Jeff_Schultz wrote on May 17
th, 2025 at 7:44pm:
"The other counterproductive thing to do is to thin or lighten the main spring to try to reduce the rubbing friction of the sear surfaces. This can give ignition problems, and most importantly can contribute to the action blowing open when the rifle is fired."
I would like to know how lightening the mainspring would contribute to the action "blowing open" when the rifle is fired?
Inherent in the design of the rolling block is the fact that the hammer rotates under the breechblock, and the wedging action of the hammer under the block keeps the block from rotating open. If the hammer were to rotate back while there is thrust on the breechblock, the block could rotate back, opening the action.
When the rifle is fired, the hammer strikes the firing pin, driving it forward into the primer. As pressure builds in the cartridge, the gas pressure on the primer pushes back on the primer, partially straightening out the dimple in the primer.
If you ever have a dead primer strike, when you take it out, you'll see the firing pin indentation is deeper than on a primer that detonates.
When the rolling block was first produced, there were numerous accounts of the actions blowing open, due to soft primers that pierced and allowed gas to directly blow the firing pin back. There was enough inertia to push the hammer back enough to open the action. That defect was fixed not by a design change in the gun, but by a design change in the primers to be stronger. I suspect, but have no evidence, that Remington also increased the mainspring strength, but it may have already been that way.
Anything that decreases the force on the hammer by the mainspring can increase the likelyhood of the hammer being blown back. Early Pedersoli rolling blocks sold by Navy Arms had this happen fairly frequently, although this was only partly the mainspring, and partly a design change made by Pedersoli from the original Remington geometry of the hammer/block interface. They quickly corrected it.
The rolling block is a decent action. However, it does have some weaknesses, and the hammer blowback giving a potential action opening is one of them. Fortunately, it can be minimized by not oiling the interface between block and hammer, and by not lightening the hammer spring.