Help For Dating a Remington Rolling Block Military Rifle

[malak_kisho]

Hello,
I am from Bulgaria, a few days ago I got a rolling block molitary rifle, in bad condition, marked: REMINGTONS *******, PAT MAY *** NOV 15-th 1864 APRIL ** 1*6*, and serial number D 74 534.
In Bulgaria this type of rifles are quite rare, and a small part of them is used in the war for the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire.
I was hoping to learn a bit about the history of this rifle: when and where it was produced.

[ehull]

Welcome to this forum.
Please provide basic information such as: caliber (rimfire or centerfire), barrel length (muzzle to breech block) and shape of barrel (round or octagonal). Also, is the maker's name stamped in two lines or three? It would help if you added photos.

[malak_kisho]

centerfire, barrel length - 86 cm = 33.9 in, shape of barrel - round.
I found only four markings:

REMINGTONS *******
PAT MAY *** NOV 15-th 1864 APRIL ** 1*6*

D 74 534 (In two places)
one "Y" on the trigger guard, and one "B" on the barrel

I had a problem attaching the photos, so I send them as a links:
https://ibb.co/cs19Fk
https://ibb.co/buDZgQ
https://ibb.co/kJG9Fk
https://ibb.co/djod85
https://ibb.co/dgLx1Q
https://ibb.co/ce3Oak
https://ibb.co/ezi0MQ
https://ibb.co/j9u71Q
https://ibb.co/ffO0MQ
https://ibb.co/dQmy85

[ehull]

The photographs help identify the model of rifle. The rifle has the general characteristics of the Spanish and Egyptian Model rifles, of about 1870. However, the Egyptian Model had a long bayonet lug on the right side of the barrel, and your rifle does not have this feature. Your rifle is probably a Spanish Model in .43 caliber.
How it arrived in Bulgaria is a mystery.

[JV Puleo]

Ed,
During the Russo Turkish War Remington made a serious effort to sell Spanish Model RBs to the Russians. Both Sam Norris and Watson Squire were in St. Petersburg for this. In Norris's letter to the Russian Ordnance officials he specifically mentions that the .43 Spanish RB will accept the .42 Berdan cartridge. It does work. I've tried it, especially as the Berdan was paper patched so I suspect the bores are actually the same size. (It doesn't work the other way around... the Berdan is slightly smaller than the .43 Spanish.) As far as I know, they were unsuccessful. In fact, I've read the rejection letter. But, there is a possibility that some other country allied with the Russians, like the Bulgarians, bought some Spanish models during or after the Russo-Turkish War. It was this war that finally freed Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire but it was a poor country with no capacity to manufacture arms. Their original national armory was set up by Russian Ordnance officers at this time but functioned as a repair and storage depot. They eventually used some Berdans but bought most of their arms from Steyer. That said, we know very little about the period just after the war so I think it's a great opportunity for the original poster to follow up... it's probably impossible to do that from here. I only know one RB aficionado that speaks Bulgarian...

[ehull]

Joe: Not only does the Remington .43 Spanish Model rifle accept the .42 Russian Berdan, but during the Franco-Prussian War the French bought only the .42 Russian cartridges (millions) for use in all of their .43 Spanish arms: Remington rolling block and Peabody rifles. Of course, they used the .42 cartridges in their Berdan Russian I rifles as well. That simplified the ammunition distribution.

[JV Puleo]

That makes a lot of sense. I know that Sam Norris was in Central Europe about that time... the exact date escapes me but I would be very surprised if he didn't at least try to sell some Remingtons to the Bulgarians. Unfortunately, his letters don't confirm that but they are very thin in that period.