help identifing please

[tjack]

Unknown from your photos what caliber it is now but, it started "life" as a .58 caliber "transformed" rifle (made up from left over Civil War muskets). Later, they were new made with new parts. The clue is the breech block. That second hole you see along side the firing pin hole was where a screw fastened the plate it is in to the breech block. If you look at the sides of the breech block you will see short "wings" that project out the sides of the breech block. This is the plate. This was necessary as the .58 caliber cartridge was quite wide and these wings were necessary to enclose the entire rim of the cartridge. Lots of these were sold to France during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. After the war lots of these were rebarreled in Belgium to 11mm Spanish (.43 Spanish) and sold to South American countries which used the 11mm Spanish cartridge. I can't tell from your photos which diameter bore you have but you can tell quite readily: .58 vs .43. An interesting side note: post Civil War the State of Texas bought and issued some of these .58 caliber Rolling Blocks. Unfortunately, Texas applied no special markings on them.

[ehull]

A photo of the rear sight would help ID the type or model of rifle.