New action design nearly done

E

Eric U

Guest
Hi all,

I don't think this will satisfy all of Mr. Calfee's requirements, but it does have front locking lugs and a bottom strike firing pin. No "drop in" loading, but it does have a loading ramp to help guide the round into the chamber. It is 2" shorter than an Anschutz 54, a little bigger in diameter, but still uses an Anschutz trigger. Thread in barrel, but not 3/4" threads. Mine are 15/16"-20. I'm going to use it for international style shooting, if it shoots better than my Anschutz. Hopefully in Beijing next summer. Testing will begin as soon as I get a barrel screwed into it. Total time in the project is in excess of 5 years, from first concept sketches. Machining has been about 14 months, including a little 8 month break I spent in Kuwait last year.

Thanks for all the input and support from those who provided it.
Eric
 

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Eric's new action

Very nice looking job, congratulations. Any projected time frame on when you could possibly start marketing your action? Please keep everyone posted.
Rod
 
Looks great

Nice work Eric. I'm pleased to see it with the Anschutz trigger.
 
Your New RF Action-

Eric-
Wow,nice,
I can add my bolt handle and custom bolt knob.
What brrel will you use?
What stock?
Action bolts in front of trigger.?
Really a nice job Mr Eric...
Luck in Beijing
 
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Rem37reduced_Custom_.jpg
 
I like the your action (very much!). Clean and compact. For such a short action, would'nt the bolt bind when extracting an unfired round?
 
My observation

Looks like there is only one action screw in front of the trigger. The other is in the tang. Also appears to be a recoil grove just behind the front action screw. I'de like to see a longer action, with the bedding screw in front of the trigger as well, but let's wait and see how this one plays out. Excellent choice of trigger.
 
You benchrest people have Larry Cook, Kirk Gaston, Dan Killough, Joe Freidrich, etc as your heroes...

....well us prone shooters have Sgt. Eric Uptagraft for our hero.

Nice stuff.

Hose
 
Eric,
Nice action! I'd like to see pics of the bolt. Did you say it had front locking lugs and a six oclock firing pin? That's interesting!
 
To address a few questions:

By choosing to use the Anschutz trigger, I was stuck with putting the 2nd action screw behind the trigger. The trigger itself is more than half the length of the action. If I put both screws in front of the trigger, they would be little more than an inch apart. That doesn't mean I can't try something else later. I like the short action. Because it isn't cut out across the top like Anschutz/Walther/FWB/Bleiker, this action is very stiff by comparison. Also, with the front locking lugs, the overall length naturally became 2" shorter than a 54, with the loading port 2" further to the rear. This should help with junior shooters and shorter people. This feature is important for us position style shooters, where being able to load the rifle without taking the butt plate out of the shoulder can only help with consistency and score. This is just a prototype right now, and all design features are subject to change. I've already got quite the list of changes and improvements for prototype #2. Some for functionality, some to ease construction. I may revisit this later.

Can't really show the bolt design right now. If this thing works like I hope it will, the bolt is the heart of this design. Don't want to reveal those details before it is necessary.

I'm going to be shooting/testing this action for the next several months. I will then be applying lessions learned to prototype #2, #3, etc. At the same time, I'm attempting to get back into the Army and back to the AMU. With moving, training, travel, there wouldn't be much chance to even begin producing anything until next fall. This is all contingent on this action/rifle shooting better than what I've got (which is pretty good). I won't go through the trouble of trying to sell something that isn't actually an improvement on what is already out there. That said, the reason I started down this approximately $75000 path (so far) is that I can't seem to find another rifle out there that is as good as the Anschutz I've already got. And believe me, I've tried. What happens when that rifle finally loses its accuracy? I've only got about 130,000 rounds through it so far, so I'm sure I have nothing to worry about, right?

Plenty of room to extract/eject a loaded round.

I plan on using a Benchmark two-groove barrel, and an Anschutz 1813 stock, the same as what I've been shooting for the last 24 years (the stock that is). If the Benchmark doesn't work, I've got a couple of Lilja's and a Hart waiting in the wings.

More details: 5.75" long, 1.3" diameter, bolt is .6875" dia. Action is 17-4 stainless RC 36, and the bolt is 4141 RC 43. It has the standard Anschutz sight dovetail on top. Bolt lift is 75 degrees to clear our iron sight windage knob.

Thanks for all your comments and questions,
Eric
 
Your Action

Thanks for the info.
Maybe before your time,but the Morgan & Benny actions were both "short"
actions.They won plenty.
What size barrel are you going to use? If you would like to post on a Prone forum send me a private message.

Thanks,and good look with "your new action".:)
 
Eric U

Eric,
I just read your shooting resume. Hap Rocketto supplied the info.
Out standing.
For sure you undersand what is needed in a match rifle.
I wish you luck
Larry E
Host
TCR Forum
 
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great design for prone

The vertical alignment of the trigger, bolt and loading port is ideal. It is amazing that the most popular actions in use today were not designed with any consideraton of human factors. Great job.

I wish you luck getting this into production.
 
The Action

It would be nice to be able to touch one. It does seem a lot of thought
went into it.Early on Karl Kenyon,made RF Actions...no two were alike.Always thinking. I also wonder the size barrel he will hang from this action. :)
 
The Benchmark barrel I have is 26" long, and tapers from 1.1" at the breech to .9" at the muzzle. Kind of a shallow Palma taper. The Lilja barrels I have are 1" straight if I remember correctly, also 26" long.

Eric
 
Your Rifle

Well get it put together so we can really see it.
Have you tried the 3-groove from BM or Lilja ?
. :)
 
Updates....

So, here we are a few months later, and still no shots fired. There has been some progress, though. As I type this, my house is in disarray, as I'm moving back to the Ft. Benning area to shoot at the AMU again. Over the last few months, I built four new actions, incorporating the lessons learned from building the first one. I also figured out the extractor issue. I knew that for at least 4-6 months I would be without machines after the move, so I put furter prototype building ahead of working up a rifle. There have been a few hiccups along the way. The guy I hired to braze my bolt handles on boogered up the job, actually melting one of the bolts. The other one didn't come out well enough to use either, so I sent the rest to Bruce Thom so a professional could braze them on. So...I have three 4140 actions, and another 17-4 one, but only three bolts after Bruce finishes them. When I get to the AMU, I'm going to have one of the gunsmiths there build me up a rifle and we'll see how things go.

There...all the update you could ask for. I'll let everyone know results when I get something more to report.

Eric
 
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