Identify this gun???

[Grumpy]

Yes Dev, you have it. The Martinis` are falling blocks as are the Farquharson and the Ruger No 1s and 2s. The Sharps a rolling block. Both are pretty strong mechanisms. Falling blocks can be very accurate which is why it was the mechanism of choice for target competition up until the 1950s. Unfortunately the Rugers are not particularly accurate for some reason - I`ve never examined one closely to find out why that should be.
The Trap door mechanism with its` hinged breech block is neither strong or accurate......and if overloaded the breech block tends to blow off the rifle ! They were fundamentally conversions of muzzle loaders using the Allin breech system.
Martinis are often very elegant in style - all of those I mention above certainly are except for the BSA Martini International which is a cumbersome brick-like design and very different from the earlier BSA 12/15s. Rolling blocks are definitely not elegant to look at......the Sharps in particular wouldn`t win any beauty contests.

[mehulkamdar]

Grumpy,

I have heard that the Ruger No 1's mainspring that attaches itself to a lug on the barrel is the reason why they lose accuracy - not being an expert in any sense, I wouldn't know exactly, but this is a reason that I was given by a leading ssingle shot gunsmith on the NE forums.

Cheers!

Mehul

[Grumpy]

Thanks for that information Mehul. Something that I wasn`t aware of and very handy to know should I ever get one.

[eljefe]

If there are any US civil war buffs out here, wasnt the remington trapdoor the issue rifle of the union forces?
Axx

[Grumpy]

Yes, it was. Although reference books usually state that the Trap Door was a conversion of the Springfield musket I`m sure that many were built as trap doors at the factory. I believe something over 80,000 were made and can`t imagine that there were anything like so many muskets to be converted although it`s likely that many were made to be converted.......if you see what I mean.

[eljefe]

conversions may have been exigencies of the situation, until the factory retooled to make the trapdoors proper-I think!
I see you Bwana!