So here's one that I've been working on lately.
Not EXACTLY to the  blueprints -- I have made a few changes, mainly; 
4140 steel (annealed) HT after
.050 thicker ea. side
.062 incr. around receiver ring
Some screw sizes exchanged for ones more common.
And NO its not a short barreled rifle -- that's just a temporary stub to get some of the other stuff fitted. 

Nice, I'd like to learn how to do that!

Terry

cuslog wrote on Dec 23^rd, 2015 at 11:01pm:



No way it's not going to make it now! When I reached that point with mine I got kind of excited and all else just had to wait then instead of the other way around!


On another (kind of comical) note about popping those primers, when I had mine finished almost to the point of bluing I decided to pop a few primers to check out the action, firing pin, etc so grabbed a few primed 45/70 cases and stepped outback of my shop to make a "little" noise. I pointed the muzzle down range at my usual target area and pulled the trigger expecting to hear the "bang" from the primer but instead I got a tremendous "KA-BOOOOM", a huge flash and billowing smoke! Two of my primed cases were 45/70 BP blanks that I had loaded as noise makers for the July 4th holiday! These had about 50 grains of FFFG powder held in with a cardboard wad pressed well below the case mouth so unless a person was looking down into the cases they looked like empty brass and were only slightly heavier. Fortunately I had the common sense to treat even primed cases as if they were fully loaded rounds but when that thing went off with me expecting just a "bang" I about had the big one! Lol! 

With properly heat treated 4140 I would venture to say that receiver will have strength capabilities right up there in Ruger No. 1 territory. The Highwall is of course an inherently strong action design anyway and when combined with the fantastic strength properties of 4140 they become almost indestructible! Of course watching for stress risers that could lead to cracking makes a big difference, such as correct radius of the breech block mortise corners, eliminating sharp corners and edges in the extractor relief, etc but then those are just precautions with any rifle. 


Someday I would like to test one of these things to destruction just to see what it would take, from what I have been told and read about concerning the strength of the design I expect it would take a LOT!


BTW, have you selected your wood yet?

Radkins wrote on Dec 24^th, 2015 at 11:35am:

A couple weeks ago, I played around, heat treating / tempering some scraps of 4140 - was amazed at how hard and tough it got. Tried breaking a piece ~ 1/4 x 3/4" in the vise - took a 4 lb. hammer and a few quite strong blows !
For wood, I have some Cherry wood from a tree I cut down in my front yard that I'm going to try.
For barrel, I'm torn between just buying a rifled blank, or building a rifling machine and making my own.
In the #2 Campbell book on Winchester single shots he re-prints an article on intentionally "blowing up" a highwall. I don't remember the exact charge they used but it was quite a large "over charge" of 4064 IIRC (like almost 30% over) and it blew the firing pin out the back and broke the hammer but I think the breech block and receiver were still in place.

All that extra steel is really for naught. It looks like a flat spring action and with the spring clearance and a large thread there is only about .050" thickness of material between the barrel thread and spring hole. It can't be stronger than the weakest part and that would appear to be the weakest part. 

Nice work though. If it was a coil spring action with thicker material under the barrel thread and a 1" diameter barrel thread then you would approach the strength of the Ruger #1.

Rick4070 wrote on Dec 24^th, 2015 at 2:15pm:

Those are indeed the plans from the ASSRA archives -- though they come from ASSRA as 8-1/2 X 11's -- you will have to find a way to enlarge them.
You can buy 4140 in the annealed state and harden yourself after, or you can buy 4140 HT (heat treated). Going from memory the annealed is about 16 Rockwell, the pre-hard 28~32R and with post machining heat treat of the annealed you can get 48 ~ mid 50's relatively easily, depending on how much you temper. No first hand experience here re: warpage but I have "heard" that its pretty minimal.
I have machined some 4140 HT for another project and must say it machined beautifully -- I don't know why I didn't think of it for this project. 

Radkins wrote on Dec 24^th, 2015 at 11:35am:


The late JR Buhmiller and a friend did some impressive destructive tests on original Winchester High Wall actions. I remember seeing it written up in an old gun magazine. He fitted a .30-06 barrel to the action, and began to gradually increase the powder charges to a point where he got to a 50% over charge. Don't remember the powder used, but the High Wall took it all, and after measurements they couldn't find any significant changes. So he drilled and threaded the muzzle, and screwed a pipe plug into it; determined to blow the 1885 up. He fired another heavy '06 load in it, and the barrel exited the action, splitting lengthwise, and stripping the threads. The action bulged up like the Pillsbury Doughboy, but stayed together! Needless to say the test was over then, and the conclusion was the old High Wall was plenty strong.
I had a friend I worked with who hunted with one chambered for .300 Win. Mag. and people constantly told him it was dangerous. He just laughed at them.