Rolling block bonanza: just when you thought supplies had dried up

Guns Magazine, July, 2005 by Holt Bodinson

It saved Remington from financial ruin at the end of the Civil War. In continuous production for almost 70 years, millions were made. Without a doubt, it's the most successful, military, single-shot rifle ever fielded, and it has been appearing off-and-on in surplus circles for decades. It was named the "Remington System." We know it as the "Rolling Block." It's not only back in production at Remington, but a new shipment of milsurps from Sweden just arrived. If you don't have a rolling block in your collection, this may be the time to go shopping.

The original concept for a rolling block action was patented by Leonard Geiger in 1863 and was extensively refined and improved by Joseph Rider of Remington in the period from 1863 to 1865. The first production that got the final design off-and-running was for the U.S. Navy-ordered 50-caliber rolling block pistols in 1866 and carbines in 1867. It was not the domestic military trade that filled Remington's post Civil War treasury, it was the adoption of the rolling block military rifle by Denmark, Sweden, Norway and other nations.

Between 1867 and 1868, Denmark placed orders for 41,800 rifles and carbines at a price of $570,000 followed in 1867, by an order for 10,000 rifles and 20,000 actions from Sweden-Norway. Under separate licensing agreements, Sweden was permitted to manufacture rolling blocks at its Husqvarna and Carl Gustafs arsenals, Denmark at its Kobenhavn Tojhuis arsenal, and Norway at Hoverdarsenalet and Konigsberg.

Egypt was the next customer with an order in 1869 for 60,000 rifles at a cost of over a million dollars. In the same year, Spain ordered 85,000 rifles and 10,000 carbines and later manufactured rolling blocks under license. These were followed by orders from the Papal States, Netherlands, France, Japan, Greece, Argentina, Columbia, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Chile, Peru, Mexico and others. Many of the orders from continental European countries were filled under licensing agreements with the Nagant Brothers, Francotte, and Westley Richards. China, too, produced rolling blocks, although no licensing agreement has been found in the Remington archives.

Why was the rolling block so universally popular in military circles? Simplicity. The rolling block is a deceptively simple and ragged action with few moving parts and an operation that is self-evident. Any untutored conscript could be taught the manual-of-arms with a rolling block in quick time.

One merely cocks the hammer, rolls back the breechblock, inserts a cartridge in the chamber, closes the breechblock and pulls the trigger. In function, the hammer not only strikes the firing pin but progressively cams under the breechblock, locking it firmly in place at the moment of discharge.

The relationship of the rotating breechblock and the rotating, locking hammer is precise and calls for close dimensional machine tool work, quality steels and proper heat treatment. The receiver with its integral upper tang is a forging. The two main parts, the hammer and the breechblock, are massive and rotate on large pins (.455" in diameter in the case of the original No. 1 action). The mainspring and trigger springs are stout. The nose of the trigger engages the hammer directly. The bar or rotating extractor systems are simple. In addition, when the breechblock is back, one has unobstructed access to the chamber, bore, and breechblock for cleaning purposes.

Frankly, there is very little to go wrong with a rolling block, other than the occasional breakage of springs and extractors. Like the Maytag repairman, the unit armorer must have been one bored fellow.

Until the recent appearance of rolling blocks from Sweden, the most common models encountered have been the Model No. 1 black powder rifles in .43 Spanish or .43 Egyptian; the smokeless powder No. 5 Model 1897-1901-02 in 7mm Mauser, and to a lesser extent, the 1871 N.Y. State Militia Model in .50-70.

When I was growing up, Winfield Arms imported a large lot of military Model No. 57mms from some Central or South American country. They were advertised for the princely sum of $16.95 and even a young squirt like me could afford one at that price. I remember writing them my order and stating that if they sent me a good one, I would order some more. What I received a couple weeks later was a rolling block in absolutely mint condition.

The local hardware store had exactly one green box of Remington 7mm Mauser stoked with long, business-looking 175-grain softpoints. The ammo cost me almost as much as the rifle. After I shot up the factory loads, I worked out some miserable handloads consisting of projectiles made by rolling No. 1 Buckshot between two pieces of plate glass until they fit the expanded necks of the cases and propelled them by a charge of Du Pont Bulk Smokeless shotgun powder. I never did hit anything with that load, but it sure created intense anxiety in the local crow population.

There are still a lot of military Model No. 5s in circulation. Remington made 46,450 of them between 1901 and 1910. Down here on the Mexican border, we even run into an occasional 7mm carbine. You can't buy them for $16.95 anymore, but they are a fine action, designed specifically for moderate smokeless powder pressures. Remington chambered it in .236 USN, 7.65mm Mauser, .30-40 Krag, .303 British and 7.62mm Russian. In one of the early issues of GUNS Magazine, there was a story of chap who used the 1902 action to build a rolling block pistol in .257 Roberts. The last military rolling blocks ever produced by Remington were chambered for the 8mm Lebel cartridge and supplied to France at the beginning of WWI.