Remington Rifle Identification

[boomop60]

Hello, I'm trying to identify this rifle that was left by a tenant in my girlfriend's house. We live in Toronto, Canada. From what I have discovered, this unit is a Remington Rolling Block Rifle with last Patent as of 1866. There are sling loops at the fore-end and the trigger-guard. The stamping on the left side of the action says "Remington S Ilion N.Y. U.S.A. Pat. May 3d Nov.15th 1864 April 17th 1866"
The stamping on right side of the action says "P" above "F.C.W." Aside from the "U" on the 2 bands around the barrel, I have not yet found any further stampings. The rear site is very small and appears to be bent, there are some single digit numbers stamped on the rear site. I haven't measured the bore yet and it is rifled and very filthy and I am guessing it is almost 1/2 inch.
I have included all the photographs that I have. The barrel is 27 7/8 " long. There is a strange stamp ahead of the rear site that looks like a reverse lower-case "F" and and adjacent "V" ,..strange. There is a '13' stamped on the top of the steel plate on the butt of the gun. The '3' has been double-struck. I am hoping that some of you well educated Remington scholars might tell me what this unit is.

[ehull]

This is a Remington pistol frame cadet rifle. These were made in the 1890s by using surplus Navy rolling block pistols. Dealer Hartley & Graham had them made up by both their gunsmith Coxford and by Remington.

[marlinman93]

Here's a picture of the 1903 M. Hartley & Co. 1903 catalog for the three Cadet rifles they sold exclusively. Yours will be the top rifle #205 Model.



As you can see the cartridge would be the stubby little .50 Navy cartridge just like the Rolling Block 1867 pistols used for the same action. It measured just under an inch long and .50 caliber.

[boomop60]

This is a Remington pistol frame cadet rifle. These were made in the 1890s by using surplus Navy rolling block pistols. Dealer Hartley & Graham had them made up by both their gunsmith Coxford and by Remington.

Thank you for that information. Very helpful. Cheers!

[boomop60]

Here's a picture of the 1903 M. Hartley & Co. 1903 catalog for the three Cadet rifles they sold exclusively. Yours will be the top rifle #205 Model.



As you can see the cartridge would be the stubby little .50 Navy cartridge just like the Rolling Block 1867 pistols used for the same action. It measured just under an inch long and .50 caliber.

Thank you for that very helpful information. Cheers!

[boomop60]

..Well, I have tried and failed to sell this Remington Rolling Block here in Toronto. All my inquiries have come to nothing ...I can't give it away... If you know of someone that would like to purchase this antique .50 cal,or you just have a contact that might be interested ..please let me know..

..On the other hand ..maybe you know where I can buy some ammo for this in case someone tries to make Canada the 51st state or something...we don't have a 2A but I wish we did..
Thanks and Cheers...

[marlinman93]

If you reload ammo this is very easy to make up to shoot your Cadet. The .50 Navy can be easily made using .50-70 brass by shortening it to around 1" long. Once shortened the case walls are slightly thicker, but still accept a proper size bullet that's around .512" diameter. A 450 gr. bullet slips right in the case mouth by hand over a charge of around 40 grains of 2fg. So you can easily load and shoot this rifle without even owning a set of dies to reload for it. I make these up for my 1867 Remington Navy pistol in the same cartridge.
You wont find any factory ammo, and if you did it would be collectible and not shootable.

[Eddie Southgate]

The upside of becoming the 51st state would be having a 2a and 50 other states you could sell your Remington in. Probably more demand here than in Canada but trying to import it to Alabama would likely be a bust even though it's antique and there is no readily available ammo for it . Hopefully next go round we can nominate and elect a conservative candidate that is not a nut job. Y'all should try to do the same .