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Any Rollers out there?
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I was looking at Rolling Block rifles, and stumbled upon the DZ Hepburn website. What gorgeous rifles they make! Here's the one they post under #3 Sporter.



Does anyone shoot a roller, and have pix to share? We focus on the 1874 Sharps rifles, but in reality, many of the Buffalo hunters used Remington Rolling Block rifles.
 
Posts: 20065 | Location: Very NW NJ up in the Mountains | Registered: 14 June 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I have a couple of rollers, but I rarely shoot them. I never hunt with them. When I hunt, it is with a Sharps model 1874.
 
Posts: 807 | Location: East Texas | Registered: 03 November 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Jon, I have a .50-70 on a Husqvarna rolling block. Stock needs finishing and barrel needs bluing. The Hepburns are nice for target work, but the drop in the stock is a bit severe, but Dave Gullo who owns Buffalo Arms has long used Hepburns in competition, and he is one of the best shots in the world.
If you're thinking of building one, try to find a Swede that was converted from 12 mm to 8 X 58 Danish Krag. In the 1890s, the Swedes re-heat treated the actions and fitted new and improved rolling blocks of stronger steel. I would trust this action with any black powder cartridge and some smokeless, but having seen a very nice, tight Remington No. 5 in 7mm Mauser that opened up on the shooter like a flower, nearly killing him, I personally would not shoot a century-old or older rolling block with any but BP or mild smokeless and cast loads.
Years ago, I had John King of Kila, MT, build me a .40-70 SBN with Badger barrel on one of these converted Swedes. John told me he loved to work on them as they were fitted like Swiss watches.
Try Ken at Kebco. Buffalo Arms also usually keeps a few in stock.


There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.
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Posts: 16269 | Location: Sweetwater, TX | Registered: 03 June 2000Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I hunt with a Lone Star Rifle RRB. Nothing fancy but the 300 gr HP performs well.No BP but a 45-70 still works . 2020
 
Posts: 7636 | Registered: 10 October 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Mete. Dave Higginbotham made a very fine rolling block. You are fortunate to have one. May he rest in peace.


There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.
– John Green, author
 
Posts: 16269 | Location: Sweetwater, TX | Registered: 03 June 2000Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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If someone would post for me I'd send a photo . It also has gorgeous CCH by Turnbull.
 
Posts: 7636 | Registered: 10 October 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I have a Pedersoli replica with 30" heavy full octagon barrel, no taper, weighs almost 12 pounds with the Soule sight on the tang, and a bubble level globe front sight.

It is like a Dixie Gunworks "Remington Rolling Block Buffalo Model No. 2" but no Dixie markings, just D. Pedersoli.
Now that I have some inkling of how to feed and care for a BPCR,
I might shoot it.
Single, non-set trigger, but nice trigger, clean, crisp, 3 lbs.

This should be good training wheels until I can get a Shiloh Sharps 50-90 and teach it to hurl 700-grainers. tu2

I suppose the Rolling Block saw a lot of action in the hay day of the bison market hunting,
in both 50-70 and the high-tech 45-70.
Can a 50-90 or 45-90 or longer BP cartridge be chambered in the Rolling Block?
 
Posts: 28032 | Location: KY | Registered: 09 December 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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And I'm sure you all know that in the last quarter of the 20th Century there was a commercially available kit to convert the Rollers to lever actions. Dave Lee of Roseburg Oregon has one in .45-70 I'd kill for!


My country gal's just a moonshiner's daughter, but I love her still.

 
Posts: 9685 | Location: Cave Creek 85331, USA | Registered: 17 August 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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You can chamber a roller in those chamberings, but there will often be interference between the cartridge and the hammer when you try to chamber a round. The hammer must be cut down a bit so that you have loading clearance in many cases. Both of my 45-70 rollers require deliberate cartridge manipulation when loading paper patched ammo, and one of them has had the hammer modification done.

As far as a 50-90 and 700 grain bullets, be careful what you ask for. It ain't all many folks have it cracked up to be.
 
Posts: 807 | Location: East Texas | Registered: 03 November 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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AC: I'd love to see a photo of the lever kit installed.
RIP, Sharpsguy is right. You may well have to grind your hammer nose in order to chamber some of the longer rounds.


There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.
– John Green, author
 
Posts: 16269 | Location: Sweetwater, TX | Registered: 03 June 2000Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by sharpsguy:

As far as a 50-90 and 700 grain bullets, be careful what you ask for. It ain't all many folks have it cracked up to be.



Aw shucks, the 50-90 Sharps 2.5" has been "aces" since 1872, no? The real "Big Fifty" buffalo killer and +1500-yard sniper round of Adobe Walls in 1874?
What's not to like?
Gotta have one from Shiloh Sharps, of course.

I will make a concession to 600-grain bullet, however, as recommended previously,
whatever the twist will bear. tu2
 
Posts: 28032 | Location: KY | Registered: 09 December 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Introduced in July of 1872, according to Frank Sellers. I put my order on hold at Shiloh for an Early Hartford in another classic, early Sharps chambering, .44-77. One o' these days I'll call Big Timber and reactivate that order.


There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.
– John Green, author
 
Posts: 16269 | Location: Sweetwater, TX | Registered: 03 June 2000Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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You have to wait over 100 years to get your Sharps ??? That's slow ! faint
 
Posts: 7636 | Registered: 10 October 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I have had two in .45-70 in the past, one of which was a target version and one of which was a sporter. I currently have a No. 5 in 7mm that I am planning to use for shooting cast bullets. I am also building a .50-70 on a Model 1868 Carl Gustav action that was made in 1874. The rifle will be a close facsimile to a No. 1 Sporting rifle with straight-grip shotgun buttstock and steel-capped sporting foreend, an MVA rough-and-ready rear sight, an MVA Beech front sight, and a tapered 28-inch octagon barrel from Oregon Barrel Works that follows the original Remington pattern for the sporters. I have the action and sights, and the barrel and semi-inlet stock are on order. The plan is for this to be my go-to BPCR hunting rifle. I will post pictures when I have all of the parts, along with progress photographs.

On the topic of Sharps rifles, having dealt with both Shiloh and C. Sharps, I prefer the C. Sharps. Based on the four C. Sharps and two Shiloh Sharps various members of my family have (one .50-90, two .45-70s, and three .40-65s), both shoot equally well and are priced about the same. The Shiloh is a great rifle (my current silhouette rifle is a Shiloh), but I think the finish on the C. Sharps is closer to the originals, while the Shiloh has more of a modern finish. I also find the stock profile, especially on the foreend of the C. Sharps to be more pleasing to my eye. The delivery on the C. Sharps is also a lot faster. Finally, while I have nothing but good to say about Kirk Bryant, Lucinda can be one of the most unpleasant people to deal with I have found in the gun business. Since Axtell Sharps is out of business, I will probably have Shiloh build me a .45-90 long-range gun on the 1877 action, but only because that particular model is about half the cost from Shiloh that it is from C. Sharps.


One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know. - Groucho Marx
 
Posts: 3810 | Location: Eastern Slope, Colorado, USA | Registered: 01 March 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Loud, please do post when you get your No. 1 sporting rifle all put together. I have the MVA Rough and Ready on my Husqvarna roller. What twist did you have Joe use in your barrel?


There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.
– John Green, author
 
Posts: 16269 | Location: Sweetwater, TX | Registered: 03 June 2000Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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