How would you go about converting a center fire Hepburn action to rim fire? Since there is no link from the lever to the block would it require a new block?
Just curious. I know Walker's have been built in the past by some folks.



JMH

DZ Arms used to build some 22 Hepburn 
rifles. I don’t see where they do on their website anymore. You might get some information from them. (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

you can get a rimfire breech block from C,sharps arms for the standard hepburn. I cant see how a rim fire in the standard hepburn would be any more of a pain than it is in a high wall and i believe there were a decent amount of originals chambered in 22 rimfire.

the walker, hepburn is a whole different animal. there is a link between the underlever and the breech block in the walker. Also an additional screw in the side of the receiver that causes the breech block to tilt back pushing the hammer to full cock as it does. because of this the extracted rimfire case could fall into the open action with the tilted breech block.

There's a simpler way to convert and not alter the action. Plus you can always switch back to a CF easily!
Oldtime gunsmiths simply turned and threaded the barrel shank offset 1/8" so the CF firing pin struck the edge of the .22 shell. I have two Ballard rifles done this way and they work great!

jhm wrote on Sep 30^th, 2024 at 11:38pm:


I'm no machinist, but was told it simply takes a 4 jaw chuck on your lathe and adjusting the jaws to 1/8" off center before turning the round shank. Then thread it as you would any barrel and index it to align at 6 or 12 o'clock.

Here's a link to a YouTube video put out by the American Custom Gunmaker Foundation.
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In the video I'm doing an offset chamber for a two barrel set on a Winchester takedown. The video also covers relieving the threads for the takedown.

the idea of the offset bore always bothered me. not that I'll ever do it, but just thinking about them I wondered if saving the breechblock by offsetting the bore, did you just make even more hassle than coming up with an entirely different extractor geometry? Psshaw! what do I know?

calledflyer wrote on Oct 1^st, 2024 at 5:12pm:


It's not just saving the breech block Pat, it's also being able to build a switch barrel rifle and use the same firing pin and block. Plus just turning the barrel offset only requires a 2nd extractor to fit the .22RF and one for whatever CF cartridges.
I personally think whoever thought it up was pure genius.