Rolling Block Project quandary

[2ndovc]

So one of the site's single shot enablers sold me this 7mm 1902 Rolling block stating that
it had been Bubba'd and has no use for it as he's more into Falling blocks (you know who you are ).
And by the way, you could have cleaned the lead out of the bore!

Finally had time to pick it up this afternoon and it's in way better condition than I expected.

I had planned to re-barrel and restock it into a custom .38-55 long range shooter
with new stocks, sights and an octagon barrel but now I'm thinking I want to restore it to
original 7x57 1902 Rem. condition.

This is the fourth 7mm Rolling block I've had and the bore, action and trigger are the best of them all.

All I really need is a new butt stock, plate and it's back to original. The front sight blade is new but who cares?

Photos to follow.

jb

[Griff]

It's your gun, do as you want! Not that a .38-55 doesn't sound SWEET!

[3leggedturtle]

If the bore is good nothing wrong with a 7mm Mauser. Lots of good bullets both jacketed and cast for it

[Chuck 100 yd]

As I recall, the 7mm rollers had an odd sized chamber. Don`t expect standard ammo and loading dies to be a proper fit to the chamber.
I have read several articles written about this but don`t remember the particulars.
A little research may be in order before spending any bux.

[2ndovc]

After looking the rifle over more this morning and looking at what
similar rifles are going for I think I'm going to keep this one as a
7x57 and start searching for a replacement butt stock and plate.
Or a close copy.

Going to shoot it before I do anything of course.
I've always enjoyed shooting the 7x57 and have had several
including three other RB's. I have a pretty good supply of ammo and components,
good thing too, couldn't find any brass this morning but didn't look real hard either.

Working on pictures, wish the sun would come out!

jb

[Ray Newman]

Chuck100 yd et al, RE. 7mm Remington System, AKA the Rolling Block.

There was another thread 'bout the RB 7mm --
www.levergunscommunity.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26408

And as popsted in that thread:

“See: Black Powder Cartridge News, Spring 2007, Issue #57

" "Is The 7mm Remington 1902 Rolling Block A 7X57 Mauser? Is That Your Final Answer?' by John Rhodes

"According to the article, the 7X57mm Mauser is a bit different from the 1893 7mm Spanish Mauser. The article cites German sources and another article in Accurate Rifle (July 2003). And that according to "Book of Rifles" by W.H.B. Smith and J.E .Smith p. 362, the 1902 Rolling Blocks were chambered for the 1893 Spanish Mauser. [Italics added]

"Article has a chart showing the differences between the two cartridges and some load data.

"Might be worthwhile to contact the Black Powder Cartridge News and obtain a reprint:
http://www.blackpowderspg.com/

"In recent memory, the American Single Shot Rifle Association publication also published a similar article. Might try on their web page for some more information:"
http://www.assra.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl

Read all ‘bout it:
http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... ck#p375735

'Ya nevva' can tell what you haver until after a chamber cast.

[FatJackDurham]

I am right with you. I just bought a 7mm roller at auction for $100. I will post to another thread details, but I am doing the same thing. I had bought it to rebarrel 45-70, but the gun is nearly perfect, with a great bore. I am going to try to order replacement forend and hand guard wood from rollingblockparts.com and make it all original.

[awp101]

So one of the site's single shot enablers sold me this 7mm 1902 Rolling block stating that
it had been Bubba'd and has no use for it as he's more into Falling blocks (you know who you are ).
And by the way, you could have cleaned the lead out of the bore!

Now I never said I didn't have a use for it. I just said I'd decided I prefer falling blocks. At least I think that's the way the conversation went...

And don't look at me, I only shot jacketed out of it!

Here's some pics:

[Hobie]

I had read this...

Found out some interesting info about the 1902 Roller. How did I find this out? Well, there's an article in this latest Blackpowder Cartridge News. Serendipitous that is.

First, the rifle is not chambered for the 7x57 Mauser. Like the .30-03 vs the .30-06 cartridge, the rifle is chambered for a slightly different Spanish 7mm Model 93 cartridge (aka 1893 7mm Mauser).

E.g. case length is 2.24" vs 2.235" (older vs newer) and length head to shoulder is 1.71" vs 1.470" (now that is the critical headspace length). Also, Winchester brass has a thinner rim and might work whereas Remington brass might not.

My friend is likely pumped to find this, I know I am.

[awp101]

The link in Ray Newman's has my original thread about the rifle and I have a .pdf of the article in question (or at least I did. I suppose I'd better double check... ). And the short version is yes, it's almost a .30-03 vs .30-06 situation.

What I found with THIS particular rifle was it would shoot Prvi just fine but S&B would try to separate the case head. I suspect it's due to the lower pressure loading of the Prvi vs the Euro spec loading of the S&B. My plan was to segregate the brass for this rifle from my true 7x57s and neck size only.

[FatJackDurham]

I am confused but the Head to SHoulder distance. In the Lyman manual, the 1.47 number is listed, but it's marked WAY away from the shoulder....

The 8mm cartridge has a similar diameter and shoulder angle, but the distance between the shoulder and neck is more like my casting...

The SAAMI spec shows the distance to the shoulder, which is very close to my casting, but I still measured about .010 difference, which is more than the SAAMI spec allows.



In this diagram, SAAMI says the head to shoulder is 1.73

[FatJackDurham]

BTW, beautiful gun. How is it bubba'd?

[2ndovc]

BTW, beautiful gun. How is it bubba'd?

They didn't come from the factory with a rubber but pad.
The front sight is not original either but that's no big deal.
I was really looking for a project rifle and Andrew offer up this one at a super fair price.


I've had a few of these and in pre-internet days shot hundreds of rounds through
them blissfully unaware that there were chamber issues.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do, I really want that custom .38-55 but this one could be easily restored.

jb

[FatJackDurham]

Huh. Well, if you re stock it, would that be with sporter forend? That would be a shame, that wood is beautiful.

You could just get the buttstock plate and fit it to that stock. One peice and you are done! Its a little bit of wood carvin but not hard.

[Ben_Rumson]

Fire Form some 7mm cases with Cream of Wheat filler and a fast burning smokeless powder or Black Powder if you don't want to seat your bullets long to start with to form your cases... Use 7mm dies backed off enough to not push the shoulder back when you're done...
Phil Sharpe in one of his books raved about a bone stock but brand new 7mm military roller he had acquired saying it rivaled or bested several target rifles he had shot... I've shot several inch 5 shot 100 yard groups with one in 7mm... even a half inch one.... Cast bullets shoot well in the Dane 45 cal. Rolling block and the 50-70 NY State Militia model using reduced smokeless loads... Good luck have fun!

[2ndovc]

I won't cut up the stocks! Treebone Carving has some nice stuff for replacement sporting stocks.
I'll sell off the original wood and parts to pay for part of the conversion if I do it.

Still trying to decide what to do!

jb

[FatJackDurham]

Well, my roller turned out to be a 1910, other wise i would have put an offer in. Tree bone is pretty pricy stuff, but i too am considering it for the second phase of my Lemonton project. Its nice stuff.

[6pt-sika]

I've never actually owned a rollingblock for longer then say a couple hours .

But ............................... ,

if it were mine and I was bound and determined to do something with it (and if it would work) I'd get rid of the thing 7mm barrel and get me a nice new 44 cal octagon barrel and make a 444 out of it . Also try and get a twist of about 1-14 or 1-16 so I could shoot cast of say up to 475 grains ! Also make the throat a bit longer then usual so I could seat the bullets out further and hence get enough powder in the case to stabalize the larger bullets .

But thats just me

[6pt-sika]

Well, my roller turned out to be a 1910, other wise i would have put an offer in. Tree bone is pretty pricy stuff, but i too am considering it for the second phase of my Lemonton project. Its nice stuff.

I have dealt with a company called "Macon Gunstocks" and they typically have very nice wood for the money !
However they usually require a bit more inletting and a pile more shaping then TreeBone .

It's a matter of ease over cost !

[2ndovc]

I'll look at Macon gunstocks, thanks!

But I don't ever want another .444! I've had one, didn't like it!
Just a bad experience and no reflection on the cartridge but not going there again!


jb

[6pt-sika]

I'll look at Macon gunstocks, thanks!

But I don't ever want another .444! I've had one, didn't like it!
Just a bad experience and no reflection on the cartridge but not going there again!


jb

Heck I've got one of my old 444 levers as a Target rifle at the moment for possibly shooting some CBA matches this year !

With XMP5744 of 32-34 grains and the Ranch Dog 432-265GC it's a kitten and of course my big old Leupold Vari XIII 6.5-20x on top doesn't hurt either

[FatJackDurham]

I brought my 7mm Roller to the gunsmith when I picked up my Lemonblock, and had him check the headspace.

It was at least .070 off, which is close to my calculated .010 based on my Cerosafe casting. This lines up perfectly with the document reports of Spanish 7mm mouser differences.

So, before firing, I need to decide, do I neck down 8mm mauser brass or expand and resize 7mm with a combination of 30-06 sizers and 7mm sizers.