Help Identifying My Great Grandpas Rifle

S

syvmn

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Hi everyone! I have recently inherited my great grandfathers gun he used in the Norwegian Army. I would love to get as much information as I possibly can about it. My plan is to mount it on my wall somewhere with a brass plaque with all the information I can find.

From what I've gathered so far it seems to be a Remington M1867. Any other information you might know about this gun would be hugely beneficial.

I know the gun is in rough shape. I am thinking about having it cleaned up. Any advice on this would also be great. I don't want to replace ANYTHING on the gun, just touched up.

Thanks!

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This is the only thing I found written on the gun. Second word is maybe "Ilion"?
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Nice .
I refinished one of thoes years ago but it did'nt have checkering .
Yours looks like it just needs a good cleaning and coat of oil .
 
You might want to try rubbing white chalk on the barrel where the
lettering is, then wipe it off gently leaving the chalk down in the
lettering. This will help the words to stand out.
 
Grandpas rifle

What a nice inheritance. You are lucky. I have had some thoughts after reading the post and seeing the photos. Polishing old coins and destroying the patina will greatly reduce their value and I think that you might draw a parallel here. I would be very careful about "cleaning" it up. The signs of use add to the "resume" (patina) of the rifle. At the other extreme, if you "clean" it up to a nearly new appearance the casual observer might mistake it for a brand new "kit" gun.
I would make some effort to clean out the rust that seems to be present.
On another note I was glad to see that you plan to display the rifle...great idea. Especially with that crack in the stock. I am pretty sure I would not be shooting that piece since the crack might well extend catastrophically.
I am sure there are those on this board that might vehemently disagree with these comments. You might be ahead to seek out an antique arms collector for some real advice.
Again, you are lucky.
 
Agree... The writing says Larsen Liege. Just Googling these words resulted in numerous references to Norwegian firearms.
 
Thanks!

After looking at the letters now it most definitely says Larsen Liege. From what I can gather it was made by August Larsen in Liege, Belgium. I'm not 100% sure but it might be a copy of the Remington M1867 made by him.

This is exciting!

As far as "restoring" it, I am absolutely not refinishing it. I really just want to remove a bit of the rust that is on the barrel. Any suggestions for doing that?
 
Rub the barrel with gun oil and let it sit for a couple of hours. Then rub gently with 0000 (four zero) steel wool and lots of oil. It will remove the surface rust without damaging the patina. Do not use any other grade of steel wool.

Run an oily patch down the bore to keep it from rusting any more than it has and put a couple of drops of oil in the action for the same reason.

The wood should get a light rubbing with Scott's Liquid Gold.
 
Remington Rolling Block. It may have been rebarreled.

Anyway, you can remove the rust and preserve the patina by using a nickel (5 cent piece) and Frog's Lube. It takes time, but it's worth it. Afterward coat it with Renaissance Wax.
 
The metal cap...as you call it appears to be the end of a cleaning rod, I can
see the whole rod is missing from your rifle. If you want to replace your cleaning rod, don't get hung up on an original one, you can make or have someone make one for you very easily. May also be the front site blade
that is missing on yours too and that is also a minor issue.
 
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Your relation may have used A rolling block rifle in the Norwegian Army, but he didn't use THAT rolling block rifle in the Norwegian Army.

At least not in that configuration.

That gun was either commercial from the day it was made, or it was a military gun that has been heavily reworked into a commercial target or hunting gun.

The barrel is no longer original. Norwegian barrels were round, and had a bayonet mounting stud on the right side near the muzzle.

That gun's barrel is octagonal, which is not military configuration. Also, the rear sight base is in the wrong place, and is of the wrong configuration.

The butt stock may be the original military buttstock, but it's hard to tell. The forearm is definitely NOT military.

The rolling block used barrel bands to hold the forearm to the barrel -- that gun uses wedges, which harkens back to earlier muzzleloading rifle designs.

Finally, there is the German silver decorative touches. Definitely not military.

What I think you have is a repurposed Norwegian rolling block that was gunsmithed into a commercial rifle for target shooting or hunting.

There was a pretty famous Norwegian gunsmith by the name of Hans Larsen in Drammen who is known to have done this kind of work.

This picture may be one of his guns (although there were a lot of gunsmiths named Larsen):

http://s407.photobucket.com/user/Duett_64/media/LarsenRollingBlock.jpg.html

Here's a write up on him:

http://norskevaapen.no/?p=508
 
Most probably a Remington Rolling Block sports rifle. The octagon barrel was manufactured for the sportsman where the round barrels were military. It may be a 45-70 Government make.

The rolling block was made in many calibers, but you can check the muzzle opening and see if a .45 pistol round fits smugly into the opening. Remington was saved from bankruptcy with this firearm. They sold it not only to the U.S. government, but re-chambered it in different preferred calibers for sale to Egypt, the Danes and beyond. Some were even re-manufactured and finished for resale.

With a bit of Ballistol and/or Rem oil, it should clean up nicely. BUT FIRST, take it to a gun shop for final identification, and value in the shape it's in!
 
I don't think cleaning up is what that gun needs. it has a lot of character, it has a lot of character, as any 150 year old rifle does. polishing the brass and replacing the wood would ruin a lot of the WOW factor that these guns illicit. I would recommend super fine sand paper(about 800 grit) to take off the top layer of dust and grime on the wood and give it a good coat of boiled linseed oil or tung oil to give the wood it's shine back, but keep the nicks and dents intact. I would scrub the bore, but not with a petroleum based solvent, to make sure the bore is not turning into a sewer pipe. and oil down the outside nice and good to get rid of the light surface rust and protect it from future rusting.

don't doll it up, but do preserve it for your grand children to get some day.
 
Google, "Rust Removal using Electrolysis". Will remove all rust, but will not hurt the iron base metal....
 
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"Most probably a Remington Rolling Block sports rifle. The octagon barrel was manufactured for the sportsman where the round barrels were military. It may be a 45-70 Government make."

I'd say that the chances of that are so remote that they're significantly less than 0.

Read my previous post, especially the information on Hans Larsen.

I have absolutely no doubt that the gun is chambered in a cartridge readily available in Norway -- the .45-70 never was.

The number of rolling blocks factory chambered in .45-70 is a minute fraction of the overall number produced. While I don't have any numbers handy, I'd not at all be surprised to find that it's well less than 10% of the total.
 
" I would recommend super fine sand paper(about 800 grit) to take off the top layer of dust and grime on the wood."

That's insane advice!

If the intention is to preserve the character of the rifle, using even 800 grit sand paper will damage the patina and do nothing to actually clean the piece.

The best way to preserve the patina wile removing surface gunk is to clean with a mild solution of about 1 tablespoon of oil soap in a quart of warm water.

Use non-abrasive cloth, and wring it fairly dry before gently scrubbing a small area.

Then rinse that area with another cloth dipped in clean warm water.
 
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