Sent the rolling block off to John Taylor.......

by Otony, Wednesday, January 15, 2014, 17:29 (3970 days ago)

........in Puyallup, WA. He is going to rebarrel it to .50-70 with a barrel of his own manufacture. Gave me a choice of octagon, round, or octagon to round. Since I want this as a hunting rifle rather than a silhouette gun, I chose an octagon breech that transitions into a round taper. Didn't want a real heavy rifle, as it won't get shot for long strings like a match gun would. His pricing is excellent, $500 for his barrel installed. There will be some additional machine time expenses for mounting sights, and I will brown the barrel myself, so this is fairly reasonable.

Going to use a simple tang sight, like a Marbles, with some sort of Patridge blade up front. Barrel length will be 30". Haven't decided on wood yet, although I have plenty of well cured, fancy English walnut here. If I can find someone to cut my wood that would be excellent. Probably going to reuse the original buttplate, it has a good shape and is numbered to the rifle.

The original stocks are Article Birch, and in good condition. Unfortunately the forend is too slender to reuse, and has a deep finger groove on either side to boot. I'm afraid opening it up for the new, heavier barrel would leave the top edges of the forend lower and paper thin. Thus the new wood. Probably have a schnable tip on the new forend.

This is a Husqvarna built action, dated 1872. Amazingly clean, the hammer and breechblock are both in the bright, and perfectly spotless. Not a hint of patina or corrosion. The action is blued, and the finish remains in about 98% condition! I cannot even begin to start a feeler gauge into the breech, it is extremely tight, with no discernible movement. I really lucked out on this one, my cost for the entire rifle with shipping came to $320, which I consider very reasonable for an action of his quality and condition. It is a shame I am tossing the barrel and stocks, but I have been wanting another .50-70 since swapping my Shiloh Business rifle 14 years ago. And frankly, even though it might sound heretical, I think I prefer the rolling block action to the '74 Sharps.

Of course it was already sporterized from its military configuration, and the 8mm Krag chambering was pretty much useless to me, so I think rebuilding it is a sound proposition. The wife may have different views on the matter, but this one will get built in stages, so I should be able to ease the sticker shock. Even so, it will be significantly less than buying a new Shiloh, so I can rationalize it that way......

Otony