Argentino M1879 Rolling Block. Is it worth restoring?

[killforfood]

A friend at work has offered me this rifle for “cheap”.
He helped somebody clean out a wet moldy basement and salvaged it from the trash.
I’m thinking maybe offering him $50 but I’m not sure if it’s even worth that.

It took some work to open the action and the hammer will not fall hard enough to detonate a primer.








The buttstock is not badly dented and would probably clean up nice.





The is rust is pretty bad, especially on the end of the Barrel.




Also the cleaning rod and sling are missing.


The stock has a crack that could probably be repaired but would require some filler where wood is missing



The sight is rusted in place and cannot be adjusted. A good soaking in WD might work it loose?



The finely detailed manufacturer patent marks would probably be lost.




What do you guys think?
Give it a try or run for my life?

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[RCS]

Attachment 16962Attachment 16963I found a Remington rolling block that was also in a basement, been there for years, was in NRA "poor" condition at best! There was very little that you could salvage besides the action.

I cut the original barrel off at ten inches, than bored it out to 1/2 inch, than used a 22 rim rife barrel blank and turned down the last 10 inches to 1/2 in o.d. to make a sleeve plus a hardened bushing at the rear. I bent the lower tang and made a new trigger with a sear to provide a very nice trigger pull. I also installed a rim fire bushing in the breech (could be removed) and an extractor was made from round stock for the rim fire cartridge. I cut down the hammer and made the scope blocks for a Lyman 438 scope. I made the stock and fore-end from a Calif walnut blank and sent the action out for case colors.

[Patrick Chadwick]

Is it worth restoring?

No! Don't touch it! Give it to me!

Seriously, any untouched BPCR is worth 50 dollars/pounds/euros. Even if you can only clean it up to make a good-looking wallhanger. And that rifle is obviously untouched. The lettering is clear under the grime. Surface rust is annoying for a collector, but purely cosmetic if you are looking for a shooter. No woodworm or rot visible. What really matters is how it looks INSIDE the barrel. That is the make or break criterion.

For heavens sakes, give the guy the 50 and I'll talk you through the basics. But PLEASE don't start Bubbaring unless the barrel is really kaputt. And that is a bit more subtle than just looking down it to see that it is black (it will be).

Is it worth restoring?

Yes, it certainly is, but only if you make a proper shooter out of it. Let me have that thing in my workshop for a long weekend, and I'll turn it into something that would make you regret not having kept it.

OK, that doesn't work, because of geography. So get it and start learning what you can do with apparently hopeless cases. The learning effect will be worth the 50 and a few hours of your time. Get it and let's have some more pics, starting with an overall view.

Patrick

[killforfood]

RCS,
Very nice work!

That’s some impressive gunsmithing.
Your skills and imagination are far beyond mine.

My goal, if I obtain this rifle would be to restore the wood and metal back to original or at least as close as possible. Mechanically it has issues and will never be a shooter unless a new (or newer barrel) is installed.
I have very little restoration experience so this could be a good second project.
My first milsurp project was a Swedish Mauser that Bubba chain sawed off the forearm.
I figured the wood was already ruined, so I could do no harm.
Here’s a before photo. All I did was to carefully clean up the action and refinish the stock with Tung Oil.
I actually miss that old beat up deep dark patina. Sorry no after pictures.






Patrick,
I’m a “Hippocratic Oath” kind of guy when it comes to old rifles.
I would only proceed with what you guys suggest as acceptable restoration techniques.
I look forward to learning the best procedures for restoring the metal finishes.
Pay Day is Monday so we’ll see then??? If the guy will take $50 for it I’ll get it.

Hopefully more pictures then.

[Patrick Chadwick]

Good luck!
If you get it, we'll start with checking out how bad the barrel really is - I have had black and pitted barrels that turned out well, and shiny barrels that were useless. So don't assume it's junk too soon.

Patrick

[RCS]

Like Patrick Chadwick said, check out the bore, than find out which 11mm cartridge it is chambered for - lot of people reload these cartridges and there are nice bullet moulds or you can buy bullets. I once made a cylindrical bullet mould for paper patch bullets. You could always have a barrel liner installed to a smaller calibre such as 32-40 or 38-55 too and keep the rifles profile - but you might need to have a bushing for a smaller firing pin.

The rolling blocks have really bad trigger pulls and making the mainspring lighter is not a
good correction, there was a company in Texas that made Rem rolling block rifles for target shooting and these had double set triggers, Remington also made a single set trigger back in the 1870's too

[Patrick Chadwick]

The Model 1879 Argentine Rolling Block was chambered for the .43 Spanish cartridge.
Components should be readily available from reloading suppliers. Lee even offers a Pacesetter die set. Easier and cheaper to feed than my Egyptian!
And the frozen backsight can be unfrozen without brute force. The V on the sight leaf looks very crisp, so I think the sight will turn out well.
The wood can be freshened without being chemically hammered into submission.
The weak hammer action is probably simply the result of the action being full of fossilized muck. Could be a weak spring, but plain muck is more likely.
When I got my Martini Henry the firing pin would not have squashed a paper bag - it just crept up to the block. After cleaning out the "yakolene" it now works perfectly. So you may be lucky too.

It's the bore condition that is the real question. Contrary to received wisdom, just looking down the bore will often not be enough to make a judgement. I have learnt not to trust my eyes alone.

Go and get it, and report back!

Patrick

[gew8805]

I agree with Patrick. While rough, the rifle is certainly in a condition that will allow restoration to acceptable condition, especially if the bore is shootable. Why trash it by re-barreling or a total polish and refinish? The Argentine rifles are no longer in the "cheap" or "junk" category like they were 30 or 40 years ago.

[Patrick Chadwick]

While rough, the rifle...

If that is rough, what would you call this?



Now appreciate the woodwork




And the backsight



OK, maybe it looks better from a distance



That is my secret weapon - the Mauser 1871 - feared by all nitro-shooters downwind of the smoke cloud.

I took it to the annual national meeting of the Arquebusiers de France this year. To adapt an old quip: "I took my gun to the party, but they laughed when I lay down to shoot."
39 of 40 Frenchmen with exquisite 4-figure showpieces got beaten. One got an extra 9 where I had an 8. Oh well, better luck next time??

So that was enough discussion about condition and feasibility. Killforfood, go and get it. That Roller is an excellent prospect for refurbishment, with the proviso that we haven't see the bore yet.

Patrick

P.S: Why "secret"?

This is the secret

[killforfood]

WOW! Patrick,

Where do you keep that thing, your bathtub?
We used to joke that the real name of Sarco was “Shallow Water Storage” but I think you’ve got them beat by a mile.

The owner of the rifle accepted my offer and I’ll pick it up Monday.

I would like to get the stains out of the stock and put some oil on it. What would get them out and what oil would approximate the original that Remington would have used?

The action will probably need to be completely taken apart and all of the rust killed. I was thinking of using Evapo-rust or making my own electrolytic rust killer with a DC power supply and baking soda. Any body used either of these? Either way the metal will end up in the white and very prone to rust. I’ll need something that works good to stop any additional rust.

Would it be ok to refinish as long as I stayed true to Remington’s original finishing methods?