I have a nice old roller I would like to convert to 40-65. I called Curt Hardcastle and he said it could be sleeved to that caliber and converted to cf. I like this rifle because of the features and it's handy 30" barrel. I just want some opinions that I'm not  committing some sacrilege by doing so. Nice to be a member of this forum, I enjoy the knowledgeable posts, thanks.
Doug

rebarrel it and save the old barrel to preserve the rifle.   don't fix it up just oil it and keep it looking original.  art

Bill Lawrence wrote on Jul 12^th, 2018 at 7:42pm:


Bill, a #1 1/2 doesn't have the rebated side on the receiver. They are smooth sided receivers. That's a #1 he's got.

A RF Rolling Block in anything but .22RF has very little value, compared to a CF Rolling Block in ANY caliber. Best to simply convert it and make it what you want with rebore or reline, or whatever. The RF barrel might have value if rebored to a better caliber.
But it is a nice gun, so I agree with Art's suggestion of not changing the exterior finish.

I appreciate originality and provenance too. But I can speak from only my own experience as it pertains to worthless calibers. I have a gorgeous Ballard #3 that sometime early on in it's life was sent to Stevens and rebored/rifled to .25 Stevens RF. It's marked under the forearm with Stevens typical markings.
I purchased the #3 because it was such a fine specimen, and the price was very cheap for a #3 this nice. But my thoughts when I bought it were, "Too bad it's a .25RF".
Now I wont ever alter it, even though it started life as a .22RF, because the Stevens rebore is also part of it's history now. But every person who looks at that gun says the same thing...."Gorgeous #3, too bad it's a .25RF!"
I'm not sure it will ever be worth anymore than the very reasonable price I paid for it, unless somebody returns it to .22RF in the future. That would be a shame, because the bore is like new also. I have 7 boxes of .25RF Stevens ammo and I shoot it on rare occasions.

But every person who looks at that gun says the same thing...."Gorgeous #3, too bad it's a .25RF!"

Not every person, marlinguy, at least not me.  Indeed, could I afford it, I'd happily take that Ballard off your hands; I'd take the ammo, too, and add it to my stash, so that the Ballard and I could occasionally have happy target times.

Mama always said I was weird.

Bill Lawrence

You can tell by my screen name I like rolling blocks. Curt Hardcastle has worked on several of my rifles. He is top notch and so is his work. In fact, all of my future work will go his way without reservations. You have a very nice sporting rifle, which either way you choose going with it, you will be extremely happy with it and Mr. Hardcastle's work.

Gunfunpow wrote on Jul 12^th, 2018 at 12:57pm:



IMO, this thread would be better located in our gunsmithing section.


I've converted a few RF rolling blocks to CF, and found it to be a fairly simple 30min job.


First, the breechface must be marked at the bore C/L, which I do via dropping a black Sharpie downbore against the closed breechblock.

Once that's established, remove the breechblock from the action and the firing pin from the breechblock.

Using a 1/16" sacrificial drillbit, drill through the face of the breechblock at the marked spot from the front, ensuring the resulting hole will be perpendicular to the breechface in all directions.

Grind/file off/away the old RF firing pin tip from the face of the firing pin body, taking care to not cut/grind into the face of the old FP.

Reinstall the altered firing pin back into it's breechblock recess & clamp it from moving rearward in the recess.

Using the same sacrificial 1/16" drillbit used to drill the CF firing pin hole in the breechface, drill through the new FP hole, into the now flat face of the firing pin just enough to mark it.

Remove the altered RF firing pin from the breechblock and use that same 1/16" drillbit to deepen the hole in the now flat face of the FP to about 1/8" or so.

Make the new CF firing pin from the shank of that same sacrificial drillbit, grinding it to a length of about 1".

Try-fit the new FP tip into the body of the FP, then install the FP to check the protrusion of the new FP tip when it's held in the forward/fired position.

Mark the body of the new FP tip at about 1/16" from where it protrudes from the breechface, remove the new FP & grind it from the forward tip, back to the mark. 

(If the shank is too short to protrude, use a 2nd 1/16" drillbit shank to make a 2nd/longer FP tip)

Once the rough length is determined, the new FP tip can be either soldered or epoxied into the face of the breechblock.

The tip of the new FP can be shortened to the proper protrusion, then the roughness polished off the new FP tip.


I epoxy the new FP tip into the body of the FP, so I can easily heat the FP to melt the epoxy & redux the FP tip as req'd.



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