doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Single shot actions

What is the best designed vintage action for a hunting rifle? For American designs, I'd nominate the Winchester 1885.

Bill, that would be my choice, but arguments can be made for others too. And so I have several, but the 85 Winchester is really, really hard to beat. Very simple action, easily taken apart though it does require a screw driver. Cams the cartridge home if necessary, does not have to be cocked to lower the block, and comes up cocked when closed. Can be quite lightweight, even with a long barrel. It is my first choice in hunting and target rifles. I have several.

Close comers however are
1. Ballard #5 Pacific. Particularly nice because it carries a wiping rod. That is so useful Gemmer Sharps, Trapdoors, and Rollers emulate this feature, so it can be had on on others. I hunt an original Pacific often in the West and Alaska. Downside is that it does not cam in a sticky shell and cannot be disassembled easily in the field if you need to.

2. 1874 Sharps. Of all rifles, none are more easily field stripped. Not an essential feature but it can be nice if you end up in the drink with your gun. It does cam in a shell to some extent, but that is also somewhat limited. I have hunted my Shiloh all over, including Africa.

3. 1884 Trapdoor sporter. I don't own one of these, but I think I should. Definitely will seat a shell, may not extract too well. Doesn't wipe easily from the breach either, but I still would like to have one someday. Maybe.

Brent, Thanks for your reply. If I were choosing a second place design, I'd go with the Sharps Borchardt . The Ballard, '74 Sharps and the trapdoor all suffer from either weakness or excessive weight or both.

How about British and continental designs?

I have a Borchardt. One of the most overrated rifles ever in my opinion. I don't know why everyone loves them. They take a really talented gunsmith to make the trigger acceptable (lucky for me, I know such a person), but even then, they are heavy, very difficult to disassemble and reassemble, and have no camming action on the cartridge to speak of. Extraction is fair as I recall.

I think the Ballard is much better than Borchardt. At least it is for me, but that's why we have so many choices.

I don't have enough knowledge to speak about Euro rifles. I did own a Martini 577-450 sporter that was probably a "guild gun". It was a bear to make shoot accurately, but probable just needed a custom mould that I was too cheap to commit to.

Strangely, I love American rifles but Euro shotguns. and I have almost none of the opposite combinations.

Brent, that moose and the Ballard make me rethink my rankings. Good on ya. Bill PS: As to the Borchardt, why would you want to take it apart?

The #5 is hard to beat for a really effective rifle, but, of course, Ballards are not the most robust design. Since I only shoot blackpowder, that's really not an issue.

The Ballard is also affordable. I could ever afford a 100% original Sharps that is in good enough shape that I would hunt with it. I could find a roller, but I am not much of a fan of them for some reason.

The gold standard of the British falling block action is the Farquharson, and is the action all the rest are compared to. It is an excellent action. The Fraser is a very fine action and is my personal favorite, but I am a sucker for anything in a side lever. The Westley Richards Model '81 and '97 are both good actions, the '97 being a under lever version of the earlier side lever '81.

Perhaps the handsomest of all the British action is the Holland and Woodward action produced by Holland and Holland. It came out at the end of the falling block actions heyday and so is not a very common action. The third variation of the action is a really fine action.

The last to see the light of day was the Webley 1902, easily recognized by its odd looking under lever.

The Farquharson, both Westley Richards, the Fraser, and the Webley designs were also produced as miniature actions.

There were of course a number of other actions that were produced. One example is the Field patent action which was in production from the 1870s to the turn of the century and pretty much every house in Great Britain built rifles on it. Scott and Holland were among those. The Peabody/ Martini action is another commonly used action.

The British market preferred hammerless actions. The only commercially successful hammer action that comes to mind is the excellent Alexander Henry. It is a most handsome and graceful action.

Glenn, I agree the Farquharson is the one that sets the bar. I'm curious why no one, to m y knowledge, has made a modern copy of the Holland Woodward. One of my regrets is missing the chance to own one. I wish Steve Earle would take it on. I like the Fraser too. Comparing the simplicity of the 1885 Winchester with the more complicated British designs makes me appreciate the genius of Browning's action, but the profile of a Farquharson or a Fraser is hard to match for sheer elegance.