New York State milita rolling block

[ndnchf]

I just picked up a NY militia rolling block yesterday. This makes 7 rolling blocks in my stable. I'm no stranger to them or to the .50-70. Anybody else shoot one?  It has the slow 1-42 twist barrel, so lighter bullets are in order. Anybody have a pet load for these?

[Dave T]

I had one about 25 years ago and as I remember shot the Lyman cast bullet (around 450g from 1-20 alloy lubed with SPG) over 60g of FFg. I never got good accuracy at 100 yards, but I attributed that to the horrendous trigger pull on the RB. I once described it as being like pushing a cinder block with one finger, across a rough bench until it fell off the edge. I didn't know anyone who was willing to do a trigger job on it so after about 5 years I traded it for something else.

Still, I thought it was a cool gun. I have always been a fan of the RB and I liked the 50-70 cartridge. It always seemed so business like. (smile)

Dave

[ndnchf]

Good description of the trigger pull

Another of my rolling blocks, one chambered in .58 Roberts was like that. I eventually made a new trigger spring from a hacksaw blade. That made a huge difference. This one is heavy, but not quite so bad.

I don't expect tack driver accuracy from this one. But if I can see the sights well enough, I expect 2" at 50 yards to be realistic.

[Pitspitr]

I love my NYS Roller! so far all I've shot it with is 13 gr. Trailboss under a 450 gr bullet.

[Dave T]

ndnchf,

My standard for black powder cartridge rifles was 4", so your 2" group at 50 yards would be right in line with that.

I got that number (4" @ 100 yards) from something written back in the day about what a rifleman should be able to do from a rest. This was with iron sights of course. Been too long ago so I don't remember the source but I found it to be pretty realistic and doable.

Dave

[ndnchf]

I prefer to stay with BP for this one, at least for now. I have the Lyman and Lee 450gr molds and a Rapine 350T to chose from. Lately I've been using the Lee with 66 - 68 gr of Goex or Old E in my 1868 trapdoor. I may try that as a start here.

I enjoy shooting all my rollers. Just for show and tell these are the cartridges my rollers use. Left to right: .58 Roberts, .50-70, .32-20, .32 extra long rimfire, .32 long colt and .22 LR.

[Pitspitr]

I prefer to stay with BP for this one, at least for now. I have the Lyman and Lee 450gr molds and a Rapine 350T to chose from. Lately I've been using the Lee with 66 - 68 gr of Goex or Old E in my 1868 trapdoor. I may try that as a start here.

I don't blame you. I'd start with the trapdoor load, and I'd just about bet that you won't need to change it at all.

[LongWalker]

I periodically pick up an old rolling block, play with it for a while, then swap it off.  I always thought one of those NYS rollers cut down to carbine length would make a great deer rifle for hunting along the river.  'Course, there's the problem of finding one that has already been cut down. 

Trigger pull is fixable, at least to some extent.  As the Wise NDNCHF has pointed out, replace the trigger spring.  I usually use piano wire, takes about five minutes to bend one up (and a good afternoon to tweak it as light as I can go while still having reliability).  Original roller springs work great if you need to replace a leaf spring in a WWII jeep.

[ndnchf]

The New York State model has an unusual safety feature compared to most other RBs. After loading a round in the chamber and closing the breech, the hammer automatically drops to the half cock notch rather than staying on full cock. This requires the shooter to bring it to full cock each time. It's a little slower at rapid fire, but much safer. It's a pretty neat feature, I'm surprised it was not used on later versions. Here's my rifle.

[Pitspitr]

That was a requirement that the US government required when testing before the M-1873 Springfield was accepted. I believe that the US Navy Rollers have the same feature.

[ndnchf]

The "locking action" as they called it first appeared on the US model 1871 Army rifle, which was a further develoment of the previous model 1870 army trials rifles and the earlier navy models. New York was so impressed by the added safety of the locking action that they specified it in their order.

The locking feature actually works in two steps. First, when the breech block is rolled back, the hammer trips, coming to rest on the convex part if the block. Second, when the block is closed, the hammer drops into the half cock notch. The only detriment I see (and it is very minor) is there is more drag on the breech block when closing because the hammer is pressing on the back of the block under pressure from the mainspring. Its not objectionable, and keeping it oiled makes it work smoothly.

Its an ingenious feature, but I'm sure it added to the cost. That may be in part, why it was not used on later models.

[Drydock]

Yep.  According to Layman "Remington Rolling Block Military Rifles of the World" the only RBs to have this feature were the 10001 M1871 army rifles, the 19500 NYS rifles, and 1500 NYS carbines.

US Troops in the field did not really like the Remington though, for the same reason as always: It did not eject.  Both the Sharps Carbines and Trapdoor rifles they were used to by this time, would fully eject a cartridge, and they expected any new design to do the same.

[ndnchf]

I agree with you Drydock. Ejection is a RB shortcoming. I supose it could be even more problematic with the early copper cases.  Trapdoors will snap a case right out, having to pull a case out of a RB each time could become disagreeable while hostiles are trying to part you hair 

[Drydock]

And before the Rolling Block, there was the Split Breech.  (and the coolest arms sale of all time!)

https://www.full30.com/video/5283be74abbbfd4b8f395d4eb93cb960

[Trailrider]

In 1866 (IIRC the date), Nelson Story drove the first herd of Texas cattle up the Bozeman Trail to Montana.  He had a dozen or so drovers with him, and is alleged to have purchased enough Split Breach Remingtons, presumable in .56-50, to arm the cowboys.  They were attacked by Lakota Indians under Red Cloud, with Crazy Horse as a young warrior. The firepower of the carbines allowed the herd to go through.  The trail drive was the basis for the movie, "The Tall Men", starring Clark Gable and Jane Russell. (Can't recall the actor who played "Nathan Stark", the Nelson Story in the movie.  There is also no mention of Gable's character, Ben Allison, in the real drive.  Nor, apparently was there a real life person like Jane Russell played. But who cares?