Original Egyptian Contract Remington Rolling Block Model 1867 Rifle Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. The Remington Rolling Block (In this case the “Remington No. 1 Military Rifle”), was a single shot black powder cartridge firearm featuring a “rolling” breach block. It was too late for the American Civil War, but it made a huge hit at the 1867 Paris Exhibition, resulting in numerous orders from governments around the world. At the exhibition, Sam Remington was invited by emissaries of the Khedive, Ismael Pasha of Cairo, to come to Egypt to show his new rifle. The Khedive was so impressed that he not only ordered the rifle for his army, but gave Remington a plot of land in Cairo where he built a small palace. The first shipments were diverted for the Franco-Prussian war, but by 1875 the Egyptians were receiving large quantities of the rolling block.

Egyptian rolling blocks saw quite a bit of action, but the most well-known may be in the Sudan, where a retired British Colonel named Hicks lead an Egyptian Army of about 11,000 soldiers against the rebel forces of Mohammed Ahmed, the self-proclaimed “Mahdi” (prophesied redeemer of Islam). Colonel Hicks would have done better spending his retirement growing roses. Instead, he and almost his entire command got wiped out, and now the Mahdi’s rebels had a whole bunch of these Remingtons. This made matters even worse for Charles Gordon, Aka “Chinese Gordon” Aka “Gordon of Khartoum”, when he was besieged by the Mahdi’s Forces some time later. Reluctantly, the British sent a relief force that arrived two days too late to keep Gordon’s head from being hung in a tree.

General Kitchener would eventually defeat the successor to the Madi, Abdullah al-Taashi, in the battle of Omdurman in 1898. Among the British troops was a young Winston Churchill. At this stage of his career Kitchener actively courted the press to build his reputation, and his relationship with G. W. Steevens of the “Daily Mail” resulted in the book “With Kitchener to Khartoum”.

The Egyptian Rolling Block is chambered for the .43 Egyptian cartridge. It seems that proprietary cartridges were all the rage among the trendier nations back then. It fired a 400 grain bullet backed up by 75 grains of black powder with a muzzle velocity of 1330 feet per second.

This example is worn and missing its firing pin. However, it is still very presentable and a very good example of this type of rifle (most are in deplorable condition) and the back strap is nicely marked with the Remington name and patent dates. Comes complete with the original cleaning rod and Egyptian marked action (crescent moon). A hard to find American made rifle that saw service in the North African desert during the late 19th century.

NOTE: International orders of antique firearms MUST be shipped using UPS WW Services (courier). USPS Priority Mail international will not accept these.