A special note regarding Swedish rolling block rifles:  There are exceptions to almost every rule in every variation of Swedish rolling block!  The rifles were sold off in large numbers at the turn of the 20th century to the Swedish civilian population and spent almost all of the 20th century in the hands of Swedish civilian shooters, who were not averse to modifying them to suit their various needs.  Indeed, one influential author specifically recommended rebarreling Remington-manufactured rifles with Swedish barrels in order to achieve the highest levels of competitive target shooting accuracy, and many of those rebarreled rifles are found today.

  The standard, newly-manufactured Swedish and Norwegian M1867 Rolling Block rifles are almost identical.  Both are chambered for a rimfire 12.17mm (.50 caliber) cartridge and, at 1 358 mm (53.45 in) overall, with a barrel length of 952 mm (37.5 in), are so long as to only likely to be confused with the Remington made Model 1871 militia rifles (for example the New York State militia Rolling Block). Because of the deep 3-groove rifling of the 12mm Swedish barrels, the muzzle of Swedish rolling blocks have the distinct appearance of being hexagonal.  However, despite appearances, the bore is indeed round.

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  The first 3,000 Norwegian rifles were built in Sweden at Husqvarna, further complicating distinguishing them from one another.  Additionally, the varieties of Swedish Rolling Block rifles are also very similar upon initial inspection and are distinguished primarily by the differences of their details, which are extensively discussed below.

  Unlike the American militia Remingtons, and except for the earliest Swedish rifles that were fully manufactured by Remington, all of the Swedish and Norwegian rifles are marked with a crown over a large initial indicating where manufactured or assembled, and year of manufacture(other than Husqvarna, which exhibits a large "H" but no crown).  All 12.17mm Swedish rolling block rifles have bar extractors and breech blocks with concave bases and are fitted with rear sights initially graduated in Alen, which are likely to have been re-marked in meters.

  The presence of unit markings in the left side of the buttstock also helps to distinguish Swedish rolling blocks from the Norwegian rifles which generally did not have such unit markings.  Many, but by no means all, Swedish rifles (and not many of the Swedish Conversions rifles) have been fitted with 30 mm diameter inletted brass stock disks retained with two brass screws, but many also have had their unit markings burnt into the stock.  Not surprisingly, given the nature of Swedish rolling blocks, rifles are also commonly found with brass disks inletted directly over earlier burnt unit markings or simply having no such markings at all.  (By contrast, M1867 Danish Remington rolling block rifles were fitted with considerably smaller (15mm diameter) unit disks screwed into the right side of the buttstock.)