Actually I want to make two matched 45 colt rolling block pistols. I have a take-off rifle barrel that is in excellent condition and plan on making the guns from bare materials to finish. Is there drawings of these actions that are available to the general public? I will probably modify the relative positions to get the pistol profile that I want and trigger location relative to the grip/handle.
These guns will be for shooting and will remain in my possession - they will never be sold.

Wish I could be of some help, but alas, I have no information of any use.

I do hope you keep us up to date on the project as it progresses.

Sounds like a fun project with a pleasant result

Blueprints and drawings for #1 Rolling Block (and others):

http://www.westernskypublishing.com/

Remington did make versions for the Army and Navy in .50 cal !!
Should be a very interesting project ,keep us informed .

Didn't Navy Arms sell a rolling block pistol not too long ago?
As a kid I remember seeing an article in Popular Mechanics on how to turn a 7mm rolling block into a pistol. Even back then I believe turning a rifle into a pistol was a no-no. Ah, the good old days.
C.G.B.

Reproductions of the RRB pistol have been made .I think one of the Italian makers did last I looked.
The RB was made IIRC is 4 sizes + pistol.I have an original 22 and that and the 44 Russian were the most popular certainly for the tsrget version. Many of the military versions were converted to 22.

I'm fiddling with the plans in two of the build-your-own books, making Autocad files of the parts. I would guess that for a 22 RF, parts could be CNC'd, laser-cut, or plasma-cut, then finished and hardened. That leaves the barrel and its attachment, not so hard for a low-pressure round.

I don't know if these will work or even the same as you're talking about, but here are some complete rifles for sale that you may be interested in:

http://www.allans-armory.com/aaresult.php?PageId=89

Probably the best thing to do is to buy a clunker rifle or action. Then buy a educational version of a 3D solid modeling program and make a parametric model. Once you have the parametric model you can change one dimension and all the others will scale to it. The data from the parametric model can be used to generate the programs to CNC machine or wire EDM the parts.

quote:

Originally posted by PaulS:
Actually I want to make two matched 45 colt rolling block pistols. I have a take-off rifle barrel that is in excellent condition and plan on making the guns from bare materials to finish. Is there drawings of these actions that are available to the general public? I will probably modify the relative positions to get the pistol profile that I want and trigger location relative to the grip/handle.
These guns will be for shooting and will remain in my possession - they will never be sold.

I have a few of the rifle drawings but adapting them to fit a pistol is the real challenge. It makes for a very awkward looking gun and I want to design a matched pair that look and feel like a modern pistol. I may have to work on this to get what I want.

I have made "break-open" pistols before and they look and handle very well. This is my first attempt at designing a rolling block and they are much longer through the action area. I will continue on the design and see what I can come up with. The hard part will be making able to withstand modern pressures and still be compact enough to look good.

quote:

Originally posted by SR4759:

That is the exact same as the gun I have been studying. I want to move the hammer higher so it is more in-line with the bore and there is less drop at the grip. I also want to move the triggerback a bit so the grip can be designed more along the lines of a modern revolver.
The problem is that when I start moving parts around I keep getting other parts interfering.
It is just going to take some time.

45 Colt = .452/.454 diameter.
458 Rifle barrel = .458/.460" diameter

Check before using old rifle actions. I think that is still against the law.

No one suggested that he use an old rifle action to build this. Rather it was suggested that he buy an old rifle action to use for purposes of modeling a rolling block.
It is much easier to visualize modifications of an old design if you have an physical specimen to examine.
It is much easier to design with a 3D solid modeling program since it is possible to turn different parts on and off and change them from solid to transparent.
If you want physical mockup of the model you can actually print plastic parts with a 3 printer and put them together.

Here is a cut away RRB.

Rolling block cut away

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
45 Colt = .452/.454 diameter.
458 Rifle barrel = .458/.460" diameter

Check before using old rifle actions. I think that is still against the law.

Paul please be very careful "re-designing "the action of the RB. It was very well thought out to with stand a very high pressure. Much more than you'd ever imagine.
At the instant of firing ,all pressure is transferred to the two ( Very,very hard pins) in a straight line. The "rolling" breech block and hammer all lock up into one tight mass of steel.
These parts stay locked up tightly until the pressure has dropped down to a safe levels.
I have several RRB's rifles and pistols,one in .50-110 Alaskan firing an 800 grain bullet .50 BMG bullet at over 1,500 FPS.
Modifying the angle of locking parts would be an extremely dangerous thing to do.
Many of the hammers cocking "ear"was exaggerated to move the ease of cocking up/down in/out of the line of sight.

My first pistol shots where taken with a Remington RB in 22rf.

By brother still owns it.

My first rifle was a RB that had been re-barreled to .22lr. You need to get your hands on one of the .50 cal military RB pistol's and have its parts scanned into Solidworks files. That would be a good starting point. Moving the hammer higher could be tricky; as I recall loading and extraction just cleared it on the original design.
Good luck, looks like fun.
C.G.B.

I want you all to know that I am watching this thread and taking all comments into consideration.

Rapidrob, I have and am studying the action/reaction forces of this type of lock up and find that the front pin seems to be pushed forward with half the force (reduced by the actual radius) at the breach while the rear pin has a linear push to the rear and down at the angle of the contact between the breach block and hammer contact.
The pins and their contact with the action frame have to be strong enough to absorb the loads without deformation - elastic or permanent. The selection of materials and the heat treatment of all parts will need to be chosen to fit the loads upon them.

I am by no means a gunsmith - I am just a metalsmith trying to make a functional and good looking gun.

actually I am in the middle of making my shop after moving to a new home without one. so once I get the shop done I can begin working.

Navy Arms, regrettably no more as such, used to sell a baby size rolling block action pistol in .45 Long Colt and .357 Mag. I am sure it was made overseas, Italy would be my first guess. I think haunting the gun auctions would be preferrable to the paperwork to make a firearm... but that is old, tired me... LUCK. Happy Trails.

Just copy the original RB pistol; there is no need to re-invent the wheel when this one works well and looks like it should.
Selection of materials is easy; you are over thinking it; a 45 LC is very easy to contain. Make all the parts out of 8620 and case harden them, or make it out of 4140 and harden it a bit, or make it out of 4140 pre hard and don't do anything. Remember the originals are made out of wrought iron which is only slightly tougher than oak. Pins, I make out of oil hardening drill rod and usually do not harden them. If you made it out of 1020, annealed, it would out last you. You are not talking about much pressure here.

I photo shopped the pistol in the pictures above as described with the grip higher. It is striking looking. I didn't think I'd like it but, I do. I wish I could post the photo here.

The I see a minor issue and possibly a major one. First the lock up strength will be less due to the new angles. Second the cartridge length is now limited by the hammer nose. With the hammer higher the cartridge must clear the hammer nose for loading and unloading. I had this issue with 50-90 in a smokeless RB action. I had to grind the hammer nose to clear the rim.

That is why most of the original RB cartridges were bottlenecked.
Post your pics on Photobueket, then two clicks gets them on AR.
Very simple, in spite of all the whining about posting pictures here.

They are hell for stout. I had one of the last models in 7x57 smokeless for a couple years. Fine rifles...

Here is my RB Army 1871 in 50 Army. Beside the 50 is a .40 S & W. 25 Grains of BP under 300 grain .510 bullet. There are several of these antique guns for sale, this gun has a mint bore. Just change to a caliber you want.

I wouldn't dream of rebarelling an original, especially with a good bore. That big .50 Remington throws a medicine ball. Very cool.