Springfield/Remington 1870 Rolling Block Carbine

[Texasbadger072]

Sirs,I would greatly appreciate assistance with this unusual carbine that I bought at this past weekends show. Its clearly marked 1870 Springfield

Sirs,I would greatly appreciate assistance with this unusual carbine that came
into this past weekends show. Its clearly marked 1870 Springfield
with patent information on stock tang. You can see the Federal eagle under
neath the device installed over it, which is on opposite side of most rifles I
can find on Internet land. Its 50-70 caliber, and from what I can determine
has always been "in the white" or has lost all remnants of bluing.
Barrel is unmarked and forward band has US on it.No sign of a
cleaning rod hole patch on front of fore end which for me would indicate a
rifle cut down later down the line. Barrel is precisely 20.5 inches
from tip to end of breech. Saddle ring is unusually short and its a very strange
rifle. I want to make sure its not one of the 1870
converted carbines that were not continued into the 1871 model rifle.
Info on the net is all over the place,,,,,so HHHHEEELLLLPPPP please!
Photos attached in two emails.
Thank you,
Steve Flanagan
Dallas Texas

[oldremguy]

Your carbine looks like one of the 1870 Springfield Navy rifles that were converted to carbines when the rifles were sold on the surplus market. The conversion was done by Whitney Arms Company. Here are some photos of my converted 1870 Navy Rifle. Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, they were taken a long time ago.

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Have a Good Day,
Matt

[Texasbadger072]

Thank you, very interesting, when was this done? My first topic just got cleared so here are more photos but I think you have nailed it!

[Dick Hosmer]

Can't deny the title caught my eye!

Sadly, it is not - as has been pointed out - the GREAT rarity, of which something less than ten are known to exist.

So, the search continues. My buying days are basically over, but that is one of the VERY few guns I would seriously consider, especially if I could steal it 'out of the brush' at a yard sale.

[oldremguy]

Thank you, very interesting, when was this done? My first topic just got cleared so here are more photos but I think you have nailed it!

I believe the conversion was done in the 1880's. The Whitney Arms company went out of business in 1888.
In the book "Arming The West" there was a shipment of guns sent to Ketchsen & Degetau in El Paso on November 22, 1884 that had a case of Remington Navy Rifles in 50-70 centerfire. So the Navy rifles would of been on the surplus market at this point in time for Whitney to convert some into carbines. Also on June 6, 1885, 60 refinished Remington Carbines, with brown finish in 50 centerfire, altered Navy Carbines with Whitney Extractors were also shipped to El Paso. Your carbine has the Whitney extractor on it, my carbine was converted with out the Whitney extractor.

Have a Good Day,
Matt

[Lenhina]

When I was a youngster I always wanted a falling block action. Not a big enough fan of Rugers to have ever bought one. Then I started into assault weapons & its seems to suit me better.

[ehull]

Note that Steve’ And Matt’s carbines are different alterations. Steve’s has the Whitney rotary extractor as evidenced by the extra screw on the left side of the frame. Matt’s carbine appears to retain the original sliding extractor.