Side lever

[Tatume]

Hi Folks,

Can anyone recommend a gunsmith who does a high quality side-lever conversion on a Ruger No. 1? Probably I won't be able to afford it, but I'd like to look into the possibility.

Thanks, Tom

[Artful]

John Madole conversions
Hallowell & Co., Inc., PO Box 1445, Livingston, MT 59047
Tel: 406 222-4770
http://www.hallowellco.com/john_madole%20fraser.htm
http://www.hallowellco.com/mad-fr-full-right.jpg

http://www.hallowellco.com/mad-fr-cased-full.jpg
http://www.hallowellco.com/mad-fr-floorplate-open.jpg


http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/518217/all/Ruger_1_custom_builders_list

[Tatume]

Wow! That's one of the most beautiful rifles I've ever seen.

[Artful]

Go to this thread for a treat on highend guns
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?264737-Holland-and-Holland

[herbert buckland]

I have always wanted a side leaver but could never afford one,shame Ruger does not make a version

[JHeath]

Sorry -- but why? Aesthetics is a good enough reason. Just wondering if there's another.

If I were left-handed, I might convert a perfectly good ambidextrous rifle to left-hand side lever just to thumb my nose at the world. That's a good reason. Want to shoot my fabulous custom side-lever rifle? Deal with it right-hander, now you know what it feels like.

That Madole is *gorgeous*. Taking notes on the forearm and lines of the stock.

[Tatume]

The main justification for side levers is bench shooting, to include varmint shooting. The side lever gun can be reloaded without lifting the rifle from the bags.

My desire stems from hunting, and carrying the rifle in the brush and swamps. Getting the underlever up out of the way has value. However, the practical improvement is slight, and is probably more in the mind of the beholder than in reality.

Is it worth it? I have a Savage M110 for which I paid $180 dollars. That rifle could serve my hunting needs for several lifetimes. So I don't really *need* a side lever falling block rifle. But it certainly is pretty.

Take care, Tom

[JHeath]

Thanks. Thanks a lot. Now I want one. I'll take half of the $11k from my caviar budget and the other from my Italian bespoke shoes allowance for this month.

[dubber123]

Thanks. Thanks a lot. Now I want one. I'll take half of the $11k from my caviar budget and the other from my Italian bespoke shoes allowance for this month.

So next month we should scan the news reports for a starving, shoe less man rampaging about with a very nice rifle?

[MT Chambers]

With these conversions is it necessary for the block to drop below the receiver? I don't see why it couldn't be done with the same amount of drop as factory? I am not a 'smith, for sure.

[Tatume]

The block on unmodified Ruger No. 1 rifles drops below the receiver also. In the unmodified rifle as well as the side lever example above the floor plate lifts the block up by direct action. The unmodified action depends on a clip in the lever to retain its position, while the example above has a ball and detent at the rear of the floor plate.

[country gent]

Ive been drooling over that rifle all day now. I will say That I shoot a remington hepburn in 45-90 and from the bench or sticks the side lever allows the action to be opened easily from position. In prone there is no raising up to make room to work the lever. They are very user friendly.

[bigted]

think ill just have to stay with my rolling block ... but MY what a sexy rifle.

[Reg]

It is real easy to make a rolling block into a side lever !!

[JHeath]

So next month we should scan the news reports for a starving, shoe less man rampaging about with a very nice rifle?

Yes, and brace for the inevitable outcry to ban side lever single shots, which have no place in a civilized society.

[Bigslug]

Yes, and brace for the inevitable outcry to ban side lever single shots, which have no place in a civilized society.

The countermeasure is pretty simple, however. You just need to build some Del Tacos and spread out some broken glass in the areas you need to protect, because it's a well known fact that anyone with a side-lever single shot has no money for real food or shoes.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

That Madole rifle is gorgeous indeed, but do you notice how much larger the thumbpiece is, than on historical sidelever rifles? He is clearly aware that one major limitation of these rifles was that they offer limited extraction leverage. It might not be any big limitation with modern .45-70 cartridges.

The historical rifles to research are the Field and the Deeley and Edge. I think the main reason they enjoyed quite a bit of popularity was that for a while the Farquharson action was available only to George Gibbs of Bristol, under his agreement with Farquharson and Metford.

Beautifully made as it is, the Madoule's hinging part floorplate makes it look like an adaptation. Unless the trigger housing had to project below the action, I think a sidelever falling-block rifle would look better if the block were flush with an uninterrupted receiver bottom. That would retain one advantage of this type of action, the reduced ingress for dirt. I would use a backfacing cutter to make a circular recess in the inside of the action wall. The block would be actuated by an eccentric pin in the rotating spindle, while the lever proper would be fitted on the outside, like a sidelock hammer.

I am amazed that so far as I know, nobody has made a slide-action falling-block single-shot. It could give plenty of mechanical advantage, and it could be made to overcome the one disadvantage of the otherwise nearly ideal Sharps-Borchardt action, namely the fact that it can't be made to lift the firing-pin nose out of the primer indentation before movement of the block begins.

[rbertalotto]

I just bought a Remington Hepburn kit from Upper Missouri Trading Co.

http://images51.fotki.com/v102/photos/2/36012/13555438/RemingtonHepburnKit-vi.jpg

To build one of these:

http://images61.fotki.com/v665/photos/2/36012/13555438/8787753_2_jpgv8CC7EC1980CF050-vi.jpg

The kit will be here tomorrow.......let the filing begin!

[JHeath]

That Madole rifle is gorgeous indeed, but do you notice how much larger the thumbpiece is, than on historical sidelever rifles? He is clearly aware that one major limitation of these rifles was that they offer limited extraction leverage. It might not be any big limitation with modern .45-70 cartridges.

The historical rifles to research are the Field and the Deeley and Edge. . .

Thanks. This is a good thread.

[MtGun44]

Awful pretty rifle, but I have to go with the "So?" compared to the underlever.

But the bench issue is real for a target gun, not so much for a hunting gun.

But it sure is pretty.

JHeath - your shoe budget appears to be a good bit larger than mine. . . . . and I never liked
caviar, so that budget is nil. :bigsmyl2:

Have I mentioned how pretty that rifle is? That fitted case is no slouch, either.

Bill

[JHeath]

Awful pretty rifle, but I have to go with the "So?" compared to the underlever.

But the bench issue is real for a target gun, not so much for a hunting gun.

But it sure is pretty.

JHeath - your shoe budget appears to be a good bit larger than mine. . . . . and I never liked
caviar, so that budget is nil. :bigsmyl2:

Have I mentioned how pretty that rifle is? That fitted case is no slouch, either.

Bill

Bill I respect you too much to let the lie stand. I don't have that kind of money. My shoe budget is a good bit smaller, and my *feet* probably a good bit larger than yours. No caviar around here, although we eat regular including the occasional smelly French cheese (my wife is Quebecoise).

I've got a single shot in my future though. And this thread has me decided to own at least one rifle of uneccessarily high quality. I'll look at the C. Sharps Hepburns due to the above, but will probably forego other wants and set my sights on something like a Dakota No. 10.