The Rimfire Report: 3 Rare Rimfire Rifles from August 2023 Rock Island Premier Firearms Auction
Welcome back to The Rimfire Report, our weekly article series where we discuss everything rimfire – history, news, guns, ammunition, equipment, gear, sports and more. For today’s edition, we have three rare rimfire rifles found in the catalog of the upcoming August 2023 Rock Island Premier Firearms Auction. While there are many amazing rimfire rifles consigned to this auction, in this author’s opinion, these are the top three in terms of rarity. Without further ado, let’s take a look at these unique specimens of the rimfire firearms world.
Rock Island Auction Company @ TFB:
The rifles are listed below in no particular order. The model names are linked to the lot pages on the Rock Island Auction’s website where you can find more pictures and more detailed descriptions.
Designed by Alfred Jenks in the early 1860s, this is a one-off prototype single-shot rimfire carbine. It is chambered in .52 Rimfire and has a rolling block action. Pulling the breech block back opens the action, cocks the internal hammer and extracts the fired case. This carbine was submitted to the US Army trials of 1865 as well as tested in England and France. Interestingly, France bought this very gun for a whopping half million dollars!
Estimated Price: $10,000 – $20,000
Benjamin Joslyn was a designer of early breechloading firearms. He is known for designing Monkey Tail action firearms as well as his Model 1862 and Model 1864 carbines that were used during the Civil War. This Bar Cylinder single-shot rimfire rifle is a lesser-known Joslyn design only one sample of which exists. It is chambered in the .56-56 Spencer rimfire cartridge and has a side-swinging chamber block action. In order to load a new cartridge or extract the case of the fired one, one must first unlock the chamber block via the wing lever on its left side and then pivot the block to the right to expose the chamber.
Manufactured in the early 1870s, this second pattern Orvill Robinson carbine is an extremely rare early repeating firearm. This rifle is chambered in .44 Rimfire. It has a toggle lock action and a tubular magazine under the barrel. The action is operated via the right-side bolt handle. The loading gate is on the right side of the receiver. The ammunition is fed from the magazine through an elevator and the sliding plate on the left side of the receiver is for adjusting the action to allow using different-length cartridges. In 1874, Winchester purchased this design but never manufactured it.
Estimated Price: $4,500 – $6,500
I hope you enjoyed reading about these three rare rimfire rifles from the August 2023 Rock Island Premier Firearms Auction catalog. Some of the other rare rimfire rifles consigned to this auction are the E. Remington & Sons “Improved” New Model Revolving Rifle, Joslyn Model 1862 Breech Loading Saddle Ring Carbine, and E. G. Lamson & Co. Palmer Bolt Action Carbine. August 2023 Rock Island Premier Firearms Auction will be held from August 25 to August 27, 2023.
Images courtesy of Rock Island Auction Company, www.rockislandauction.com
Managing Editor Being a lifelong firearms enthusiast, Hrachya always enjoys studying the history and design of guns and ammunition. Should you need to contact him, feel free to shoot him a message at Hrachya@TheFirearmBlog.com
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Henry needs to bring back .44 Henry Rimfire. At least .44 Henry Centerfire.
Interesting rifles.