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In the following pages I’ll share a few of the more interesting portions of this work. The trio of of military rolling block rifles and carbines featured herein are perhaps the first or the very few seen by a majority of collectors, both tyro and advanced alike. The very presence of these three Remingtons – which include a two-band .50-70 Government caliber Rifle found in Cuba that smacks of the little known Civil Guard Model with a hybrid No. 1-1/2 and No. 1 frame in a unique caliber; a .50 caliber rimfire carbine with Cambodian markings; and a nearly nonexistent Model 1902 7mm Mauser caliber rifle of El Salvador contract – make for a rare gathering of the elusive and esoteric. Therefore let us take a truly international journey amongst a few of the many military rolling blocks that have taxed this author’s bank of knowledge to the utmost!

A REMINGTON CIVIL GUARD MODE OR SINGLE ROLLING BLOCK VARIATION UNTO ITSELF

A majority of antique military rifle collectors and students of the rolling block family of firearms have seldom been able to acquire one or more examples of a breech-loading single-shot rifle that was once catalogued by E. Remington &Sons as the Civil Guard Model. Primarily associated with early purchases of the rolling block by Spain, this elusive variant listed in Remington factory literature between 1874 and 1884 was often described as a two-band, military rolling block rifle in .43 Spanish caliber, having a 30.5-inch barrel that was coupled with a saber bayonet lug as standard equipment. Introduced during Spain’s first contract of 1869, it was intended to arm the Guardia Civil or Spanish Civil Guard, an organization which today remains an active para military-police organization serving throughout the peninsula of Spain.