Remington rolling block

[Mike in tx]

V I stopped in a small LGS and they have an 1880's 43 Spanish/Argentine Remington rolling block in military configuration. I looked at the bore and the lands are sharp. There is a slight amount of pitting but very little. He wants $435 cash. The wood is original from what I can see. It has a bayonet lug, cleaning rod and does not appear to be refinished. Any interest or it is worth it? The story is that a fellow bought it years ago from the widow of a friend and he sat it behind the curtain.

[versifier]

I am not personally interested, but if it hasn't been monkeyed with that seems like a good price - at least up in this neck of the woods it would be, they are not often seen here except at the occasional gun show. I would double check on one of the appropriate collectors' forums though for more details on the specific model. Some RB's are a lot more collectable (and valuable) than others and I suspect that might be the case here but I don't know enough about them for a valid opinion. I always thought it might be nice to have one in .25-35, .30-30, or .30-40Krag. The only one I've shot was a .22 rimfire, so that's not a lot of help. The one person I knew that could have answered pertinent questions is no longer alive.

I have never had a .43 to play with, but I almost did once. I had someone many years ago with a .43, not a RB but a levergun, looking for me to load him some ammo but he balked at the prices of dies, brass, & bullets (components could still be found then, but not easily) and ended up selling it to a collector. I bet he wishes he had it today as it must be easily worth ten times what he got for it. As you are not bothered much by recoil it ought to be a fun project. Today it might need a custom mould and sizer as I am unsure where to get bullets for it, I think OWS might have brass.

[Hellrazor]

Only RB I am familiar with is the old Remington Model 22 RB takedown rifle I have.