It's hard to get rolling block parts, particularly the breech block and lower tang/triggerguard. Unless you want to restore the actions for sentimental reasons, I suggest that you ebay the action shells that you have, and go to auctonarms.com or gunbroker.com and buy a complete and working action or rifle to start from. I buy a lot of rolling block parts. I can probably get 3 action shells for each breech block I get. In the past two weeks, I have bought a complete #5 rifle for $220, a complete #1 action for $200, a complete #5 action with broken tang for $200 and a breechblock and hammer for a #5 for $120. By far, the best deal was, and is, to buy a complete rifle, followed by a complete action. My low price on the complete #5 was a fluke, but you can readily get a complete #1 for $325 or less if you watch the auctions for a couple of weeks. By starting with a complete and functional rifle, you get leftover parts that ebay for high prices, and have the original barrel and extractor to use in correctly fitting the new barrel. Or, if you want an original military rifle, you have that without trying to piece it together out of odd parts. If you really want to start with the shell and build up, the best way to get original parts is to watch ebay and other sites, watch the classifieds on sites such as this and bpcr.net, and go to a lot of gun shows and keep your eyes open. I'd bet, with $500 and a few months time, you could put together a complete action from individually purchased pieces. Best of luck, dave
|