course, the Rock Island cased gun would be the finest example one could hope for. It is a 12 gauge , so it would be great to find the owner and at least get some shell measurements. From another article you mentiion, I did not know that the earlier percussion primer shells eventually changed to Berdan primers.

Hey Daryl,

There are a couple Roper rifle cartridges up for auction soon: https://www.engelscollectibles.com/Browse?FullTextQuery=roper

I keep forgetting I told you I would check around for some shotshells for you too. I just now contacted some people and will let you know what I find out.

Aaron, thanks for the heads up. The shell I really need is a 12 gauge shotshell. Daryl

Daryl, I’m just curious, but have you tried having these made? They really don’t look like they’d be that difficult to have turned up. If you have inquired about having a machinist turn them up for you and they declined, what was their reason?

Daryl,
This looks like a perfect excuse for you to buy a lathe and learn to use it. You would be surprised how satisfying it would be, and how many other things you would find to use it for (both in your hobby and at home).
Mike

Making the Roper 12 ga. Shell is a possibility, but I don’t have any shells available to me to get measurements.

Do a chamber cast you can make prototypes on a lathe

MC, if I had a lathe I could be more adventurous . The chamber cast would be easy, but would not give info on the dimensions for the unique additional shapes at the head that are not measurable with using the cast.

If anyone finds one you could 3d print it that would give you something solid to work from,if anyone said this already sorry I missed it

You might try casting it with one of these products from Reprorubber. I've used the thin poor to replicate micron-level imperfections in parts and surfaces which I then image in a structured light imager. Depending on how much fidelity you need kind of determines which route to take. For the thin pour, no mold release is required. Cures in about 5-10 minutes.

Bruce

https://www.reprorubber.com/