Help me ID this

[tjack]

I would say that your carbine came out of Argentina. This is based on the heavy-handed refinish that is so typical of these firearms. The receiver has been heavily polished as indicated by the "dishing" around the receiver screws. Remington did no blue the receivers of military Rolling Blocks. Also, the barrel band and front sight are not correct. The front sight looks like one from a sporting rifle. The "B" on the side of the barrel is an inspector's mark.

[stanforth]

You don't give the calibre and chambering.

[tjack]

Your carbine is no doubt chambered for the .43 Spanish cartridge if it is still original. The most common chamberings in these was either .43 Egyptian or .43 Spanish. It is highly unlikely that it is .45-70. Without a chamber cast all anyone can do is guess. If the bore and chamber are clean it would make a good shooter. As for value, check GunBroker or GunsAmerica and see what people are ASKING, which is not to say getting, for similar guns.

[sperrin52]

This is a really old thread, but my father just passed on to me what looks like an identical rifle. A search brought me here. The inscription on top of the receiver is more worn than the one originally posted here, but from what I could decipher the dates are all identical. The only difference that I can see is that mine does not have the ring attached to the receiver. I'm glad I found this, so I could verify everything in the inscription.

[ehull]

Your "carbine" also looks to be a remanufactured rifle. It lacks the sling ring on the left side of the frame, and has sling swivels on the buttstock and band like a rifle does. Also, the forestock is too long to be that of a carbine- check if you can see the original ramrod/clearing rod slot at the tip.

[sperrin52]

No, no rod slot. And the forestock is certainly longer than the one in the original post. But I had thought that carbines were characterized by the short barrel, but you are saying it involves the forestock too? When would remanufacturing happen - if the gun had been damaged and then rebuilt?

[ehull]

These refinished and rebuilt rifles and carbines were imported in the 1950s and 60s. They were advertised in the American Rifleman and other mags for cheap prices, as shooters.

[jon_norstog]

Sperrin,

That looks an awful lot like my first rifle! I would have to guess Argentine, and an arsenal refinish... the bores were recut on a lot of those and they tended to like a bullet larger than the original .439" diameter of the .43 Spanish. Some differences in your gun: i don't see the stub of octagon barrel most of them had, and you indicate no filled-in cleaning rod hole in the forestock.

My Uncle told me that those rifles were refurbed under the Peron regime, during WW II. The "carbines" were mostly cut down rifles - unless they have the lanyard ring.

I paid high dollar for mine: $21.95 shipping included. My baby brother picked up his RB long rifle for $10.00. They were great shooters and ammo was cheap, if unreliable. We're old men now and we still take an Argy each along on elk hunts, as a backup gun.

jn