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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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Wonko, that is "a" definition, not "the" definition. You have proven nothing.
As evidenced by some of the previous postings, it has been in common use to describe what you call the "action flats" for 100 years or so in North America.
Ergo water table equal action flats. There is no hierarchy of right or wrong.
Last edited by canvasback; 01/28/14 12:03 AM. Reason: Spelling
The world cries out for such: he is needed & needed badly- the man who can carry a message to Garcia
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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A water table is also the reference plane. There are two machined surfaces on a SxS that are likely to remain stable and not erode due to wear, the barrel flats and the action flats. Since the receiver or action is considered the heart of the gun, the action flats become the datum plane or water table in which the other dimensions are referenced in manufacturing.
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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Since the receiver or action is considered the heart of the gun, the action flats become the datum plane or water table in which the other dimensions are referenced in manufacturing. Excellent observation. SRH
May God bless America and those who defend her.
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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Wonko's post of the definition in 1 solves it all. The water table frame(flat or otherwise) is a stringcourse which throws off water during the manufacturing process. With respect to the standing breech(face), the water table is a horizontal projection that throws off water during the process or as previously thought, water was used to validate the plane.
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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Looks like the term is older than thought & was used in a U.S. of A. patent( US 226893 A) back in 1880 where WILLIAM H. VAN GIESON, OF WHITE WATER, VVISCONSIN sought protection. BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARM: "By referring to Fig. 6 we see that not only can the breech-joint of the gun be made tight by my device, but that any looseness under the gun on the WATER-TABLE is also compensated by the same operation. By turning tangent-screw G, the top point, 0, of the eccentric f, while moving forward a given distance for example, from c to d-will drop or descend through the very small proportionate space c' to d', which will be sufficient-to effectually tighten up the gun." https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pages/US226893-1.pngMe thinks the hyphenated term water-table to be the correct form. Has Google Patents changed as it seems odd/difficult to get to the actual sheets. Kind Regards, Raimey rse
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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One more item for the non-believers and I'll let this dead horse lie/lay, consider fire-arms prior to the breechloader; there wasn't any such projection. The advancement in breech-loader technology led to a stringcourse or protrusion from the standing breech(face) where previously the plugs of the tubeset married with the standing breech. I'm not sure when the term action flats arrived on the scene, and maybe I should look, but all the action was aft of the frame. So it is possible, & I could be totally off base here, that with the arrival of the boxlock/body action, the term action flats was pressed into use. Let me see if I can locate a dissembled Lefaucheux action. It is possible that the term water-table may pre-date action flats.
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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water table noun
: the highest underground level at which the rocks and soil in a particular area are completely wet with water
Full Definition of WATER TABLE
1
: a stringcourse or similar member when projecting so as to throw off water
2
: the upper limit of the portion of the ground wholly saturated with water
water table noun (Concise Encyclopedia)
Seasonal variations in groundwater levels.—© Merriam-Webster Inc.
Surface of a body of underground water below which the soil or rocks are permanently saturated with water. The water table separates the groundwater zone (zone of saturation) that lies below it from the zone of aeration that lies above it. The water table fluctuates both with the seasons and from year to year because it is affected by climatic variations and by the amount of precipitation used by vegetation. It also is affected by withdrawing excessive amounts of water from wells or by recharging them artificially. See also aquifer.
HTH
Dr.WtS Interesting. In my Webster's, copyright 1989, the first definition of "gay" is: "Merry, cheerful, lighthearted." Anyone use "gay" in that sense any time recently? Or hear it used in that sense? Or read it used in that sense in anything contemporary? As pointed out earlier, language is not chiseled in stone. It evolves. And dictionaries seldom give "gun talk" definitions for technical terms. Maybe Wonko can occupy himself trying to find "action flats" in the dictionary and report back.
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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Larry I think that analogy is gay. 
Last edited by AmarilloMike; 01/28/14 09:11 AM.
I am glad to be here.
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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I spent 35+ years in the aerospace industry as a machinist, mostly as a model maker. Drawing dimensions for aircraft in the vertical direction were virtually always referenced to a "Water Line". Note the term line was used here as mostly there was no specific plane on the part to use as reference as on the Flat/Table of a shotgun action. I very highly suspect using waterline as a reference point dates well back into the ship building industry. None of the "Air"craft I worked with however were ever destined to Sit in the Water submerged to a given line, yet the same term was used.
Water Table thus seems a perfectly satisfactory terminology & reference to me, Mr Webster (Or Wonko) notwithstanding.
I will note here that I have seen a few doubles which had neither flats nor table but the bottoms of the barrels were simply round & the bar of the action concaved to match.
Miller/TN
I Didn't Say Everything I Said, Yogi Berra
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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Dodging lions and wasting time.....
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