Help with roller from a newbie

[Buffhunter]

Howdy all, picked up a roller at a gun show today, I was told it was a 50/70 gov. but starting to wonder. Included with the rifle was 50/70 brass, bullets, bullet mold and dies. The current owner had not fired it, but the guy he got it from had... supposedly.

Anyway, it is military configuration, I assumed Norwegian or Swedish, the tang is marked "J. A. Lafqvist, Eskilstuna ,1870"

The tang and barrel both have "98" stamped on them and are the only marks on the gun outside of the "lightening bolts on either side of makers name.

Anyone have any ideas, as to orgin and true caliber. If anyone needs pics feel free to ask and I can send them.

Thanks in advance from the new guy.

[marlinman93]

You should probably do a chamber cast, as I could guess, but it will still need to be confirmed by a casting. Possibly 12.17x44R, which is the closest Scandinavian caliber to .50-70 that I know of.-Vall

[tjack]

The Swedes, supposedly, sold actions that were out of tolerances to either employees or the public who had the time to hand fit to bring up to tolerance. These were then made into serviceable rifles for sale to the public. Yours could be one of these. I agree with the previous response, make a chamber cast. In their original form the .50-70 and the 12mm Swede are not interchangeable due to base dimensions. Eskilstuna is in Sweden. I have a sporting rifle (more correctly a target rifle with its large diameter barrel) made by a C. G. Granberg of the same city chambered for, as far as I can figure, the ever-popular 14.5x55R Hochwild Long. This was made up on an ex-military rifle.

[Buffhunter]

Thanks for the info guys. I loaded up a 50/70 and chambered it, it fit perfectly in the breech and breech closes up tight. So maybe this rifle was rechambered to 50/70 when it came into this country somewhere in the last 100 plus years?

I'm gonna take it to my buddy's gunshop and have him look it over. Thanks

[Yellowhouse]

It would be a good idea to post a couple photos of this rifle. If its in military configuration as you say then I'd doubt it was an out-of-spec receiver built into military configuration. All the civilian-built Swedish rifles I've seen didn't have military hardware.

Eskilstuna is the same city where the Carl Gustaf rifle factory is located. The name on it could denote two possibilities: 1- a private owner, 2- a gunsmith who worked the rifle. But without seeing the rifle we can't know much. A date of 1870 confuses things as the 1867 rolling block was in use by the military in 1870 and not likely to have gotten out of military ownership. But that's supposition based on incomplete information. Many gunsmiths did mark a rifle after modifying it. One of the mods done was to round off or chamfer the edges of the receiver more in line with commercial actions. Some of the shotgun versions had large scalloped areas on each side of the breechblock to mimic a Husqvarna commerical action.

Many Swedish 12,7x44R rifles were rechambered in the U.S. for .50-70 Gov't by gunsmiths who were more interested in $$$ than maintaining the integrity of a collectible rifle. Using .348 Winchester brass the 12,7x44R is the better choice than .50-70 as the head diameter of the 12,7x44R is closer to the .348 than is the .50-70 Gov't cartridge. But it seems there's a lot of "gunsmiths" who are afraid of calibers with millimeters instead of fractions or its just a matter of ignorance over knowledge.

FYI - Swedish rolling block barrels have the date of manufacture on the underside of the barrel directly in front of the receiver. Some interesting dates show up on some models that predate 1867. That occurs because of the rifles that were built using older percussion and earlier breechloader furniture and fittings. There are several Swedish rolling block models like m/1860-64-68 which was built from a rifle with two earlier incarnations. The m/1885 artillery carbines have a mixed pedigree like that as well.

I don't normally read or respond in this forum but I think maybe I'll start. I like to stay on top of issues relating to Swedish rolling blocks.

Dutchman
Siskiyou Co, Calif
http://www.dutchman.rebooty.com
http://www.dutchman.rebooty.com/rb.html
Swedish Mausers & rolling blocks

I for one need all the help I can get most of the time and sure hope you pop up more often. Learned a lot from the above. For miracles, I crave a Type 33a like Marlinman93 has!

[sherpax54]

Hi there

My name is Erik, I'm new in the forum and I live in the south of Sweden, some 400 miles from Eskilstuna, former "Carl Gustavs stad" the military weapon city of the Swedish king.

Here's all info I have (in Swedish from Eskilstuna museum) on knife-maker J.A. Lafqvist
http://web.telia.com/~u16502260/tillverkare/sid127.htm
except he was also member of the city hall a few years before his death 1876.

I've seen his knifes turning up now and then at (web) sales in Europe

Obviously his company also made guns, probably based on out-of-tolerance military
parts that they matched and assembled into hunting rifles for wealthy customers.

I happen to have one of his rolling blocks but unfortunately the "loading rod" is missing. Anyone who could post a picture and/or drawing? (and teach me the English word for it )

Of course also interested in hearing about your experiences with the Lafqvist gun(s).

Erik

[marlinman93]

Welcome Erik! That's a beautiful knife, obviously built by true craftsman! Wish I could read Swedish so I could read the info!-Vall

[oldremguy]

Hello Vall,

Here is a translation about the knife

ScreenHunter_01 Feb. 26 19.49.gif (235.43 KiB) Viewed 5811 times

Have a good day,
Matt

[marlinman93]

Thanks Matt!