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Musketfire

Musketfire

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Ima has a limited amount of late 1860's dated remington rolling block carbines going fo 350$$....

The have new wood and are missing their firing pins ...but they look like a good foundation to build up a nice little banger!!

Cheers
 
The picture of the Rolling Block that is shown, does not look like a promising start to much other than a great deal more work and money than if one started with a better action.

It appears to my eye, that they were 'polished' up with a heavy duty wire wheel to clean off the rust, and the breech face on the picture of the open breech, looks like it has been molested with a angle grinder. If that is typical, or if they all goth that treatment, then they may not be such a deal.

Overall, I think they may be best for what they are being sold as. Non shooting, strictly ornamental, decorator pieces.

The Martini's and Gahendra's look a fair bit more interesting....

Cheers
Trev
 
I myself have no Idea as to their condition beyond what they describe...

certainly as they are sold all polished up with no firing pin they are wall hangars...

But if you get one that's merely rough, with poorly fitted wood missing a firing pin...
its going to be better quality then those gehendra tent made pseudo martinis

At least as far as the metallurgy goes.


So someone with alot of disposable income has to buy one and do a inspection of the piece on gunnutz for the greater good of us all:D
 
trevj said:
The picture of the Rolling Block that is shown, does not look like a promising start to much other than a great deal more work and money than if one started with a better action.

It appears to my eye, that they were 'polished' up with a heavy duty wire wheel to clean off the rust, and the breech face on the picture of the open breech, looks like it has been molested with a angle grinder. If that is typical, or if they all goth that treatment, then they may not be such a deal.

Overall, I think they may be best for what they are being sold as. Non shooting, strictly ornamental, decorator pieces.

The Martini's and Gahendra's look a fair bit more interesting....

Cheers
Trev
Click to expand...

Yikes Ya i agree Tradex is in Canada and foir $100 more you can get a non angle grinded rolling block ;)
The one i looked at ima looked worst than any RB i ever seen.
Might be some good parts tho but id buy one from Tradex i bet a $450 one from them would still end up cheeper.

Good to point out intresting new deals on the Net tho by the Musketfire :)
 
You have to be careful buying from IMA. They tend to be rather.....whimsical with their descriptions. The Gahendra for example is touted as an "improved Martini". RIGHT! Many of the Nepalese Martinis blew up when British ammo was fired in them, this is documented in correspondence from the 1800's. Anyway, where did the RB carbines come from? Spain? Possibly Mexico? What calibre are they?
 
They might as well be considered DEWATs.

Did anybody see the Bira guns they had for sale? Oh yeah :D $27K of hand cranked machine gun madness. The only drawback is the cost of the .450/577 required.

I bought a Guns & Ammo for the first time in a very long time last summer because I saw Gary James did an article on one. Damn interesting gun, but it was totally obsolete even before it was finished.
 
The pictures don't make them look as promising as I would hope for myself.

About a year ago I bought 2 rolling blocks from Tradeex with welded chambers and I could not be happier with what I got. Near perfect condition and they weren't much more than $350 either.
 
I got a TradEx RB a couple years back with a welded chamber. It needed to be welded! It was cheap though!:D But the welder did not mangle anything but the barrel (split at the chamber) with the weld that was put into it.

I'd like to know what the criteria were for the ones that were welded up. A bud got a 6.5 action with the barrel welded, and it looked pretty good, other than the burn marks, after the weld was cleaned out. If it was headspace issues, the barrel could have been set back, but now is not salvageable. Saw some of the TradEx RB's that the tubes were welded to the actions. Some nasty work with a Dremel tool, to cut the barrel free to remove it for a rebarrel job!

Them Gahendra's are a funky bit of design work. Didn't think you could design a action as homely as that and still have it work. Seen some write-ups on the Gunboards forums about the as-found Martinis and the Gahendra's.

If you could see the individual rifles before buying, I'd feel better about the crapshoot, but it's more of a crapshoot than I will take for such a potential for total loss.

Cheers
Trev
 
I don't think these would be worthwhile to get to build up into a shooter. Alan Lever brought the 1869 Egyptian contract Rolling blocks into Canada in 1981 or so. Those were in much better shape than the examples pictured in I.M.I.s website. I have also purchased firearms from I.M.I. You sometimes do not get guns as pristine as the guns shown in the photos. Once in a while you get one that is equal - but that is seldom the case. I am really careful of what I purchase there.

If I did get one of these guns to build up I would replace the pins the blocks roll on with modern steel and I would also replace the rolling breech block with a modern one. If you want a roller to build a rifle - go to Tradex, it will be less hassle and expense in the long run.

Be very cautious of buying the I.M.I. "sale" "untouched" guns. THey are untouched because I.M.I. does not feel that they will command very much if cleaned up.
I have several of those as well. To call them rough is an understatement. I don't buy from these guys any more as I prefer to see what I'm buying for the prices they charge.
 
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