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scb
09-02-2007, 02:33 PM
I hope that this is not too far off topic. Not really about cast bullets.
Does anyone know the final fate of the Falling Block Works? The last I had heard was that one of the principles in the company had thoughts of reviving it after he had retired.
I had built several rifles on these actions (and have been talked out of all of them). I thought that for the money they were an excellent action. It would be too bad if they just passed into oblivion. Thanks for any info you might have and taking the time to read this.
Steve

Bent Ramrod
09-02-2007, 07:34 PM
Steve,

My info is probably 15 years out of date. In the mid-to-late 80's I went to Troy MI looking for the FBW factory (had finally decided to buy a Model K action) and, after an afternoon of fruitless searching, was told they had relocated to Washington state. A little while later, the news came (I think it was in Rifle Magazine) that the Fix brothers were out of the action business per se, but were making a single-shot pistol. (The action of the pistol illustrated looked very much like a Model K). And then I heard (again, it must have been in the "industry news" section of Rifle Magazine or some such) that the company was out of business entirely. This last news was in the early-to-mid 90's.

It is too bad the actions aren't still being produced. The design was very good and very simple, and the metal was extremely tough and strong. I had a little trouble getting the burrs off the threads on my Model S action so I could get it barreled; they were very tough to file.

The company's move and demise came just ahead of the explosion in BPCR silhouette popularity. All I can think is that they must have saturated the available market at the time, and decided to quit. I don't see many FBW rifles for sale at gun shows, and have only seen a couple of actions for sale over the course of thirty years.

scb
09-03-2007, 12:41 PM
Thanks for your reply. I was afraid this was the case. BTW there is a rifle built on a K action on gunbroker. IMHO the guy wants way too much for it, especially considering the shoddy work that was done on it. You can buy a brand new Ruger #1 for less and throw the barrel away.

Idaho Sharpshooter
09-03-2007, 05:04 PM
along similar, and equally obscure, lines; did you know that the Wickliffe 76 actions are back in production? One came in the mail Saturday.

Rich
DRSS

scb
09-03-2007, 07:57 PM
No. I wasn't aware of that. I'm not very familiar with that action. Is that the one that had a "rack and gear" type system that raised and lowered the block?

Bent Ramrod
09-05-2007, 09:33 PM
The "rack and pinion" block rifle was the Riedl. Not very many of those were made. The Wickliffe was more widely distributed; it looked sort of like a Stevens 44-1/2.

scb
09-05-2007, 10:28 PM
Thats right, the Riedl. I think I've only seen one of them. A guy I was in school with at Trinidad had one.