Guns of the Civil War

The Remington Rolling Block

The Remington Rolling Block was invented during the American Civil War.  Leonard M. Geiger patented the first design in 1863, and Remington's own genius Joseph Rider made improvements.

50 Rimfire Military Carbine

The first shipment was received by the Army just before the end of the Civil War, although it is unknown and unlikely whether any were used in combat during the war.

The first production models are known as the "split breech" models

with the hammer between the two parts of the breech block.  This worked for rimfire cartridges, but the action was improved for more powerful centerfire cartridges by having a solid breech block with patent dates of April 1866, August 1867, and November 1871.

The breech block rotates on a large pin for the name "rolling block" which is locked into position by a large hammer on another large pin when fired.

Springfield Armory and others converted Sharps rifles to military power metallic cartridges and used new Remington Rolling Block actions to convert muzzle loading muskets to breech loading, both of which were reliable for buffalo hunting.  Both Sharps and the Remington Rolling Block rifles were the favorites of the buffalo hunters, but Sharps could not compete with Remington for further military sales.

Over a million rolling blocks were produced over many decades by or for many countries from the end of the American Civil War in 1865 with rifles in active service being surrendered in battle during the Spanish Civil War of 1935.  Rolling Block rifles and carbines were made for a wide range of cartridges.

For more information, consult "Flayderman's Guide To Antique American Firearms" by Norm Flayderman.

The following technical information is for the 46 rimfire version carbine which was delivered to the U.S. Army during the Civil War.  Nearly all rolling blocks were later made for more powerful cartridges.

Technical Information