Originally Posted By: LRF
Harry,

I would be interested in knowing more about what Lozito-Wolf did to retain the BB and lever in the closed position?
My design is basically an internal spring which applies pressure to what you think would try to force the breech block down but in fact because the lever and link are just a tiny bit over center the spring force causes the lever to be pulled up and tight to the closed position.


Hello Lynn,

Little is given away by Lozito-Wolf, they merely say they have improved the lever spring by fitting a spring loaded roller to the front of the action which bears upon the front end of the lever. I presume this design is 'Patented'. A styalised picture of their action can be seen here:-

http://www.lozito-wolf.com/1878.html

The small protrusion on the lower front of the action it the new spring housing. It looks to me as it it is simply a screwed in item, containing a coil spring and a captive steel ball of a suitable diameter (rather like the spring loaded ball catch used on internal house and cupboard doors some years ago). Very little movement of the spring loaded ball would be necessary when the lever is used, probably no more than 1/8" or 3/16" in all. The idea is so simple I'm very surprised no one has thought of it before.

I presume in the Lozito-Wolf design that the breechblock position is maintained the same way as the original Sharps design, by an over the centre link connected to the breech block and the lever and kept in position when the breech block is closed by pressure on the lever from the new spring loaded ball design.

I would be interested in seeing any improvements you can come up with, there's always room for new and bright ideas in the single shot action world.

Sadly it's too late to make a copy of that spring loaded ball replacement to fit onto my action, I've machined too much metal away to make one fit. Still my action was intended to be a true copy of the original Borchardt. Perhaps I'll make another some day and use all the new modifications available, lol. I should live that long.

Harry

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