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It's arrived. And yes, it does indeed seem to be a Whitney-Laidley a.k.a. split-breech.
As for the rifling - "visible rifling" !! - make that "vestigial rifling" - it's there, intact, no gouges, but...

"So I am back to the 50/70 case cutdown to suit the bullet seated further back and I have managed to get a cut down case to chamber. Next step is to ream/expand it to 0.534 so I am in proces of...

If you can't find .54 minies, look for .54 bullets for the percussion Sharps rifle.


In both case, you might have to fettle up a simple sizing die to squeeze the bullets down to the optimum size...

"And until I have a working CF block - no investment in a mould."


Understandable. But you could at lest get the 54 minie bullets
...

Seems to be a Style I (Layman's usage) Whitney** RB rifle in .43 (stamp on barrel), presumably .43 Spanish, similar to the Mexican RB shown on P.190 of the Layman book. Wood has been replaced by...

Just to show how intriguing the field of RBs is:

A few days ago I purchased a slightly odd-looking RB online. The seller knew next to nothing about it, and there were only fuzzy pics to go by. I...

Sorry to be so slow on the uptake! Got it now.

As to the interpretation of your chamber cast: I do not think that a cartridge with a case anything like 1.480" long will fit, because this would...

I do hope you are sitting very firmly on your chair. 2-band saddle-ring carbines were equipped with a cleaning rod. The only example of a single-band carbine with cleaning rod stop in Layman's book...

The 2-line Remington address dates the carbine to pre-1872 (date of receiver manufacture, not sale).


The existence of a threaded plate to take the end of a cleaning rod is a very unusual feature...

Not .32" but what we Brits used to call 32-gauge or 32-bore. The modern use of calibre-12 etc can lead to confusion. Nobody imagines (I hope) that a 12-bore shotgun has a bore diameter of 0.12".
...

"...while this gun has I think, lost its historical/collector value, it does have potential as a shooter..."

Hey! I disagree! That ain't no Bubba job, that looks like an original military RB...

The U on the barrel band strongly suggests a one-time military gun. The U was to be readable when the rifle was racked, i.e. it shows that the barrel band is the correct way round.

Don't go to...

A 32 cal brass shotgun case is probably going to be your best bet for a donor case for any of the above possibilities. Get one and see how it fits!

- or, just possibly, a 54 Ballard (Old Rifle or Carbine) !!! (see P.138 of the book)
- or, just possibly, a 56-52 Spencer!!!
- or even a 56-56 Spencer!!!


All these are so close together, and...

Are you sitting tight? I don't want you to fall off your chair laughing!

It seems to be a Caliber .52 chambering, not a Caliber .50!

The ONLY candidates I can find are on P136-7 of "The...