Looking at a Swede Roller in 16 Gauge. It has a munged barrel.

Wondering two things.

Were they made on the same actions as the centerfire rifles? 

Is there a serial number list that could establish the date of manufacture?

I am having thoughts to rebarreling this to a BP cartridge, probably 45/70, as brass is dead easy to get, though I am not tied to that particular caliber, either.

Under Canadian gun laws, centerfire single shot rifles, with bore sizes larger than 8.3 mm, and made prior to 1898, are not required to be registered. This unit, as a shotgun, is, as there are a specific list of shotshells that are exemted from being deemed antiques, no matter their age. 16 G, is one of those.

A bit convoluted.

Anyway, if I can determine that this one is earlier than the 1898 date, and I can safely rebarrel it to a rifle cartridge, then I can do away with one more annoying piece of recordkeeping in my life.

Interested in anything that can be added here.

Thanks

Trev

Thanks Paul,

I am about to plunge in.I think.

  The seller describes the barrel as "has a chunk of weld in the bore" and "can be rebarreled"

To the plus side of the equation, it's just over a C-note, including shipping. I figure that were I to barrel it to a "pistol" type cartridge, it would still be fun. If it can be safely barreled to a bigger one, so much the better.

Cheers
  Trev

Not as cheap as that.

Sorry.

  The same seller has a few others, and I have been drooling over them for a while, but have not been able to justify dropping the coins. I just saw this one and asked for some more info and a couple closer pictures.

Got too many things that I gotta get clear of, projects-wise, to spend a bunch of money, but this seems like a reasonable limb to go out on.

Cheers
  Trev

Sorry Paul, 

Was busy thinking of other things and never did answer you. 

Yup a bit over $100.

(-edit- "The not as cheap as that" was that they did not have two at that price. I went back and read through the thread, and it became clearer.....DoH! Sorry fer the confusin'! )

An outfit in Montreal, Quecec, in Canada, called Trade Ex. They deal in a lot of surplus and other gathered together lots of good stuff (if you are into M96 Mausers or Swede Rollers). 

tredexcanada.com

I'll take a boo at the Salter site, though.

Been drooling on the antique gunporn on the Rock Island Auction site. Man does their photo staff ever do a nice job!

Cheers
  Trev

"But I'm gonna have FUN doing it!"

AMEN!


I fired an email off saying that I would take the RB off their hands. 

Once I get it home, the real plotting begins, eh!


Cheers
  Trev

I bought a rifle from Simpson about a year ago.  It was a roller in 8x56 with a bad barrel.  The pictures appeared to show the action was in good shape.  When I got it it was exactly as advertised and pictured.  A truly excellent action with a very bad bore.  It's off being turned into a mid range target rifle as we speak.  The action was well worth the price and is going to make a fine rifle.

Jerry Liles

Try this site for info about Swede Rollers

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

As you will see the military 8x68 conversions were all done before the turn of the 20th century and well before 1898.  All the Swede and Husqvarna and Danish military rollers are bonafide antiques.

Jerry LIles

So! It's here!

This is the action. The wood is dirty, the forend, dog chewed, and the 20Gauge barrel welded solid at the breech end, which is why it was so cheap.

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

No beauty queen, but a pretty complete and, for the most part, functional receiver. The action pins are pretty ragged, and there is a jeebering large groove artfully filed into the top of the receiver. (Yeesh!) The barrel unscrewed with no drama, with the application of a pipe wrench and a leather pad for same.

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

The real question is, what's it going to be good for? With the cut out sides of the action, to clear the cheeks of the breech block, will this action be suitable for a rebarrel to something like a 38-55 or 45-70? 

From looking at the pictures I can find, this action looks like it may have been made on the same tooling as the No1 or No2 actions, with the difference  being those cut out sides.

The barrel shank is a .975" 12tpi square thread.

All the springs are present and accounted for.

The extractor is not present. That seems to be the only missing part.

The serial number is 334XX. 

Anyone aware of a resource that can ID the model, and date this action. Unlike the military actions, they were not as keen to plant the date on the side of it. Makes it a bit tougher.

Pondering a bead with the TIG welder to fill the groove on the top of the receiver (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

as well as some work to fill in the major pits and dings. I figure a Rockwell test will show if there is anything done to the steel other than a normalising, and would like some opinions on that line of pursuit as well.

I expect to have to make new pins, as well as open up the holes in the frame, just a tiny bit to clean them up, maybe a couple or three thou. New pins at the minimum, though.

Anyways. New toy. kinda sets the head to thinkin'!

Cheers
  Trev