Arming God’s Battalions: a Papal States Rolling Block

Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! The Remington Rolling Block was a very popular rifle in the 1860s and 1870s, and probably would have been a better choice than the Trapdoor Springfield for the US military. But among the nations that did adopt is were the Papal States. While Vatican City is a tiny sovereign enclave today in Rome, in the 1800s the Pope directly controlled a much larger area, roughly the size of Switzerland early in the 1800s. Three different models of Rolling Block were adopted by the Papal States in the effort to rebuild their military after a serious defeat in 1860 - rifles, carbines, and musketoons - the latter being what we have today. All three were made by the Nagant Brothers in Liege and can be identified by the Papal crest (the crossed keys of St Peter) on the top of the barrel. Westley Richards in