Rip, according to Frank Sellers' book on Sharps firearms, the .50 2-inch straight was introduced in July of 1872 and was last chambered in 1876. It is rarely encountered, and you must form your brass by trimming .50-90 cases. There was a guy on the Shiloh forum from northeastern Washington that had the reamer made. I had John Taylor of Taylor Machine in Washington barrel my Swedish action using a Green Mountain .500/.508 barrel with 1:24 twist. These are what the late Dave Higgenbotham of Lone Star Rifle Works used in his fine rolling blokcs. All my previous experience with .50 BP cartridges has been with the Lee .515 450-grain bullet in .50-70 and the same bullet shortened to 350 grains in the .56-50 Armi Sport Spencer. I ordered the .510 600-grain Creedmoor bullet mold from Buffalo Arms and can't wait to work up loads once I get the stock sealed and the barrel blued.

http://www.buffaloarms.com/Cus...175474.aspx?CAT=4158

Since we are discussing .50-70 Rolling Block projects, here is mine. The action is a Carl Gustav, the stock is a Remington sporter style from RollingBlockParts.com, I have an MVA Rough and Ready rear sight and Beech front sight, and a steel shotgun-style buttplate. I am just waiting on the barrel, which is a 28-inch finished length tapered octagon that goes from 1.1 inches to 0.90 inches, as per the originals, but with a 1:24 twist. The nose is my year-old lab, Elijah, who supervises all of my activities.

Bill,
I found the paragraph on the ".50 CALIBRE 2-INCH STRAIGHT" on page 340 of the Frank Sellers book.
"As far as is known, only the 457-grain (grease) grooved bullet and the 500-grain (paper) patched ball were loaded in the 2-inch case."
An interesting footnote in history. Thanks for reminding me that I need to finish reading that big book.


http://www.buffaloarms.com/Cus...175474.aspx?CAT=4158

Now I have to get another mould! That .510/600gr Creedmoor at 1.270" long caries a lot of weight for length and might be just what I need for my 1:26" twist ".50 Calibre 2-1/2 Inch Straight Case" Pedersoli Sharps.
Good fodder for a 50-70-600 for sure.
Your 1:24" twist should be perfect for it.
If you dare to use smokeless powder you can outdo a ".50 Calibre 3-1/4 Inch Straight Case" BP load with your 50-70-600 combo.

quote:

Originally posted by loud-n-boomer:
Since we are discussing .50-70 Rolling Block projects, here is mine. The action is a Carl Gustav, the stock is a Remington sporter style from RollingBlockParts.com, I have an MVA Rough and Ready rear sight and Beech front sight, and a steel shotgun-style buttplate. I am just waiting on the barrel, which is a 28-inch finished length tapered octagon that goes from 1.1 inches to 0.90 inches, as per the originals, but with a 1:24 twist. The nose is my year-old lab, Elijah, who supervises all of my activities.

Boomer,
That sounds great.
What you are doing is what I ought to be doing if I had any sense.

I am thinking of getting a McGowen light target taper, stainless, 1:15" twist, 32" long and cut it back to 28" long.
The 1.2" diameter cylinder shank/knoxform is 3 " long before it begins a straight taper to muzzle.
That can be turned down to 1.1" diameter and create a longer cylinder ... maybe ... might be able to stick a rear sight there,
or a picatinny rail, or a Ruger No. 1 quarter rib.

BTW, is that Elijah's slobber on the toe of the stock?

RIP, that is an Elijah "kiss" on the stock. I will say he is the droolingist lab that I have had.

My barrel is coming from Oregon Barrel Works; they will do whatever taper and twist that you want, I have heard good things about their quality, and the price is reasonable. I am opting for a .500 land and .510 groove diameter. I am building the rifle specifically as a hunting gun, and plan to shoot a bison with it first thing after it is built and I have developed a load.I am doing the work on the gun myself. I will likely try to duplicate the original 450-grain bullet loading, and I plan to strictly use black powder in the old girl.

Loud, that's a good choice on the tapered barrel from Joe at Oregon Barrel Works. My Green Mountain barrel is a straight octagon and it is really heavy. Nice stock set. I am a big fan of getting dog noses in photos, too.

Bill,
Your choice of bullet and heavy barrel has the makings for something like Croft Barker's champ of a .50-70 Musket:

http://www.singleshotexchange....the-50-70-for-a.html

Might be the champ rifle on the bottom in this collection of .50-70 Muskets:


He uses a 1:26" twist and .512"-grooved barrel, with a bullet very similar to yours, "... resembles a pregnant Postell.
It is 1.26" long and weighs 598 grains when cast from 1:30 ..."



It is a NEI's mould #512600.




Drops from mould at .512" diameter and he sizes them to .511" for his "match bullet."
He does not say what powder charge he uses (BP load well compressed) or what the velocity might be.
But it shoots MOA to 600 yards, and it knocks the silhouette steel 300 meter pigs off the rails with greater authority than the 450-grainers.

I am still cogitating and note that McGowen offers many twists in .500/.510:
1:32" 6 Groove
1:24" 6 & 8 G
1:20" 6 G
1:15" 8 G
1:12" 6 G
1:10" 6 G
For extra $ they will turn a round contour into an Octagon.
Boomer's contour could be pretty closely duplicated with a Medium Target taper bobbed from 32" blank.
Or do whatever custom contour desired, exactly.
I really trust the .510 barrels from McGowen, having used so many of them on bolt actions and a Ruger No. 1 with nary a glitch.
They know how to make a 50-cal barrel.

I am leaning toward a 1:20" twist now, as the wind direction changes.
Also still still thinking a .50-90 Sharps will be too long to work in my old ironwork carbine action.
The ".50 CALIBRE 2-INCH STRAIGHT" is now being considered thanks to Bill.
A Quigley-esque sporterized carbine action and stock with longer and heavier barrel paired with saddle ring ...

But the genuine "old soldier" is the .50-70 Gov./Musket.
Probably killed more bison than any other cartridge with the lowly 450-grain load, 50-70-450.
Trajectory of a 22 LR and able to knock down herds of buffalo, it has been said.

Boomer's reamer?

Octagon Barrel: Gentleman Sporter Look

or

Round Barrel: Sporterized Ex-Military Look

Nov. 8, 2016 dilemna is a much easier decision:

Hillary .................................................................................. Trump

Don't overlook George at Treebone for wood ...

http://www.treebonecarving.com...ng-block-stocks.html

Bill,
Thanks for showing that link. I had not been there yet.

Interesting photos from Treebone Carving:





Must be the only way a .50-90 Sharps is possible to load into an RB is by having a very short nose projection of bullet.
So you would be using the 450-gr bullet of the .50-70 Musket, mostly what the old BP loads for the 50-90 Sharps did,
or some heavier design with short nose to keep all the grease grooves inside the case.
The fatter the bullet and the longer the C.Oa.L., the harder to angle a loaded cartridge into an RB chamber.
There is a limit, eh?

I am going to be checking on parts tomorrow.
The buttstock I have for the RB will take a carbine buttplate that looks exactly like what is on my two specimens of 1866 Second Allin Trapdoors.
Here is one of my .50-70 Gov. shooters from 1866, this one had its barrel bobbed by one inch and recrowned,
same buttplate as the RB stock I have.
Young Buffalo Bill killed many thousands of buffalo with this make of needle gun, using same load as Boomer is planning,
before he had better:



Very similar to the third one down in this photo also from Treebone Carving:



I will use a leather slipon pad to cover it and adjust LOP.
Very comfortable shooting, like a shotgun/sporter, butt with a carbine military butt under wraps.



Sporterized military theme here.

More musings:

Nothing more than a .50-70 Musket is needed for my old action:



~450 grainers from the Lyman #515141 mould, bullet length 0.985", nose length 0.515"

~500 grainers from the Lee #515-500-F (double cavity) mould, bullet length 1.050", nose length 0.500"

~650 grainers from the Hoch #512650 (nose pour) mould, bullet length 1.405", nose length beyond grease grooves is 0.790"

The last one above would require long throating to seat the bullet out. Not as long as a 50-90 Sharps,
so it might not require too many gyrations to load into the chamber.
Weatherby-throated .50-70 Musket?
Might be best to stick with 450-grainers.

About the gyrations to stick a .50-90 2.5" Straight into a Rolling Block, it seems to be all in the re-shaping of the nose of the hammer.
Here is an internet snaggged photo said to be for the .50-90 2.5" Straight chambering of the RB:



Here is what Pedersoli does for the .45-70 Gov:





Top of firing pin is showing a little with the Pedersoli hammer down:



And the antique:









Matching serial numbers are stamped on the left side of the upper and lower tangs,
is this something done by the likes of Bannerman in recycling an old 1870-vintage action?
Something to ask Kenn Womack about ...



Another view of the Tang:



This matches the patent dates (3 patents) on an 1870 Model Navy Rolling Block made under contract by Springfield Armory, as a hint at age of my action.
Interesting stories there about the "transformed" and "rejected" Navy rifles.



Another case of the terminal 1866 date looking like 1868.

This exerpt (above) serves as a review of this good book:

And it appears that Custer died with a rifle a lot like Boomer is building.
Custer died with his boots on and with a No. 1 RB sporting model .50-70 Musket nearby.
Custer's favorite, lightyears ahead of the old trapdoor traded in when he ordered the new RB from the Remington "Custom Shop."

And here is the one that Custer left at home with Libbie when he campaigned last:

A ".44 caliber Remington-Rider Long Range Creedmore (sic) Target Rifle":



https://centerofthewest.org/20...custer-target-rifle/

Here's the one he died with:

RIP, that target rifle is enchanting. I just have to make it to Cody one of these days.

Bill, have the distal two thirds of your heavy octagon barrel turned to a gracefully tapered round target contour and you'll have it.

Monday I called Kenn Womack about ordering three parts, since his web site said to call or email for description or photo of an old, original butt plate he offers.

His answering machine said it was hunting season and he was out for a while, leave a message or send and email and he would get to it.

So I sent an email, wishing Kenn good luck in "making meat," and attached some of the above photos,
asking what he thought about the crude "matching" serial numbers on the left side of the upper and lower tangs.

Any thoughts appreciated, thanks.
I'll send Kenn the printed order form and a check when he sends back the offered info about the old original butt plate.

Will see.

More musings, this time by Larry Potterfield, about recreating the Custer .50-70 RB:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBKx8oTSht8

And a great little youtube video by the same Larry, showing how he reduced the trigger pull weight of an RB from 16.25 lbs to 3.39 lbs:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDEDE23h0vg