Light Baby Carbine

[OGC]

I believe what I have is a Remington Rolling Block "Light Baby Carbine". The general information I have found on these, are that most of the 3,480 of these manufactured had 20" barrels and were chambered for the 44-40 WCF cartridge as used in the M1875 & M1890 SA Remington revolvers. Flayderman's state that some early ones were manufactured with 18" barrels and chambered for the .44 RF & .44 CF cartridges.
This "Light Baby Carbine" with the ring bar & saddle ring, has an 18" barrel and is chambered for the .44 Rim Fire cartridge.
The markings on this carbine are:
Top Tang:
E. REMINGTON & SONS ILION, N.Y. U.S.A
PAT. MAY 3RD 1864. MAY 7TH JUNE 11TH NOV. 12TH DEC. 24TH 1872
DEC. 31ST 1872. SEPT. 9TH 1873. JAN. 12TH MARCH 18TH 1874.
Frame, left side under stock: 1251 (side of top & lower tang)
Rear Sight: 6 (top right), 3 (bottom right)
Barrel left side at breach: B
Barrel Band left side: B
Stock, left side at receiver: 44 R F

The barrel is 18" with an overall length of the carbine being 33-5/8"
It weighs 5.5 lbs., when placed on my small digital scale.
It is well used and probably has a lot of stories that could be told.
Dave

[OGC]

A few more Light Baby Carbine photos of the sights:

[OGC]

A few more carbine photos of the stock frame, saddle ring, stock marking & butt plate.

[OGC]

A few more photos of the breach block and .44 RF cartridges.

[ehull]

Dave,
Nice carbine, and the RF version is scarce.
The tang markings indicate the carbine was made in the early production run, before ER&S went bankrupt and Hartley & Graham took over in 1888. Later guns have "Remington Arms Company."
The serial number is also relatively low, consistent with the tang marking - these had their own serial number range. Of the total of about 5,340 Light Baby Carbines made, it is estimated that 1,900 were made in the first production run.
Thanks for adding all the good photos.
Ed

[OGC]

Ed,
Thank you for the information. I'm not sure what book I got the production number of 3480 manufactured. Thank you for the correction of 5,340.
Are there any records showing how many carbines were manufactured in .44 RF and with 18" barrels?
Of the known specimens, is there a record of percentage of RF compared to the 44-40 cal.?
Thanks for the record of the 1st run production.
I've had this for about 30 years and have not paid much attention to it until the last couple of years.
Thank You,
Dave
(couple more photos)

[ehull]

Dave,
I know of no record of how many of each cartridge or barrel length were made, it's just that surviving examples of the RF version and/or 18 inch barrel are much more scarce.
Advertising from 1891 on listed the center fire version only, i.e. RAC made & marked. Ads from 1893 on dropped the 18" barrel option.
Ed

[OGC]

Ed,
Thank you again for sharing this information. Very much appreciated.
Dave