Is this not a thing of great beauty?

http://steveearleproducts.com/fraser.html

How sweet ! It certainly would make a nice addition to my single shot rifles !

Glen Fewless had that action on his table at the DSC show. Simply stunning

Bill, you are a very bad influence. Now I have another gun to start saving for. I am thinking that this would be the action to build a .360 No. 2 or a .375 Flanged on.

Nice. Would be a nice .303 Brit-rifle.
But such "ideas" are toooo expensive for me.

Martin

Im not sure If I'm allowed to post a link to another forum, my apologies if not...but if you havn't seen this you should!

http://forums.nitroexpress.com...&page=2&fpart=1&vc=1

I've heard the one weak point to this action is the extraction, apparently its pretty weak and even unreliable. Does anyone know how bad this issue is and if anything can be done to improve it?

Ross Seyfried wrote an article about a Frasier falling block several years ago for rifle magazine Believe it was a 400 BPE. The inside of the actions were plated with gold, so the action would function smoother.

I think I could find a way to live with weak extraction on a rifle that looked like that. A big rimmed case with low pressure loads should be a big help.

Matabele, thank you! Gorgeous rifle.
And don't worry; Saeed does not get his shorts in a twist when someone links to another forum. Wish all forum owners were so relaxed.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Scott:
I think I could find a way to live with weak extraction on a rifle that looked like that. A big rimmed case with low pressure loads should be a big help.

Thats the problem, with a few "older" breech block actions. I know a few older Heeren-Rifles, rechambered or rebarreld to Magnum rounds or rounds like the 6,5x65R/68R. The biggest I saw, was a .458Win Mag. And with every it´s the same, nearly no way to extract the empty case without a hammer.
Such actions are made for low pressure rounds.

Martin

You should see his Frank Wesson Long Range #1 action. I have one sitting in its box out in my shop. I sold my Wickliffe this past week, and the $$$ is going to get my gunsmith started on the
Wesson. Another 38-90 (think 9,3x74R's parent case), that will be going to Africa next summer.

It has been a marvelous run, building rifles for African hunts the last four years.

I hope to make one more trip...

Rich, that Wesson action is a thing of great beauty as well. In my own opinion, it makes a Sharps look like a Hi-Point. You have wonderfully good taste. Wish you a wonderful return to Africa, and good health!

Wow! That's really nice... almost so nice I have to have one... or maybe I do?

Nice little 6mm of some kind for roebuck in Europe maybe?

After some more thought - more than I should be doing - how about a nice little 25-06? I am having trouble gauging from the photos / description how massive the action is... does anyone have one to weigh?

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Scott:
I think I could find a way to live with weak extraction on a rifle that looked like that. A big rimmed case with low pressure loads should be a big help.

Like this one of mine?



600 Nitro Express is low pressure! It's available for sale also.

I will be selling my .600 single soon. It's an original Jeffery from 1916. I'm a doubles man, I guess.
Cal

Mike:
If you sell your .600, I'll buy your Woodleigh bullets.
Cal

Buy the rifle get the bullets free!

Mike:
Why you selling?
Cal

Funding for other adventures!

Another double barreled single shot of course!

I actually asked Steve if they Fraser could be had in left hand. It looked simple enough to put the lever on the other side of the pin, but he said it was a lot of work and not economical. OH well, guess I'll stick with Highwalls and No 1s.

It is a very good thing that people like Steve build us these wonderful actions. The world is a better place for these craftsmen and women.

I am with loud-n-boomer, this action cries for the classics such as 300 or 375 H&H Flanged, 400/350 Rigby, 333 Jeffery Flanged or the early mentioned 360 No.2.
Does someone have an experience with Mr. Earle workmanship?

CZ

When I lived in Canada I bought an original Fraser single shot rifle in 303 British at auction in England for 100 pounds sterling ($265
in Canada at the time).

It was a beautiful rifle, but would not extract a fired factory .303 round without beating the extraction lever open with a rubber hammer or pounding a cleaning rod through the bore.

Definitely not practical for daily use.

There were lots of Fraser collector's even back then, so in less than a year I put it up for sale at a Clgary, Alberta gun show. A fellow from B.C. almost tore his pocket off less than an hour into the show, to buy it for my asking price of $2,300.

I don't know what it may have possibly brought if I had asked more, but I was astounded by the almost 800% profit it DID bring.

To me, as a user rather than a collector it was virtually worthless.

With a smooth polished chamber and clean ammo extraction should be no problem with any design.

Look at the Remington rolling block, the Trap Door Springfield and the 1874 Sharps and all the break open guns that just eject with a spring.

As usual, "should be" and "is" relate to two entirely different worlds. One describes theory, and the other describes fact.