Thread: Rolling block extractor advice

I am rebarreling a Remington Rolling block with a rotary extractor and need some advice. The action came with a ruined extractor (altered beyond repair) so I built a new one from scratch. The rifle will be eventually be chambered for 38 special. Anyways, I am finishing up the extractor and was wondering about the thickness of the extractor hook itself. Since the extractor recess will be cutting into the side of the chamber - I was wondering how thick the extractor hook can be and still be safe. In other words how far in front of the cartridge rim can the extractor be? I was planning on making the hook double the thickness of the rim, but when I looked at a couple ruger #1's their recess was cut considerably deeper than that. I would like it to be plenty safe, but dont want the hook to be weak either.

I apologize if this doesnt make sense, and if its unclear I will attempt to draw what I am talking about. Thanks for your time and advice.

The rolling block was designed for older cartridges with thin, soft webs. The Ruger #1 was designed for modern rifle cartridges with thick, hard webs so you can not compare the 2 extractors. It seams to me the claw on the rolling block that push's the rim is only about 1/32nd of an inch thick if memory serves. The simple way would be to call Wisner's and ask them. They make repros so they will probably have some dimensions. Wisner's Inc 360-748-4590

Thanks for the reply. So would you say the 38special falls into the catagory of having a thin soft web?

Section a 30-06 case and a 38 special, what I'm talking about will become quite evident.

Whatever depth the extractor cut is in a revolver cylinder ought to be perfectly safe. Whether that leaves enough meat for a narrow rifle extractor to be durable is another matter.

Originally Posted by wesg

Whatever depth the extractor cut is in a revolver cylinder ought to be perfectly safe. Whether that leaves enough meat for a narrow rifle extractor to be durable is another matter.

That stands to reason, I never see revolver extractors breaking. In all truth you might be able to make it a bit thicker if you wanted to. So long as you don't climb to close to the edge of the web. You should have at least a case wall thickness and a half of web above the extractor for maximum safety. Two thickness's would be better. If you make the extractor cut to deep and go over the web the brass could start to flow and possum belly into the extractor cut. With pistol cartridges it would probably still be quite safe like that, but it would be hard on brass. Also, it would look like hell. Looking like hell is usually worse than unsafe in most peoples minds. Never could figure that out. "I'm dead as a post but boy do I look great!"

Looking like hell is usually worse than unsafe in most peoples minds.

Too much exposure to Hollywood and TV.