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

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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.

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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.

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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

I ordered my swede roller block in the 8mm caliber last week. Came home today and there it was in the carport. Felt like a kid at Christmas tearing open the box. Rifle was advertised as having an eexcellent bore (it did) and a very good stock. This one did also. What I origionally thought was rust on the action sides was actually dried up grease. The action is nice and tight, trigger pull was really nice and its origional date of burth was 1875. It had undergone conversion in 1892 as the stocks had the 1892 on them plus the serial number. All serial numbers match receiver, hammer, breechblock, and stock. Some of the origional case hardening is clearly visible. Was it worth the $450 I paid for it. Yes. Been giving some rather serious thought as to just what caliber I could convert it to. I recently lucked into a good deal on once fired winchester 30-30 brass. So maybe a rolling block with a green mountain octagon winchester style bbl chambered for the 30wcf.
Right now the bbl's bore is soaking with hoppe's and then the brushing begins. Si if anyone has some suggestions I'd be very much welcome.
Everything they said (simpson's) about condition was truthful and accurate. Regards, Frank

Trev, the ones that simpson's are selline are either Carl Gustav or Husquvarna manufacture. Since Carl Gustav is the state run armory it will have a Capital "C" with the swedish crown above it. The huski's are not run by the state so you may or may not find any indication as to who or when your rolling block was made. The carl gustavs will have the date along with the swedish crown. Earlier this evening had the buttstock off so as to be able to manuver the barrelled action for cleaning. Case colors were visible on the interior. The colors on the sides of the action were visible but not as much on the interior.
Frank

Trev, just another thought. The earlier actions were made with the sliding extractor like on your shotgun. When the conversions were done that screw hole was plugged and a different extractor which I believe (haven't had the action apart yet) rides on the same axel pin that the breechblock does. Maybe that could somehow help to date your action. Sure love the design of the buttstock on your shotgun though. Frank

Have been in contact with a couple different guys.

The general consensus is that the Shotgun started out as a Civvie  Husqvarna Model 12, and was likely restocked at some point. There is evidence of a couple spots being filled in, on the underside of the barrel, that would make me think it may have been a full-stocked gun at some point. As far as I understand things, the bayone lug would be on the side of the barrel, rather than underneath, so the small square with traces of brazing around it, could have been the remains of the forward lug for pinning the full stock in place,or... ?

Apparently the "N" marked breech blocks came on the scene about 1932. 
The overall condition of the metalwork makes me think that the breech block may be newer than the rest of it, but the makers were not as keen to mark the birthdate on the receivers, as were the military contract guns marked. I have been over the barrel carefully, and cannot find any markings other than the alignment notch in the center of the bottom flat, matching the one below the receiver ring on the front face of the action.

The inside of the barrel is in far better shape than I would have expected to find, given the state of decay on the outside. I have my suspicions that the barrel may have started life as a military rifle barrel that was bored out to shotgun size. The bore is considerably off center at the muzzle end.

There also seems to be a crack in the barrel at the breech end. I think this was the reason it was welded shut, as it would definately have been unsafe to continue shooting it.

The safety hammer was introduced in 1902, but there is no telling whether it was used on all the models produced from that point onwards, or if it was an optional extra.

From what I can gather, the Model 12 was in production until the late 1940's. I suppose the makers were on to a good thing, and there are few parts to go wrong, so it would have made sense to make them as long as they would sell.

I too am interested in seeing what there is to say about the pitfalls of the 8mm actions, as I was looking at a couple of them as possibles.

Gonna have to get my head around the fillers to use, as well as the appropriate prep to weld the groove full, that was filed into the top of the receiver, to be used, I suspect, as a rear sight for the shotgun. Too bad the breech block prevents it being seen when closed.

Cheers
  Trev

Put it in a can filled with kerosene, forget it's there for a month or two.

Use and old tooth brush while wet and have at it.

I like this for dirt and old grease and oil removal better than anything else I've ever tried. It just takes time to work.

Gentlemen, the Dutchman who has the web site full of info on swedish rolling blocks has posted a bit of good information on the castbullets@gunlods site. Just scroll down to the military rifles forum and you see his header. Good info. Hope this provide you with some info you may be looking for. Frank

Gents, I don't read swedish but the jist of the article was that the shooter had been using a 500 express cartridge. FRom the photos you could see that the right side of the receiver ring had parted company with the sidewall, left side showed cracks down to the breechblock pin.
Breechblock appears to have parted company from the rifle. and broken where the hole is for its retaining pin. The rifle in question was a husquvarna reworked rifle in the 12.7 x whatever the metric designation for case length. At least that's what I got from the article. Regards, Frank

Here  is another sight that might be able to help you with Swede Rollers.

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