Hey gang-
I posted this on the gunsmith forum but I think I may have better luck here. I'm hoping some of you may be able to help me out. I've got a roller that I'm planning to do a complete re-build on; I'll paste the description I posted on Remington Society of America's forum below to save me some typing:
The tang reads, "REMINGTON ARMS CO. // ILION, N.Y. U.S.A. // PATENTED OCTR 22nd 1901, (slashes indicate seperate lines). On top of the reciever is a serial # (?) of 22208, stamped. Approximately 8" back from the muzzle it is stamped "CAL 7MM". The only other markings I can find are on the under side of the barrel at the reciever. There is a long horizontal dash that almost connects to a stylized 'P' (possibly a 'D') the 'P' has a 'tail' on it that continues down and loops back to the left ending with what looks like a fish hook barb. There is an approx 3/16" hole bored approx 1/16" deep at this point. There is the remnant of another dash intersecting this hole, followed by a 'Y', (maybe a'V'), and finally a 2. The buttstock has the number '710', appears to have been put in with a nail, (the 7 is European style with a dash). above that is a '2d' that was done a little better. There are also a set of initials 'GC' carved, (not very well), into the buttstock. It is a carbine, barrel length is approx 20.5" and there is a saddle ring. Any help I could get with the identification and or dating would be greatly appreciated; thanks much.
So far no one on that board has given me any info as to what model roller I have; I have gotten information from other forums and some research which lead me to believe that it is a Model 1, or at least those are the parts that will fit, (it's also referred to as a Model 5 or 1902). My dilemma is this, I need to replace all of the exterior screws and both the hammer & block pins. I plan on having the receiver engraved and then satin nickeled to a 'French grey' and my fear is that by the time I polish the pins/screws I won't have enough metal left to work. The screws were fairly buggered before I started on them, (I still have one more to go, & that one may need an easy-out).
Does anyone out there know of some place I can get the screws? Numrich has some, but not all; Wisners has no screws. Also, I am planning on re-barreling, any suggestions as to caliber? .45-70 isn't quite nifty enough; I'd like to be able to load smokeless as dealing with BP fouling is a pain, especially in the winter up here, (Alaska). My main use for this weapon, (other than putting holes in paper) would be black bear over bait and possibly moose, (I'll leave the brown bears to my .375 H&H). I would like to keep the saddle ring, so I think a long tube would look a little silly; though I do want a longer barrell than the current one. I'm thinking 24-26" would be about right. Can anyone suggest a cartridge that won't suffer too greatly from the shorter barrel? I'd like to be shooting a 350-450gr cast bullet, I think a 400gr cast with around 50gr or so of 3031 behind it will put the lights out on most everything up here. I like the idea of a .40 caliber, mainly because I don't have one; would a .405 Win be out of the question? I'd also like some input as to sights; in keeping the SRC concept, albeit a slightly long barrel, I think that tang sights may look nearly as silly on a short barrel as a saddle ring would on a 32" tube. I like the idea of a 2-3 leaf express sight, but I think that may be too British. Anyway, thanks in advance for any help/advice/input you can give me. Take care & God Bless
-SSG Klaus