Does GMA manufacturer more than rifle actions?
I understand some are waiting 18+ months for a action they ordered . Is there really that much demand for a GMA action? Or is GMA manufacturing more profitable items first and the rifle actions are only made when they have free time?
Are the actions worth the wait?

I ordered a GMA action through my rifle builder late spring of 2019. I was informed today that it is now ready for delivery. I did ask for a left hand standard magnum action for a .404 Jeffery with G33/40 style lighting cuts and a couple other features which may have resulted in a longer delivery time.

Are they worth the wait? For me, yes.

My GMA Express Magnum with 3 shot magazine for 375H&H took about four months back in the early 2000s. A great action well worth the wait. It is a true Mauser. With the recoil lug in the proper place. I believe this is the only product GMA makes. Mine became a 338 RUM - it is my favorite rifle with over 650 rounds through it - no problems.
Dave

quote:

Originally posted by Alec Torres:
I ordered a GMA action through my rifle builder late spring of 2019. I was informed today that it is now ready for delivery. I did ask for a left hand standard magnum action for a .404 Jeffery with G33/40 style lighting cuts and a couple other features which may have resulted in a longer delivery time.



Are they worth the wait? For me, yes.

Alec,
If I was left handed, I too would wait for a action like yours. Should make a perfect action for you .404 Jeffrey. I am just surprised of the 18 month order lead time , probably will keep me from ordering a action.

Short answer is yes, they are a machine shop that produces other parts than just actions. Like you said, actions aren't the most profitable product for the amount of time invested.
IMO a GMA action is certainly worth the wait. If you give them a call John can give you an idea of what the lead time is right now for the action you'd like. I ordered one back in February that should be done in the next week or so (considerably shorter than 18 months). I also picked up another one off of gunsinternational a couple weeks ago for another project. If you need an action quickly and the stars align, that would be the best way to do it.

I'd be interested in hearing reports about later GMA actions being "caliber ready" Do the feed, function out of the box?

Not in my experience. They require work for proper feed and function, most guys like to re-shape the trigger bow, and of course they require polishing. I still think they're worth it.

Yeah...no condemnation for GMA, but it's refreshing to get an action made by a real gunnmaker....feeds and functions right out of the box. That would be a Satterlee.

My Satterlie was top of the heap!

How many hours are required to get a new GMA action to feed and function properly? Does the bottom metal , safety shroud, and trigger bow require shaping too? How many hours are required to polish the action?
Sounds like a lot of extra time and expense to get the GMA actions into a working action.

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
My Satterlie was top of the heap!

“Was”? Has Stuart stopped producing actions?

It really depends on the cartridge going into it, but it usually only takes a couple hours to get to feed and function properly. In regards to shaping the trigger bow, you could leave it just how it is however there's a lot of extra meat on there that will look better if you contour it. The rest of the action has been stoned but a gun maker will usually bring it up to a better finish, break sharp edges, etc. All told, I usually spend a day getting the action ready.
Duane: I couldn't agree more that Stuart's actions are a joy to work with. I've only built one rifle on his action, but it required zero additional work. Fed and functioned flawlessly.

quote:

Originally posted by 4WD:
How many hours are required to get a new GMA action to feed and function properly? Does the bottom metal , safety shroud, and trigger bow require shaping too? How many hours are required to polish the action?
Sounds like a lot of extra time and expense to get the GMA actions into a working action.

Doing it in a couple hours tells me you move right along!!!

quote:

Originally posted by 4WD:

Alec,
If I was left handed, I too would wait for a action like yours. Should make a perfect action for you .404 Jeffrey. I am just surprised of the 18 month order lead time , probably will keep me from ordering a action.

The lead time may well have been due to the fact that I ordered a standard magnum length, but a small ring version with G33/40 features... A 'stretched' G33/40 I guess you could call it. I did this because I see no need for extra metal in an action intended for a .404 Jeffery, which is a relatively low pressure cartridge. After all hundreds of .404's were built on standard Mauser actions.

I ordered a left hand G33/40 and sent them a barrel, bottom metal and Talley scope rings. They fitted the barrel, machined the bridges for the rings, and farmed out the “make it feed” work and the heat treatment. It took about a year. I’m stocking it now.

they don't do their own heat treatment?

Has anyone received one lately? I sent my deposit in late 2021 and it’s been crickets ever since.

Sounds to me as though it might be beneficial if you folks got together to do a group order. I would imagine that there are at least a few things that can be done the same on a stack of blocks of steel in building those actions Would save having to build up and tear down some of the same set ups separately for each action

Good idea..all you gotta do is: Find 10 guys that want a LH short action G 33-40 type with drop box and square bridge round ring ..... piece of cake...


I'm in the middle of a seven rifle project...Only two these actions can and will be "close to" identical

That's why it's "custom"


In that vein....Might be worthwhile to look at he endless variants available from FZH

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
My Satterlie was top of the heap!

“Was”? Has Stuart stopped producing actions?

I did not see anyone answer that....Stuart is absolutely "BUSY AS HELL" I'd personally rate his actions as way ahead of the pack..Numero Uno! About all you gotta do is install a barrel and polish it to Stuart's level.

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by butchlambert:
My Satterlie was top of the heap!

“Was”? Has Stuart stopped producing actions?

I did not see anyone answer that....Stuart is absolutely "BUSY AS HELL" I'd personally rate his actions as way ahead of the pack..Numero Uno! About all you gotta do is install a barrel and polish it to Stuart's level of perfection

As I type I have six GMA actions on the bench in various states of rifle completion and am waiting on two more to arrive soon. They produce more actions per year than you might think and that creates quite the backlog. It's a two to three man shop and much of the work is hand fitted. I've been buying from John for 17 years and it's always been a lengthy wait time. I currently have two Satterlee's and the wait time for them was about the same.

I'm in a similar situation. Five GMAs on the bench and four others on order. I'll order the action way ahead of when I'm planning to start the rifle so even if it takes a year or so the timing usually works out. John's phenomenal to work with. If I'm running up against a deadline he'll work with me to get one out asap.
He just upgraded one of his machines and he's thinking it's going to cut production time down and help with the backlog.

quote:

Originally posted by Bitterroot:
As I type I have six GMA actions on the bench in various states of rifle completion and am waiting on two more to arrive soon. They produce more actions per year than you might think and that creates quite the backlog. It's a two to three man shop and much of the work is hand fitted. I've been buying from John for 17 years and it's always been a lengthy wait time. I currently have two Satterlee's and the wait time for them was about the same.

Good to know, thanks guys. No giant hurry in my end, was just curious since I hadn’t heard anything.

Posts like this make me want to put a deposit down just because..

If any of you lefties are in a rush, First Stop in SD has a LH Dakota 76 African action for sale for $2,595.

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
If any of you lefties are in a rush, First Stop in SD has a LH Dakota 76 African action for sale for $2,595.

Gee, I would have thought that the action itself costs more than that?

For whoever is interested. On Gunsinternational item # 102343130. Is an FZH LH double square bridge Mauser action for sale. $5,100. Not affiliated in any way.

Standard or magnum?

Mag

Okay, maybe I am extremely naive, but is it wrong to pay upwards of $3200 for an action and expect it to work properly? Sort of like buying a new Ram truck, then having to take it to a mechanic and have them do several hundred dollars, or more, of work on it so that it drives properly. Of my larger bore rifles, my CZ550 416 Rigby functions and feeds perfectly, my 602 in 375 the same, my pre64 M70 375 also the same. Now they may not feed and function to a level demanded by some, but for me, I load the magazine, shoot, cycle the bolt and repeat, with no issues. The only rifle I really ever had issues with was a Ruger RSM in 416 Rigby. Could not get it to feed the second round. Sold that one to a person who was building a 505 Gibbs, so he was well aware of the issues with it. Anyway, again, just curious.

Well, I've had to have countless things fixed on my Ram, and some of them they wouldn't/couldn't fix. Like it still doesn't have anti lock brakes.

Regarding the action.... If they sell it as needing feed work done, then no I would not expect that. If they sell it as not needing feed work, then I would expect that. Their website doesn't specifically say either.... If I was spending $3200 on an action with a significant wait time, I'd want to nail that down, which I suspect, when you order that gets discussed.

I've seriously looked at making Mauser actions. I've made a lot of the parts for Mauser actions. $3200 is cheap to me, especially for the low volume. There are so many aspects of making a rifle feed. Box geometry and feed rail geometry mean you need different programs for every cartridge. Can it be done, absolutely. Will the custom gun industry pay for it, absolutely not.

So it comes down to producing a "pseudo" standard product, that is most of the way done, allowing the custom gun maker to tune to whatever cartridge is the whim and fancy of the week.