Has anyone ever made a falling block action? I've seen books on doing this and was curious if anyone has tried this? Any ideas? Thanks

Machining falling-block receivers can be quite difficult on conventional machines. Using wire EDM would seem like a good idea to me.

JV is refering to the square corners of the breech block mortise. You can make up a solid bar that is small enough to go into the rough hole. Then using the quill on a bridgeport type mill. You can scrape .002" per pass to square up the corners.

My self, I would just spin my mill's mast and use the slotting head I have on the end of the ram. Most of the mill's have that flat round end on the ram with a hole in it. Bridgeport made a slotting head that mounts there. You can find used slotting heads here on the west coast for 800$ to 1200$.

I use mine all the time to cut the inside corners out of the inside my triggerguards.

There is a copy of plans out there that use a round breech block.

Jim Wisner

I dont think it is wise to have square corners on the breech block mortise regardless of what might be currently done.

Jim- I have one of those Bridgeport shaping heads also. Damn neat tool. I have some original bridgeport shaper tools for it also. I'm planning on building a scaled up Ruger number 1 action for my 12 Ga from hell project and plan to use it to square the corners of the falling block mortise.-Rob

Rob... are you planning to use the coil spring design with forend hanger? Here at home I am working on a Farq. on Solid works program. The scale is for 577/600 N.E. I would like to get it done this semester so I can start on at least one this year. Any way I crunch them, the numbers look bleak as far as being profitable... did I tell you I am slow?

I started one, then went on to ther things and never finished it. To make the square hole for the breech block I used a big key cutter. That left an opening in the back behind the breech block. The amount holding the block against backthrust is about a half inch on either side, running the lenght of the block. The opening was to be filled with the tang and grip frame to be made as one piece and it too was to be slid into a square notch running parallel to the breech block. the tang assemble was to hold the hammer and trigger. Making it one piece made it easiar to use a through bolt for the stock. I had not worked out how to fix the firing mechanisin into place, pinned, braized or tig welded. The block rises at an slight angle foreward giving camming foreward power to seat cartridges. The hammer slips under the block to give a rolling block lock up, as well as the link camming over center. The thing is a sort of hybrid of a high wall, Stevens 44 1/2, Rolling block.

A shaper would have been nicer than the key cutter and mill.

Matt I have a 02 version. Solid works can be very hard to "get" a copy of for a student. Even in some departments at school use solid works on a Date sensetive bases, and it will delete itself in time. As you probably know, solid works can cost money per "seat". I love working on it though... it is more user friendly then other programs I have used, and it has some great engineering aspects to it with material information. Also interactive parts realy helps you find buggaboos.
The reason my actions probably wont be very profitiable is that I am ....... slow..... in more ways then one Alot of work I do now I do by hand fitting. Ill have to slide a HAAS in somewhere sometime
I looked at your site and was glad to see the use of the HAAS, few people in the gun industry, including industry, use such machines. Your company is a good example of why knowledge and technology, even in a small shop, can take you far. A machine like a HAAS is not top of the line, but a very good machine, and is affordable down the road. A mans got to take a risk. I believe one of the biggest stumbling blocks for the small shop, is not so much the money, but the learning curve of technology.

BTW... you wouldnt have a spare 700 bottom metal you dropped on the floor would you?

Long action, or short action? How big a drop?? I probably have a couple you could use for a blind box setup

I like the Haas for it's economic benefits, but I'll probably be going back to Mazak before to long. If you've never programmed CNC machines, Mazak has the best language going called Mazatrol. It lack a little in the versatility of the programs that you can create, but more than makes up for it in the efficency in which you program. Programs that take me 2-3 hours to write on the Haas, takes me normally about 20 minutes or less on the Mazak. The learning curve is far less with the Mazak than it is with the Haas or other G-code machines. You really don't know what you're doing on a CNC until you've got at least seven years of hard core programming and setup on a variety of different jobs with a G-code machine. I can normally train someone with potential how to make a living on a Mazak in about 6months to a year, but they really have to apply themselves and hit the books hard on speeds and feeds.
But, no matter what language you program the machines in, what makes or brakes the shop, is how you fixture the work. You can't approach the job like you would on a Bridgeport. Being able to machine mulitiple surfaces in the same setup, and sometimes with the same tool, qualifies the part's accuracy, as well as making the part more efficiently. These are things that you won't get taught in school. The only school that I attended for this was the school of hard knocks.