doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com british falling block action designs and patents

Thanks brent. If i was to come across an action design that was simple enough then yes i would like to try a scratch build. Bolt actions etc my be easier to do , but with the exception of double rifles nothing has the class of a falling block imho.

Well, the Fraser seems pretty simple to me (but I couldn't machine a toothpick). It is strong and smooth to operate (the one or two that I have handled).

Steve Earl may have plans he would be willing to sell someone for a one-off project. No harm in asking anyway.

English singles are pretty elegant, but I think it is one area where the American actions hold their own, maybe even with a margin to spare. If Winchester Singleshots weren't so dirt common, they would have become the most prized singleshot of all time. In my opinion of course

Brent

You could be right brent , but i have never seen a winchester single shot in the flesh. Ruger no.1's are reasonably common, certainly not rare but are a classic in their own lifetime again imho. The best way of course to get a design or drawing of an action is to sit down with an action and measure every last detail and constructing a model in solidworks or something like that. Sadly 100+ year old actions aren't exactly thick on the ground.

bonny,
What are your machining abilities, I mean what is your experience?
The reason I ask is because I did the designs for a fraser type gun a number of years ago and built it. I have shown a picture of it on here in old threads, you may want to search. If interested we can discuss. I am not interested in any pay for what I have but if this is your first time machining something it may be not the right place to start. But if you can tackle then let me know.

I worked in engineering all my working life and served an apprenticeship at it lrf and have my own milling machine and lathe, as well as tig welding kit and a good collection of the usual hand tools and tooling you accumulate over the years. Cutting a square hole for the block is no problem as i know a toolmaker who has access to wire edm facilities.

I will send you a PM with my phone number and call me so we can talk.

I have a Rod Story,Shawnee,Oklahoma Jeffery Farquarson "kit" made from investment castings and requires a lot of machine work from what I have been told. Would be interested in selling. Will P.M. my phone number.

Bonny,

Over 45 years ago I wrote to all of the then still extant British Gunmakers, asking if they had plans for their old single shot rifles. Quite a few replied but all said they no longer had them. In many instances some actions were scaled up or down in size depending on the cartridge required by the customer.

Thanks to Wal Winfer we now know a good many Gun Makers didn't make their own actions but ordered them in from Greener, Francotte etc.

Never rely on any plans on Patent Applications, firstly they are not dimensioned, second, they seldom bear more than a passing resemblance to the production item. Plans for British single shot rifles are not commonly available and people who do attempt to make them have to have access to an original action to 'back engineer'. However don't let me put you off, there's not a finer feeling that to shoot a rifle you have built yourself from scratch.

British single shot actions are not at all common, and when they do appear they command high prices because they were not made in vast numbers, except for those that were for the military of the British Empire and they were mostly Martini-Henry's or 310 Martini Cadets.

Wal Winfers books I understand have recently been republished so they should be priced less than some people were offering the first editions for a year or two ago. They are very well worth having. I wouldn't part with my set of seven volumes.

Good luck with your quest,

Harry

Thanks for the reply harry. Yes i realize that what i was looking for is needle in a haystack rare. All the design drawings for all the british manufacturers would probabily have fitted in one slim folder and lets face it , when these companies were closing up during the post war slump in british gunmaking these drawings were considered worthless.
As for the winfer series of books on single shots, do you have a link to a publisher or somewhere who will be selling the new run ? I did find some in a specialist book sellers in america , but they were expensive with a capital e.

Amazon.com, average about 60.00