Let me start by saying this isn't the same one that started a fun post here a month or so ago! So not a Jack Haugh version.

Not long after returning home from the CGCA show in Greeley, Co. I got offered an under lever Rolling Block from a fella, and since I've wanted a Gove style Rolling Block awhile, I grabbed this one! It took a very long time for FedEx to deliver it once it hit my local depot for whatever reason? They got it Monday at 2:49AM, and didn't deliver it until today! No excuses from the driver, and no explanation from FedEx either?
It's built on an original Rolling Block Sporting action, with the long lower tang, and original serial number on the tang. I figured it would be a reworked military, so this was a big surprise. The barrel is a false muzzle .32-40, with no markings anywhere under the forearm to indicate the maker? Unusual 12 lands and groove, with very narrow lands and grooves! Action is a single set trigger that works differently than the typical Rolling Block. It only sets once the hammer is cocked.
Wood and metal work are simply wonderful, and it has an original Rem. hard rubber buttplate. Need to do a chamber casting to see what it looks like and what size bullet I should load it with.

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I've hoped for one of these under levers for awhile, but knew a true Gove would never be in the cards. So this is the closest thing I could find, and happy to get it!

MrTipUp wrote on Jun 8^th, 2023 at 4:25pm:


Yes, Bill. It's either a Remington SST, or a good copy of one. I have two SST Rolling Block rifles, and they have this exact looking trigger too. But they set without the hammer cocked, or with it cocked, unlike this one. This one also has no visible adjusting screw? It may be hidden somehow, so when I get brave I'll disassemble this rifle to figure out how it adjusts.

terry buffum wrote on Jun 8^th, 2023 at 5:12pm:


Thanks Terry! 
I do have a cheap bore scope I got off Ebay that takes videos or still pictures, but not sure how to capture and add a still to my picture hosting site?
The false muzzle is very unusual also as it's the usual section of barrel, but that's left as octagon. The knurled part is added to the barrel stub, and appears to be a different metal. Maybe stainless? I'll pull it off and take another picture. Also see if my camera on Macro setting might get the bore too?

edit-I should have looked first. The knurled collar on the false muzzle is aluminum!

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Sure shot wrote on Jun 8^th, 2023 at 5:48pm:


Thanks! I'm pretty happy with it. Especially breaking my rule about not buying guns that I didn't hold in my hands.

Real slick, Vall!

Thanks! 
It surprises me that someone could do such fine work, and not put some marking on it somewhere to indicate they did it. I need to pull the buttplate, and stock to check there also, just in case there's some marking there.

Neat rifle and I like the caliber.  Economical and easy on the shoulder.

Thanks again guys!

I was searching this morning for some hint of who did the gun, and when I unscrewed the buttplate screws I got a surprise! The buttplate was made from two pieces! The center with Rem. logo, and a separate perimeter that fits so close I couldn't see the parting line!

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I think the outer is an original hard rubber from some gun, then a repro center fitted to make it look proper.

that butt plate is pretty cool. I saw one with an ebony insert, but it was not half so well fitted as that one looks. Really appealing rifle, ain't it?

calledflyer wrote on Jun 9^th, 2023 at 10:16pm:


I've seen some with ebony, horn, or skeletonized too. I have another Roller I built on an original action, and I did a skeletonized buttplate on it. I wont ever do another! It was tedious work to fit all those internal shapes!

Someone knows who built it.

Thought I posted this yesterday, but it went away.  Here is my spin on the 12 groove barrel.
 
The 12 lands and grooves got my attention.  I thought immediately of Farrow.  Many of his barrels had 12 lands and grooves.  Mine does.

Farrow did not just magically appear as a barrel maker.  Someone, maybe more than one person, taught him.  Farrow worked under contract for all of calendar year 1884 for Bullard in Springfield, Mass., but late in 1884, finances & external issues caused Bullard to cease production and lay off their employees.   

Farrow had access to Bullard machinery and knew the key production men, the chief stockmaker, chief barrel maker, chief machinist, etc.  Farrow had ideas about his own action and barrels, but the key production guys knew how to make the components.  I think Farrow employed those guys to teach him to make barrels.

Farrow's prototype rifle was demonstrated in April, 1885, about 6 months after the Bullard layoff. Going from memory, it had a 12 groove barrel. I don't think the barrel on the prototype was the first barrel Farrow (or probably his instructors) made.  The earliest Farrow barrels had "Farrow Arms", etc., hand-engraved.  The "Farrow Arms Co." stamp did not come around until much later.

My guess is that the barrel on Val's rifle came out of the Bullard shop in the winter of 1884-1885.

The Farrow connection, or Bullard is interesting, and I didn't know about the 12 groove barrels by Farrow either.
I had considered the possibility that someone at some time had purchased a 12 groove false muzzle barrel, and it might have been set aside by the owner, and never used. Then later in an estate, or just cleaning out spare parts the barrel got sold, and someone bought it to build this Rolling Block with. 
Of course it's all guessing, and conjecture, and no way to really know when this gun, or it's barrel were made, or when they got together?
I can tell from some fading in the blued octagon barrel near the muzzle end of the barrel that it appears to have been fired a fair amount. The fading is in the last 5"-6" where someone might grasp the barrel when starting a bullet down the bore. So I don't think the build is a fairly new build, but how old is impossible to say.

My source is the 2002 edition of "Bullard Firearms" by Jamison, not the earlier edition.  Bullard did not go out of business in late 1884.  They simply stopped production because they could not meet payroll.  That had to do with financing and other interests of the owner, maybe steam-powered automobiles.   

All the tooling, etc., was left in place.  And Bullard had an inventory of parts on hand, ready to resume production.  That probably included lots of barrels, maybe even unrifled barrels.  Bullard barrels came in several sizes and calibers.

Here is where my ideas jump in.  Farrow had the idea to use 12 groove rifling.  Bullard's key staff were paid by Farrow, used Bullard barrel blanks (paid for by Farrow) that were rifled to Farrow's specs.  More heresy!  Maybe those guys produced all the barrels that Farrow ever used, be they .32s or .38s or .22s.  Maybe Farrow never rifled a single barrel, but simply used up the stock he bought from Bullard and paid Bullard's key guys to rifle, or came back and ordered more.

Farrow's deal with Bullard management was beneficial to both.  Farrow paid for materials used and probably for machine maintenance.  By employing Bullard's key staff, he made it possible for Bullard to resume production in an efficient manner once financial problems were solved.

Farrow's was not the only use being made of the Bullard shops in 1885.  In August, 1885, the Bullard single shot was announced to the public, as a target, sporting, and gallery rifle, available in .38, .32 and .22 caliber.  It used many Bullard repeating rifle parts.  The gallery rifle was available in .22 rimfire.

Back to Vall's barrel:  My guess is that it could have been made at the Bullard plant during the winter of 1884-85 and was rifled to Farrow's specs.  It was apparently long enough to end up with a false muzzle.  We don't know if it was chambered then or later.  Nor, if it came from Bullard, do we know who sold it or who bought it.

They opened again in late 1885 and began producing the single shot.  They quit producing anything in mid-to late 1888.   

They were competing with the Winchester Single Shot and with the Winchester 1886 repeater.  Their economic goose was cooked.   

The founder, James Bullard, left the firm in July or August 1885, and took his money with him, never came back.  After that, he worked on developing a steam-powered car and invented an early speedometer.  He was a modernist and saw more opportunity in transportation, etc.

Bullard Firearms never had more than 15 men working in production.  Even in 1883-1884, when things were going well, Bullard pulled men off of gun manufacturing to work on his prototype steam car.

He left his brother holding the bag.

At our shoot a couple weeks ago the set trigger failed on this rifle. It wouldn't set, and when I attempted to back the adjusting screw off it broke, leaving the pin that works as a stop stuck in the trigger, and the threaded base in my hand.
I ordered a leftover Remington set screw from their late 90's run that Numrich has, and it came in this morning. I had to grind the end of the pin flush and drill a hole in it in order to relieve the pin, and then punch it out. It was rusted into the trigger from decades of not being moved.
So I learned how a Gove underlever works, and how it's all held together today. And believe me, it's a nice design, but a PITA to disassemble and even worse to reassemble! There are several pins that have to be tapped out, but the action has to be partially disassembled and pins removed to allow further disassembly of the trigger plate, and the block. A 2nd person or third hand would have helped, as it's tough to fight spring tension on the block as it's a whole different spring setup than the standard #1 Roller has! 
And didn't help that once I got it all back together it wouldn't stay cocked, and I spotted the sear laying at my feet, and had to go through the whole process again after reinstalling the sear!
The adjusting screw has a longer pin, so once installed I backed it out until it set. At that point it had maybe one thread in the trigger, so I began shortening it on my 1" belt sander with a 900 grit belt. Took about 10 tried to finally have maybe 5 turns on the screw when it was perfectly adjusted. I then removed the screw and readjusted it with some blue Loctite on the threads so it wont be moving while shooting, but should move if I need to adjust it.
I sure don't want to ever take this action apart again! Even the hammer and breech block pins were individually fitted, and wouldn't interchange! I accidentally swapped them thinking no big deal. One fell in place, and the other wouldn't even start into the receiver! Switched them and they went together with a firm push of my thumb.
5 hrs. to disassemble and reassemble, not counting the time to remove the stuck trigger adjusting pin!

jhm wrote on Oct 17^th, 2023 at 7:25am:


I don't see a lot of work to change a Rolling Block to a Gove style underlever. After milling out the rectangle hole in the trigger plate, and the cuts to the breech block to accept the link, the rest is just the holes in the trigger plate for the pins to accept the lever pin, etc.
Does Rodney's kit come with any instructions and dimensional drawings to locate the pins, and cuts in the breech block?

Marlinguy,


No it didn't come with any. I am sure I could do it as I have seen pictures somewhere of one. Maybe in one of DeHass books? If I remember correctly I bought a Hepburn side lever and it got included in the deal somehow. I have done a couple side lever conversions cause that is probably as close to owning a Hepburn as I will get...


JMH

jhm wrote on Oct 17^th, 2023 at 8:44pm:


If you decide to do it I'll take mine apart to take measurements for you, so you have an idea where to drill holes, and link lengths.