fine description of the process. musta been, because I followed it right along through each entry. here's an attaboy for fine work, interesting posts and being generous enough to share all of this with us. s

calledflyer wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2025 at 9:43pm:



Thank you!

Next on the list of the many items to complete when building a gun from scratch is the barrel timing and fitting the breech block up to the barrel.  After that I will install and fit the extractor before chambering the barrel.

In this first picture...when I machined the radius on the inside of the frame, that radius was discussed around 12 pages back, I bumped the front of the frame, not intentionally, while trying to get to the extreme ends of the radius.  At least I was consistent in the damage, I hit both side even though on the second I was aware and trying not to!    

So lightly, using a diamond plate, I lapped the front of the frame, not to eliminate the dents but to be sure there were no burrs that would hold the barrel from fully seating against the frame.

The second photo shows the breech block partially lower and the barrel fit against it.  The barrel was timed to the action first, since it is a partial octagon, and then fitted to the breech block by trimming the end of the barrel stub until the action will close.

Once this work was done I could move on to my most despised job when building a gun.  Fitting the extractor!

This gun employs the 9 o'clock style which, as far as I'm concerned, it the worst of the worst.  The reason for this is that the extractor rotates from below, and this ark causes the end of the extractor to raise as it goes into the home position.  So there needs to be angles machined into the top and bottom for clearance, when fitting, to allow for this ark.

In this third photo I am showing the original (left side) next to the new extractor.
Bob

Wow! Just very neat to see your setup and descriptions Bob! Thanks!

Time to make the final breech block link.
The link accomplishes several things besides just moving the breech block around, I will show them with the last picture.

In this first picture I'm show the operation of drilling holes.  The hole spacing must be correct and a mill is very capable of this accuracy.  I drill the holes slightly undersize and then finish by reaming the hole.

The second picture shows the layout of the different shapes and surfaces of the link.  To the right of the picture, on the drawing, is the hole spacing I am using.

The next two picture shows the rough out link while still in the mill.  I finished the link shapes and surfaces using files.  This only took 15 minutes to get the shape to a pre-fitted size.

In this last picture I will show how the link operates in the action.  I have several different colored arrow to assist in this.

The step at the rear of the link, shown with the green arrow, controls how far the breech block can tip back when it starts tipping while opening the action.  I have left extra material on top of the step so I can just this movement.

The brown arrow, pointing to the right side of the link.  I show this because I left .025 on this side, measured from the center of the pin holes.  This allows me some adjustment to the step length, green arrow.

The breech block had work very well when opening and closing the action until I fitted the barrel.  Once the barrel was completely fitted, and when raising, the breech block will just enter the upper straight portion of the mortice when coming out of the tipped position, and will lock up and you can not close it.  But, if I just apply light pressure to the rear lower section of the breech block it works perfectly.  While I won't know for sure until I get the link fully fitted, I believe it controls this.
 
The red arrow pointing to the angled surface on the left.  You can see the amount of material I left for adjustment.  This surface (along with the step shown by the green arrow) I believe controls the way the breech block enters the mortice I discussed above.

The blue arrow pointing to this top feature.  This does two things.

First, it retains the firing pin in the breech block.  There is no screw retaining it like most block have.

Second, it positively retracts the firing pin from the primer.  Even though Remington put a spring retract on the firing pin they still must have felt they need this. The purple arrow shows the area that moves the pin back.
Bo

Success! 
I made the adjustments to the link today but the breech block was still slightly off from closing, but really close.  When I cut the shoulders on the breech block (these take the pressure and hold the head space of the cartridge) and the radius in the frame, I did not put much radius in either knowing I may need to do it later while getting the action to work and fitting the breech block.  I'll show these shoulder in one of the following pictures.

Keep in mind all this steel is in the pre-polished state and will look much different when the action is completed. 

1st picture. This is the closed action as of today.  When getting the breech block to tip I had to remove more from the large radiused surface in order to get it to work.  Because of this, I have to change the shape of the frame.  This reshaping is not done, but in the end the frame will follow the breech block curvature.

2nd picture.  Here the breech block is fully opened.

3rd picture.  The arrows are pointing to the shoulders I mentioned at the beginning of this post.  That slight amount of wear you see (arrows) is where the breech block is dragging on the frame as it is closed.  This is exactly what it should look like.  The breech block is being directed by the radius that was discussed, in detail, way back when I started on this project.

The last 2 photos are of the breech block in its current state with the link in place.  The arrow in the last photo is pointing to the radius I had to change in order to get the last little bit of movement for the breech block too close.

Next on the list is to get the firing pin working with the link, as is should.
Bob

I have a High Wall that was done for me that same way by a gentleman here many years ago. It has been at least ten years. I can't remember the mans name but the chamber has worked well. I am still using the original 50 rounds of Hornady brass. Easy to load for. You will enjoy it. You have a tremendous build going and I can't wait to see the end result.



JMH