so several weeks ago, I touched an inanimant object, yet got litteraly "haunted" by it... & I just had to switch around my gun buying schedule, & a week later I brought home an original 1800's Remington Rolling Block rifle, that had been customized into a bench rest gun in the 60's...during the 60's, an incredible set of burl wood stocks ( high cheek roll over stock, & 3" wide beaver tail fore arm ) were fit to the gun, as was a heavy barrel a welded on hammer spur, & a lightened trigger... likely the breech block changed out to a smokeless to help the old black powder action deal with the 225 caliber the gun was now chambered in...

we ( my local builder & I ) both feel the pressures are too high on the 225 Winchester, & the barrel is about 3/4 shot out, so we are rebarreling / rechambering the gun, as well as going through the action

I ordered a Shilen uncontoured 8 mm Match barrel, & will be chambering it in 323 - 40... Since the stock is set up for a scope, & I don't want to drill & tap through the perfect shape Remington patent business on the tang, for a tall tang sight, I've decided to add a 15X Unertl scope to keep things looking retro... I fell in love with the deep blued heavy barrel, but since this is a gun I plan to shoot alot, & my hands sweat abnormally, I was looking at alerative coatings, that would be more corrosion resistant than traditional blueing... I was looking at Black Chrome applied over electroless nickle, & deep blue Diamond Kote...

I'll round up a few "before pics"...







This is the scope going on the roller...

Tool & Die Guys... man... did I pick the wrong line of work...

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... Ok, I'm doing alright... but the retired tool & die guy that is my local "builder" amaizes me everytime I go over to his place... ( he's rebuilding my Remington Rolling Block rifle )... the new breech block & hammer pins are built & fitted, & the barrel is "rough" chambered, threaded, contoured & crowned ( I bought an uncontoured barrel, & the base of the barrel is nearly untured diameter, with only a slight taper to the 1.2??" muzzle end, with a beautyful target crown on the end ) the rear of the barrel was turned some, as the radius was not totally true to the bore ??? but it is now... ) the look of the crown is really amplified, because of the large muzzle end diameter, my chosen bullets will be here tomorrow, then we'll mock up a dummy round, & finish chambering & throating the barrel, & once the extractor slot is cut, the barrel will be completed... he's gotten into working on this "roller", it was supposed to be a winter project, & at this rate, it's looking like the mechanics will be all done before the end of October... he also noticed that the firing pin retractor was missing ( there are provissions for one in my breech block ), so I'm ordering a new retractor, & a new manufactured main spring, which should allow lightening of the hammer for faster lock time... so he pulled out an old #5 junk action he had, which was missing a breech block, & I'm ordering him an old one I found, so he'll have a "roller" to play with next summer too... it wouldn't suprise me to see him use my old 225 Winchester barrel, & rechamber it in 22 Hornet... but then he has 8-10 other barrels laying around, so I couldn't second guess anything there...

I have a little fitting to do on the fore end as the diameter of the barrel is slightly larger than the old 225 Winchester barrel... but the "white barrel" really makes the dark burled walnut "pop" so at this point I'm wrestling with either electroless nickle, or that "French Grey" finish on the entire gun ??? I'll be refinishing the wood, removing & filling the sling studs... but am holding off until deciding on a finsh for the metal parts...

I'll be bringing over that "flame maple" '98 Mauser for for a barrel / throat inspection ( I blew a primer out of factory loaded 150 grain Remington ammo last weekend, & with the dismal groups I've been getting with some ammo, he's suspecting there is more than ecceptable throat errosion ???... but anyway, at that point, I'll be pulling the 15X Unertl scope off that rifle, so the mounts & scope can be added to the barrel of the roller project...

I can do basic metal & wood work, but the things this "old guy" is capable of, is just incredible... so much knowledge is going to be lost, the day we lose him, as he's been tinkering with guns for almost 50 years... he turned 68 a couple week ends ago, & I've been trying to spend as much time with him as I can lately... hoping at least some of his knowledge & skills will rub off on me

Looking for suggestions for metal surface finishes for this rifle...

it's coming along pretty quickly

I was originally thinking deep blue, as I saw the gun the 1st time... but the wood is so dark, I'm thinking that "white" steel might make the furniture look better or stand out more...

... that & I kinda like how the blued reciever with the new breech block & hammer pins still in white looks, so maybe stainless screws, white finish on the hammer, trigger, & main pins, with the deep blue Diamond Kote on the reciever ??? maybe leave the reciever deep blue & the barrel in the white ( I know thats oposite of how the 2 tone guns are done ) ???

anyway, here are some updated pics...

I've already started to sand some of the finish, & the fore arm needs to be inletted a bit more for fit to the thicker barrel, but it's set in place here...


We used stainless hardware fore the fore end, incase I decide to electroless nickle, or french grey the barrel & or action...


over sized breech block pins still in the white, & a dummy round in the 8 X 40 round

& actually by "retro", I mean I'm restoring it to look as it was converted in the 60's as a bench rest gun... too many changes had been made to the original rifle at that time, to make it look period original again... the wood is awesome, & I want to keep it, so it won't look original anyway ( it's getting a 15X Unertl external adjust scope, which goes on next week or so )

in previous posts I posted that I wanted a coating that is more resistant to corrosion, as my hands sweat abnormally, & I expect I'll be shooting this alot... at the time, ( & yes I know they are not "original" finishes ), Black Chrome over Electroless Nickle, or deep blue Diamond Kote... if I wanted a dark finish, or Electroless Nickle or this "French Grey" finish offered by E.A. Brown, which is either electroless nickle, hard chrome, or some other type of resistant plating, were what seemed like the best choices... here are links to the finishes I'm looking at...

the "french grey" link...

French Grey

the deep gun blue Diamond Kote...

http://www.mrarms.com/colors.html

Black Chrome... ( note that they also do fire arms not just sink parts )

http://techplate.com/black_chrome.htm

Electroless Nickle...

http://techplate.com/electroless_nickel.htm

note that the black chrome would be the most expensive, & the thickest ( not necessarily a good thing ) as they would do a base of electroless nickle, with the black chrome over the top... & the E.A. Brown company is only a few hours from where I live, so I could drop it off & pick it up, & maybe have some sense of better control of the finishing process ...

my top 2 choice right now, are french grey, if I choose to do the gun in white, or deep blue Diamond Kote if I choose to do the gun in blue... or a mix of the 2, if I choose 2 tone... I'm thinking about having my Dan Wesson 44 mag snuby & a Contender action & barrel done up in these 2 processes, before getting the rifle done, just to see what they look like ???

do a web search for QPQ ...tip burns just finished a .264 win mag m70 for me... this finish is indestructible... a file will not cut it.. a knife scraped on the surface will not hurt it...and it looks good too!!!!

Adding a mid project pic... all the machining is done, but lots of hand finish work is left... I added the stripped wood, & the scope for the pic... then its back to work with the grinder on the adjustable metal butt stock...

Magnum Wheel Man, saw this over at the assra forum, just what parent cartridge case are you using for the 323/40 round and how is it done.
Thanks Frank

32-40 cases... with jacketed ammo & boat tail bullets, I can get bullets seated with the regular case mouth expander in the 32-40 dies, but I may need to add an 8mm case mouth expander to the die when I do up cast bullets... I also throw away the cartridge OAL specs, since it's a single shot... I'm seating with about a bore diameter of the bullet base in the case neck... I plan on working up a jacketed bullet load next spring, then working up a cast bullet load, after I've got something racy in a jacketed load dialed in... I don't have a cast bullet picked out yet though...

the chamber was reamed with a regular 32-40 reamer... but my necks were a bit too tight, so we opened the neck area up a little with an 8mm X '06 neck reamer...

you could use 30-30 brass if needed ( they are a little shorter ) but I wanted 32-40 case head stamps, to keep them from getting corn fused with some of my other 30-30 based Contender wild cats

Magnum Wheel Man, sorry to take so long to answer you. I have to say you and your smith are doing some real nice work. I like the 8mmx40 cartridge you've chosen as well. Sort of like having the best of both bullet options, jacketed and cast. I have one of the swedish rollers in 8x58 cartridge. I'd rate the bore in very good to excellent condition. This is one of the ones that was rebuilt in 1892. The origional date on the receiver is 1875. I believe it will need 45-90 cases. Plan on getting some from buffalo arms eventually and giving the old girl a workout. Keep us posted on your progress. Frank

SSL... would love to see a pic or two of your old gal...

I'm currently working on a custom rifle case for the rifle... my father in law had an old custom rifle case ( I think it was originally fit for an old Winchester 52 - 22 LR competition gun ) I'm sure he bought the case, not having a rifle for it...

I gutted the yellow pine interior & bought a block of extremely light weight bass wood, & cut it to fit into the case ( the case has an inverse curved top where the handle & latches are ), then laid the rifle on the block & traced an outline, & cut it out... I spaced the rifle, so that I could add optional brass forked butt plate, & since my cartridge boxes I use are too tall, I'm going to drill 4 rows of 10 holes at about a 30* angle to hold 20 jacketed & 20 cast bullet cartridges on the oposite side as the butt plate... the case has brass hardware, a nice leather handle, & solid Walnut edges / sides & walnut venier top & bottom... I damaged the venier just a little pealing out the glued in yellow pine, so I'm going to cover the case in distressed leather look vinyl... the inside will be painted by my local custom painter in a waving American flag pattern, with the outlined insert removed... then I'll add 1/4" closed cell foam to the insert, & cover that in blue pool able type felt... I'll have to add a couple pads for the contact areas, & will color them to match the flag painted under...

I'm not a very skilled finish carpenter, but I am geting lots of help on this one... I want it to look nice

Magnum_Wheel_Man. Wish I could post pics. Do not have a digital camera. My technology challenged brain and computers don't get along very well. That plus alarm clock radios and vcr's. Frank