I appreciate all of you guys who maintain this forum, I only discovered it recently and have seen a lot of good advice change hands here.
First off I have always had a special place in my heart for a single shot rifle. I recently purchased a #1 rolling block from a friend. Egyptian issue, no stock, no barrel. Everything seems tight, but I am curious about the accumulative slop that occurs between the block/pin, & hammer/pin.
I intend to shoot mostly bullets from www.jadaenterprise.com . 3200fps with a 200 gr bullet! I have been unable to determine the chamber pressure these rounds will create, so I worry about the chamber slop with the no 1. The gentleman who sells these bullets will wisely not recommend a load, but says that he uses 2400.
I have spoken with a dealer of IAR arms sharps repros, and he claims their action can handle up to 30,000psi. I will have my tax return soon and so will be able to afford their kit model 1874 Quigley rifle. thanks to my son! Any advice you would be willing to share is welcome.

Welcome to the forum fineredmist_7. I think you may have a typo. you said your going to get 3200 fps from a 200 grain bullet. I'm not sure what cartridge your going to shoot, but keeping any cartridge under 30,000 psi and getting 3200 fps does not compute.

I would never personally use an ancient rolling block loaded to ca. 30,000 psi/cup pressures. The history of the action is unknown, and really, it is a pig in a poke. IMO you'd be far better off with a modern reproduction of any single shot rifle you want. Which cartridge were you interested in?

A head's up - tubular bullets are nothing new, they've been tried for over 100 years and they never catch on. They were even loaded commercially in the 1980/90s, but failed. The entire premise, again IMO, is flawed; this is a way to separate you from your money for a dubious advantage....

3200'/" + 200 gr bullet + Remington No.1 = Pipe Bomb!......The only Remington RB action even near 50,000'/" pressures was the last smokeless action, made up in 7x57, &mm French Lebel(sp), and the likes.......I think it was the No.5?
I hope it was a typo error!
This hollow bullet is another theory that didn't go far. The Germans played with it as I remember......Gerlich?

No typo, 3200 is what the guy is claiming. As far as the tublular bullet idea is concerned, I have tested it somewhat with a marlin lever action 45/70 that i had to sell last year. While I worked at a machine shop I machined some 200 grain .458 bullets out of yellow brass, and was impressed with the velocity/penetration. I have no way of determining the chamber pressure. this is why I asked. as for whether or not they will catch on, is none of my concern. I agree with you 3200 fps is excessive with a straight wall case such as the 45/70. but I would like to determine this for myself. I plan on buying a cronograph, when I buy this next rifle.

I believe I will order the IAR sharps 1874, a box of beartooth's PileDrivers, and stick with my Rl 7. The rolling block will probably go up for sale on e-bay soon, maybe I can get my money back! I already have a mould for 405 casts. that throws 425gr with wheel weights.

Running your data through Suggest-A-Load, an internal ballistics program using the Powley equations, gives 2350 fps at 30,000 psi and 3050 fps at 50,000 psi. While this is only an estimate, it's reliable enough to show that your vendor's data isn't possible in the real world.

Bye
Jack

If you are building a rifle for which you intend to reload, stay away from rolling blocks. While relatively strong they are somewhat springy. When firing the action tends to bend slightly allowing stretching of the case and bending of the case head. In addition, few of them have the block face perfectly perpendicular to the bore to begin with. This results in very short case life, frequently only 2-3 loadings. Even the later smokeless rifles had the same problem in the calibers originally chambered, particularly the 7x57.

If you are building a rifle for which you intend to reload, stay away from rolling blocks. While relatively strong they are somewhat springy. When firing the action tends to bend slightly allowing stretching of the case and bending of the case head. In addition, few of them have the block face perfectly perpendicular to the bore to begin with. This results in very short case life, frequently only 2-3 loadings. Even the later smokeless rifles had the same problem in the calibers originally chambered, particularly the 7x57.

Mark the case to vertical...size just enough to re-ener the chamber and hold a bullet..rechamber with the same mark to vertical. With good measureing gear, can often measuer the off vertical slant from a worn Roller. Good news is that BP pressure is seldom enough for this to be a serious issue (but the big military hammers have to go).

Are right...like Rollers, but don't belive they are the best choices for high pressure rounds. Stick with big low pressure cases.


Not too found of the Sharps in higher presure round either...but did notice that for at least a time, the 30-40 was offered in some repros. While not a high pressure round by today's standards, it is by Sharps action standards...think that's about as far as they should go.

I appreciate all of you guys who maintain this forum, I only discovered it recently and have seen a lot of good advice change hands here.
First off I have always had a special place in my heart for a single shot rifle. I recently purchased a #1 rolling block from a friend. Egyptian issue, no stock, no barrel. Everything seems tight, but I am curious about the accumulative slop that occurs between the block/pin, & hammer/pin.
I intend to shoot mostly bullets from www.jadaenterprise.com . 3200fps with a 200 gr bullet! I have been unable to determine the chamber pressure these rounds will create, so I worry about the chamber slop with the no 1. The gentleman who sells these bullets will wisely not recommend a load, but says that he uses 2400.
I have spoken with a dealer of IAR arms sharps repros, and he claims their action can handle up to 30,000psi. I will have my tax return soon and so will be able to afford their kit model 1874 Quigley rifle. thanks to my son! Any advice you would be willing to share is welcome.


I would shy away from using your rolling block action for anything but BP. the Iar's are made by Pedersoli or Pedretti & Sons. Don't no much about them except I here they do ok with black powder at the BPCR matches.

If you can I would consider a Sharps from C. sharps or Shiloh they are quite strong and will take loads higher than what IAR's handle. C. sharps offers plain actions, barreled actions or complete rifles I'm not sure what shiloh offers beyond complete rifles.


An interesting side note on the Sharps, Frank Sellers book "Sharps Firearms" has a picture of an original model 74 converted into a model 77 style that was presented to President Theodore Roosevelt. The gun was altered by F. W. Freund and came with interchangable barrels. The extra barrel was chambered for 405 Winchester. Current loading data from Hodgdon puts the 405 somewhere between 32,000 and 45,000.

And NO I am not suggesting that high pressure smokless loads be used in original mild steel sharps rifles I mearly pointing out that Fruend felt the design sufficent to handle the 405 winchester.

I have a Rolling block in 7mm mauser and love it , but believe me I don't do anything fancy with the loads. The gentleman who had it before me had it rebarreled with a Douglas barrel and set up for Schuettzen. He told me he never fired a copper cased bullet through it.
I fire low pressure jacketed 7mm Mauser (American) ammo through it. It does OK but what everone here has said is true. Don't try to hot rod a round in this action. Remember the age of the steel, the design, and the metalurgy are not nessecarilly the best, fun guns, but not strong

regards,
Gene