I was looking at an old rolling block chambered in 32 rimfire. Can it be re-chambered for anything else economically?

Need to move the firing pin, and reline it to .22 rf, or better yet, rebarrel. Firing pin might even be okay, some of them are huge enough to hit the .22 ok if you reshape the tip.

What doesn't work well although it is suggested often is to change it to CF and chamber for some sort of .32 s&W or similar. The action isn't really strong enough for any centerfire, and the odd bore size, etc presents obstacles.

Also, the adapters that use a .22 rf blank off center in a lathe turned case work, but only a few times before the brass expands to unusable and the blank sticks. An expensive way to get poor performance.

Nice rifles if you spend the effort to convert to a good .22.

dave

It depends on the model. The #4 may be relined
to 17 MkII, OR 22 LR. If it is the #2 it is quite
a strong action. I have one relined to 22 Mag,
and one to 17 mag. Great guns.

Thanks guys, I was hoping for something more like a 250 Savage but I guess that won't work.

If the gun is in great original shape it has some collector value and may not be a good one to reline or rechamber. If it has a great bore then I think it would be perfect to chamber for 32 S&W Long, you would have to move firing pin hole. The 32 S&W is a low pressure cartridge and I think would work fine. Be a fun little gun also. If bore is only OK then I would reline to 22 LR which you still may have to move firing pin. You will also have to rebuild the extractor or find one for a 22.

While we are at it----I have a Remington smokeless rolling block, saddle ring carbine, in 7X57 Mauser. Overall in very good shape but it has the common, as I have read, very sloppy chamber. Setting the barrel back would be a major! undertaking. As there seems to be many with this problem has anyone heard of a reasonable fix?
Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by scutulatus:
While we are at it----I have a Remington smokeless rolling block, saddle ring carbine, in 7X57 Mauser. Overall in very good shape but it has the common, as I have read, very sloppy chamber. Setting the barrel back would be a major! undertaking. As there seems to be many with this problem has anyone heard of a reasonable fix?
Thanks

The reasonable fix is to rebarrel or setback the barrel. However, if the rifle isn't worth that to you, you can make it shoot by using scotch tape wrapped around the brass to center the cartridge in the chamber the first time to fireform it. After that, just neck size. Keep loads on the moderate side for use in this rifle, I'd keep below 35,000 psi. You can get good pressure data from the Hodgdon web site. Don't just get reduced velocity loads; quite often reduced velocity loads are high pressure loads. The #1 rolling block is really only good for about 35,000 psi in the 7mm. The main problem is the breechblock springs, allowing the brass to stretch and separate. Lower pressure loads help that a lot.

The other common problem with these rifles is the 18 lb trigger. go to rollingblockparts.com, and on their accessories page, buy the wire replacement trigger spring. It will drop that to about 3 lbs, and eliminate much of the apparent creep. Whatever you do, don't stone the sear, or thin the mainspring in an attempt to help the trigger. Honing it can make it unsafe as the angle will have to be reduced quite a bit to the unsafe side to help. Honing also increases the apparent creep and drag, as the sear is surface hardened and as you hone through that, it starts to drag and feel creepy. Thinning the mainspring is not very effective, and can result in the action blowing open on firing. The mainspring is strong for a good reason on this gun.

dave

An even easier solution is to run a .30 caliber expander into the case, then run into a 7x57 resizer until the brass will just chamber in the rifle. This produces a ghost shoulder that will center the brass in the chamber and hold it against the breech block. After firing, the cases will be formed to the chamber. Just neck size the brass thereafter. Keep loads to starting loads, as the rolling block is not as strong as a bolt action.

loud-n-boomer, that will work if the neck is the only sloppy part, or the headspace is excessive. Some of these, the back of the chamber is large too. Then, a wrap of tape gets them to expand uniformly the first time.

dave

These (poor)pics show a chamber cast and a fired round from an original rolling block 7x57 barrel. Note the step in the forward neck area of the chamber. Is this normal/typical for the 7x57 chamber that was being used by Remington at the time?

Another pic

To use the original 7X57 chamber form cases from 270 Win that headspace properly on the chamber. TRim to lenght.

A fired .270 case has a neck just the right diameter for 7mm. Just push the shoulder back and cut the case off. Anneal and full length resize to an exact fit in your chamber.

Thanks for all the reloading info, I'll let Ya know how it all works out.