Argentino M1879 Rolling Block. Is it worth restoring?

[Patrick Chadwick]

OK Joel, time to clear the bench!

Refurbishing an Argentine RB - Part 13 - Reloading


In Part 12 we worked out a plausible maximum overall cartridge length for the rifle.

As I do not have an Argentine Rolling Block, the pictures that follow are for reloading a Mauser M1871 cartridge. The methodology for the Argentine is identical, but “your mileage may differ”.

Joel, I hope you got the other curious items as well, because you are going to need them right now!

From your last pictures, I see that you got the wad-cutter and have already cut some wads. The other odd items were ...

"... an empty 30M1 Carbine case (357 or 38 special will work, but the carbine case is easier to use)".

".... and a couple of 5cc (5ml) one-way plastic syringes (without the needles of course) from the apothecary or (pack-ratting again) scrounged from your doctor or dentist."

But before making up live ammunition, there is one last check to be made!

You have already observed a slight variation in the depth that various bullets can be seated. This may, of course, just be variation in the bullets themselves. But it may also be inherent in the measurement method. When you push in a "free" bullet, it can wiggle around a bit to fit into the throat, and it is also difficult to be sure that the bullet is just touching, and not being ever-so-slightly engraved.

When, however, a bullet is seated in a case, it no longer has any freedom of movement to fit into the throat, being constrained by the case neck. So it is advisable to make up a dummy round with a bullet seated to the anticipated correct depth in an empty cartridge case.





Paint over the nose with a marker pen, as shown. Load the dummy round into the rifle and close the block. Remove and repeat a couple of times, rotating the case a little each time. If there is no sign of engraving on the marked area of the nose, then all is OK. If there is some engraving, you will probably notice that the case has to be shoved in hard before you can close the block. In which case, you will have to seat the bullet a bit deeper, so that the engraving disappears.

When that is OK, you are ready to load!

First of all, here is a view of the equipment being used for the “desktop” part of this activity (i.e. not including the reloading press and dies). I am using an un-lubricated bullet for this, for illustration purposes.



The powder is Swiss No. 4 (1.5fg). No. 3 (2fg) would also be OK, but No. 2 (3fg) is a bit too fast for the long barrel of a military Rolling Block. It may produce too much pressure too early, thus unnecessarily straining the action.



The grains look remarkably like model coal as used on HO model railroads. This is because they are indeed given a final coat of graphite during manufacture, to prevent electrostatic charge building up on the powder - a precaution that has been taken by powder manufacturers since way back in the 19th century.

How are we going to the get right quantity of powder into the case?

Well, you can buy a commercial powder dispenser, but they perform poorly with such large grains. You can, with a bit of practice, get loads with a spread of 0.4 grains by using the following simple devices from the “pack-rat” school of engineering.

This is a measure for 60.5 grains of Swiss No. 2.



And this is a measure for 67.4 grains of No. 2.



These powder measures are actually made from old cases, with a brass wire soldered on as a handle. The 60.5 measure is a 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser case, and the 67.4 measure is an 8x57IS case. So a few minutes pack-ratting at the range will provide you with a wide spectrum of potential powder measures!

The powder weights were established as averages, after I had had some reloading practice. The weight values for other powders will, of course, be a little different, but that is unimportant. Standard practice for black powder is to load a constant volume of powder, not weight, so that the cases are filled to a constant level. A BPCR case should not have any air space when it is complete. OK, before someone points out that there is air between the grains, I should put that a bit more precisely and say that you should not hear the powder rustling around in the case if you shake the completed cartridge.

Of course, the powder will settle after some time, especially if the cases are vibrated (like in the back of the car when you drive to the range). There are various schools of thought on this matter. Some say use a drop tube. Some say compress the powder 1/8” in the case. Some say 1/16”. But we are at the KISS stage of reloading at the moment - you can try out the other methods later, when you know that the rifle is worth keeping as a shooter - I am pretty confident it will be!

To get a fairly constant weight in the case, the power must be poured in a consistent manner.

The powder shovel [I have no idea where it came from] is loaded as shown in the next picture.



The shovel is placed over the case mouth, the shovel it tilted until the powder start to flow, and the entire shovel-full is poured in, so that the powder overflows.



I had to hold the camera to take these pics - normally the measure is held upright, not free-standing!

The excess powder is stroked off the top of the case.



With practice (always a similar amount in the shovel, always holding the shovel at a similar angle) you will have loads that are quite consistent.

Now to get the powder into the case. This is where “Patrick’s Patent Powder Measures” really score.

Simply invert the case over the powder measure



Reverse the whole assembly, and the powder falls into the case without spilling a single grain. Tap the case on the bench a couple of times to make sure that nothing is left in the measure and that the powder is well-settled in the case. It is a good idea to do this in a tray, to keep every grain off the bench, as a couple of grains may have stuck to the outside of the measure, and these will be shaken off when you tap the case.

But is there enough powder in the case?

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The volume of pictures forces me to make a break here.

Tune in again for Part 14!


Patrick