Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Falling Block Shotgun

Has anyone seen a falling block style shotgun(single shot). Base upon something like the 1885 or the Ruger #1?? Tom.

Remington rolling blocks were available as a shotgun, they can be found quite reasonably, try searching out one on gunsamerica.com or gunbroker.

I sold one last year that was a user, basically a barn gun, functional but not pretty, for $175.00.

They look just like a Remington rolling block rifle except the receiver has a small notch in the top of it to allow one to see the bead better.

drover

drover

Hopkins and Allen made a falling block shotgun for many years, even sold some as rifle/shotgun sets, since the action was takedown (or at least the barrel could be removed easily). They were made in several sizes, the large one in 10,12, 16 and 20, the smaller one in .410 and .44XL (and maybe some older shotshells I've forgotten). Frank de Haas' book on Single Shot Rifles and Actions covers them very well. They were functional and fairly well-made, but not "carriage trade" guns by any means. The Sears and Wards catalogs sold them for many years.

I have only fired one, a 16. It also had a .44-40 barrel. The shotgun chamber was short (the old 2 5/8" chamber) and the gun kicked like crazy due to the light weight, excessive drop in the stock by our standards, and very tight choke. I know a guy who has a 10 and he says it also kicks like mad; it has the old 2 7/8" "Magnum" chamber, but I doubt that is original.

Winchester Hi-wall 1885s were also made in 20 guage, both solid frame and takedown. Those weren't very popular and cost the earth now, if you can find one.

There used to be a martini action shotgun made by the English gunmaker Greener that seemed to be behind the back door at every western homestead for use as a snake gun. I remember them as this was usually the first shotgun that you got to carry on duck shoots when you deemed old enough to accompany the men. The Greener had about a 30" barrel, was full choked and kicked like a mule.
I must be getting old as I was almost having fond memories about firing them.

I once shot a round of trap with a Martini-action 12-gauge trap gun that belonged to a friend. It was a really nifty gun, with nice wood.

Rolling block is not a falling block, it is a rolling block.
H&A and Martini are falling blocks.
Sniders were also converted shotguns (neither falling or rolling)

I have a late-model (1960s) Greener "GP" 12 guage which has a 26" Cylinder barrel. It is a takedown and the side of the barrel is marked "For LG Ctg." I suspect that it didn't come from the factory that way; I got it slightly used from a California importer (Golden State Arms) that was importing a bunch of Webley RIC and Webley Greene revolvers from South Africa at the same time (I bought an RIC .450 with the Greener shotgun). I have often thought about having a .303 barrel made for it.... I believe "LG" is a size of British buckshot.

Any pictures?? Tom.

Nah; I'm computer illiterate and never made it to the digital age. There is a picture of a very similar shotgun in Frank de Haas' "Single Shot Rifles and Actions," or the follow-on "More Single Shot Rifles and Actions." The Martini action "GP" shotguns were very common in the British Commonwealth countries for police guns and cheap knockabout shotguns for farmers, etc. They were supposedly also made in 16 guage, but I have never seen one, nor seen one even for sale.

I believe the fancy single trapguns you see occasionally were only sold in the US (and maybe Canada) in the 1950s and 1960s. My GP is dead plain; no barrel rib, very plain wood with no checkering. I suspect it was a police shotgun that the South Africans were surplussing along with that lot of antique Webleys, although it isn't police marked (my RIC is marked "SAP," which I think was the national police under the Brits).