Years ago I bought one of Rodney Stories Farquharson casting sets. I was naïve enough to believe that if in the golden years of yesterday a man with a hand file and good window light could create an action then I was surely up to the task. What I forgot in that assessment is that talent, supervision and a multi-year apprenticeship were also required to produce that action.

After working on the casting set for a while and coming to nothing good, I took a single shot metalsmithing class offered by Trinidad State Junior College in Colorado. I had a very talented and patient instructor. About 7 years later after mostly 2 week long summer courses I finished the action, barreled it and am now close to finishing the stock. Then lots of metal polishing (again!).

The things that I learned along the way are:
1. It is not a job for an amateur unless you have a pet metalsmith to guide you
2. The hardest part was fitting the breech block because of the
taper involved. I was making no satisfactory headway so my instructor arranged for the mortise to be cut by an EDM wire technique and a new breech block to fit done the same way. The new wire cut mortise and breech block represented a huge break through for me.
3. You really need a vertical mill and a lathe. A drill press is not sufficient.
4. A surface grinder is very helpful.
5. I needed professional help make a firing pin that would work with some redesign of that part.
6. You need to know how to make springs because the cast parts do not have the carbon content to make a spring.
7. You need a professional on tap to bail you out when things go wrong.
8. Fitting the two piece trigger assembly is a nightmare. Any play at all between the two pieces will result in a non functional action. When assembled the two pieces of the trigger must be absolutely rigid.

All of that said, I now have a handsome and fully functional Farquharson rifle. The first time I was able to cock the action and pull the trigger and hear "click" I almost cried. It took a very long time to get to that stage but it felt so satisfying. I would do it all over again if only for the things that I learned and friendships that I made along the way. On the other hand for a lot less money and hassle one could buy a superb out of the box Fraser action from Steve Earle.

Do not let me discourage any of you who might be tempted to give an casting set all of you attention for a long while. The results can be very rewarding, but be honest with yourself about what it takes.

Antonio