doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com A Borchardt Action for sale,

I agree it's a beautiful action, but, whoever cut those scallops on the front and rear of the receiver was not going to endear himself to any stockmaker.

Harry

Thanks Harry, kind of you to say so. The samples of the drawings look interesting. Now to decide what I do next.

If I build a Borchardt like gun I will plan to use the good parts and may make improvements in some of the areas that could stand further development.

The following is my opinion:
The Borchardt rifle was an attempt to salvage a business share that was in serious decline. It was implemented with haste and therefore was not fully thought out or developed. If the gun had been brought into life without the financial crush the company was under, more design refinements would have been implemented prior to marketing. Unfortunately the buying public realized the negatives and also the entire market shift to mult shot guns spelled the end.
The Borchardt has 2 unbelievable attributes, that were very apparant. The graceful lines and the strength of the action (something that had never been in question with either this or the 1874 action)
To its negative were as most of you know, The trigger, The slow cocking with respect to the firing pin nose dragging on the spent primer, The difficult in manufacture and timing of the camming plates which added cost along with the wear on the plates which only add to the slow cocking. There is another issue less apparant and that is the lever spring which bears on the barrel, all though not significant this feature can be changed to a better design concept that I have used on my Farrow and Fraser rifles.

Mister Zischang fully under stood the trigger problem and he had a good solution if you are using the gun for target shooting (yes I know D Set triggers can work for hunting but are not as good as a good single trigger) Mr Niedner also understood the problems and added a target shooters solution to the cocking issues.

If I move forward with a build it will be using the plus' of the Borchardt and I will attempt to resolve the negatives.

Again remember that the above is only my opinion and what I want to do.

Harry,
In my opinion it is much more difficult to cut the scallops in the metal than in the wood. It does take a bit more time in stocking but with the draw-bolt pulling the butt onto the action, it goes fairly simply. That said, I have probably files my last scallops in anything but a very plain boxlock. they don't enhance a borchardt, or most any single shot IMO.

Now the forend is a bit different and given the way I bed a single shot forend, less than advantageous.
(BTW: who are you, LRF?)

Can you explain the question, one could read it more then one way, please?

The Borchardt action came from a man I knew in Portland. Before WWII he found the rifle in a pawn shop in Portland removed the barrel and wood and discarded them.

The action was then sent to Hervey Lovell in Port Townsend who streamlined it and scalloped the front and back.

His plan was to make a varmint rifle out of it and it set in a cigar box until I saw it. I've had it about twenty-five years and you see how far I've gone.

Now my idea would be a sporting rifle like Terry's DST's and safety in say 30-40-Krag.

I've tried to trade this action for a round top one but no takers yet.

Michael,
I think you are running the risk of that action taking up to much storage space at your house so since I truely am a nice guy I will happily store if for you.

Was it originally a military rifle? Who's barrel and what caliber? Looks like the makings of a fine rifle. Can't the Oct top be re-shaped to a round top?

Hello LRF,

I agree towards the end of it's life the Sharps Company was struggling and the Borchardt was its last hope.

I also agree that the basic production Borchardt could leave a lot to be desired, but even despite its faults it can still be a match winner today, provided it is set up correctly by a 'Smith' who really knows Borchardts. The faults can be overcome by very careful smithing. The cam plates can be a problem and the right hand plate is subject to breaking because it is weakened by the extractor clearance cut in the metal. The trigger pull is also a problem, but all these faults can be overcome, although not easily in a mass produced action.

If the cocking plates are adjusted correctly they will withdraw the firing pin immediately. Wear can be reduced by using the correct steels that are properly heat treated.

The Lever Spring mounting is crude but this problem has already been solved by Lozito-Wolf and very neatly indeed.

Several attempts have been made to improve the Borchardt, the first by P.O.Ackley who formed a company to produce a modified Borchardt, this was taken over by the Colt Manuf. Co and they only produced a small number of these 'Colt Sharps' rifles before dropping it, presumably because of high production costs and low shooter interest because all the calibres it was offered in were very modern cartridges that were not popular with traditional single shot rifle owners.

Another modified version was produced in very small numbers (probably less than 20 in all) by a gunsmith called Steve Fotu. He modified the breech block so it contained a different type of striker action and also mounted the trigger. Sadly he couldn't maintain production at a reasonable price, or possibly even lost money on them. The last I heard he had closed his shop and was working as an engineer for someone else.

No one as ever made a perfect rifle, some come close, some come very close, but sadly the nearer perfection they are the higher the price seems to be.I do look forward to seeing any improvements you can make to this action.

Harry

This was an original sporting rifle and it still has most of the original case color.

It could be reshaped but I don't want to mess up so nice an action. I do have a military action that can be reshaped when the time comes.

That pictures was taken some time ago but I think that's a Ron Smith straight twist 32 caliber barrel.

The Borchardt action has long been considered a good action and people have been looking for the actions ever since they stopped making them.

Ned Roberts was looking into having the Sharps Borchardt made in Germany in the 1930's. As far as I know nothing came of it.

Harry,
I guess I am ahead of Steve Fotu, because I am already an engineer and have been for the last +20 years (prior to that a toolmaker for 10 years).
LOL
I have no illusions and will only built one action. Someday the grandkids will own it and the others. I certainly can share any design points I try.

I never did like Colt's design because they narrowed the sides which I thought took away from Mr Borchardt's design.

I would be interested in knowing more about what Lozito-Wolf did to retain the BB and lever in the closed position?
My design is basically an internal spring which applies pressure to what you think would try to force the breech block down but in fact because the lever and link are just a tiny bit over center the spring force causes the lever to be pulled up and tight to the closed position.