The Griffin-Fraser Action

I recently had the opportunity to custom stock a Farquharson to the customer's specifications. During the process of first making and then refining the pattern to the ~ customer's satisfaction I naturally had to handle the barreled action extensively. You might say I became intimately familiar with it. I was frankly amazed at the fit and finish of the action and how smoothly it operated. The action is fairly deep, compared to most American falling block rifles of the same period, but not unnecessarily so. The rifle does not look nor feel ungainly. If anything, it's very attractive. I would love to own one some day.

As I remarked on these features to the client, he told me that he was working on a prototype of the Fraser in order to make a limited run of same. The client, Tom Griffin is an ace gunsmith, machinist and draftsman. I told him I was interested in seeing the final product and when I did I was so impressed that I decided to write it up and tell the world that "old world" craftsmanship is alive and well.

BACKGROUND. The Fraser action was designed, patented and built by Daniel Fraser of Scotland at the height of the single shot movement in the 1870's and 80's. He was active at the time when other fine single shot guns were being produced like the

Schematic of C

Farquharson, Deeley & Edge, Gibbs and others. Competition must have been fierce and I am convinced that was one of the reasons that all of these guns were so finely built; and this at a time when much of the finish manufacturing was done by hand.

The Fraser is said by some to be one of the best of these actions. It's a side lever as opposed to most of the others which have under levers. Even though one might expect that the side lever would not have as much leverage as the under levers, that is not the case with the Fraser. It operates with extreme ease and smoothness. The other unique feature of the Fraser, unlike almost all other falling block rifles, British, American, and others is the use of a stock bolt for attachment of the butt stock to the receiver. This is often considered a serious weakness in the single shot rifle.

The Frasers were made in several sizes from rook rifles to actions that would accept the most powerful of British cartridges. The Griffin-Fraser action is based on the largest of the Fraser actions. It, like the aforementioned Farquharson, and other British single shots of the period, is hammerless (no exposed hammer). The breech block is wholly contained within the receiver even at its fully opened position. The Fraser evidences graceful lines and an

elegant appearance with a slim wrist connecting to the stock. All in all it makes up into a fine looking rifle.

THE GRIFFIN- FRASER ACTION.
Griffin was dissatisfied with several elements of the original action and thought with modern machinery, CAD and
CNC systems, and materials he could overcome design flaws. He gave me the following as his specification plan for the action which is primarily intended for sporting use. It can be used as a base for a Schuetzen rifle, but unfortunately not for black powder cartridge rifle competition as the action does not possess an outside hammer.

• Must be strong enough for any reason able modern cartridge.

• Must look like a Fraser.

• Must function like a Fraser except where necessary to improve obvious faults, e.g., extractor, trigger.

• Must have a safe but excellent trigger and safety mechanism.

• Must have a modern safe firing pin arrangement.

• Must operate as smoothly as the original action.

• Must be the same size as the original.

• Must be of the same quality as the original.

• Must be manufacturable using modern

CNC machinery to eliminate as much hand fitting and finish as possible.

With this set of criteria, Griffin spent several months drawing and redrawing plans for the action. When he thought he had achieved what he wanted, he made the first prototype. Upon assembly he decided the action did not meet his specifications, so he dumped the parts and started again redesigning the hammer, trigger and main spring assembly along with a new trigger plate to carry the new parts. A new hammer configuration, internal cocking lever and trigger plate were required for this change. After these pieces were finished, the action was reassembled.

The trigger plate and front spring hanger are made of one piece of steel for greater rigidity and also to control tolerances and the relative position of the various parts. The new trigger plate is solidly attached to the receiver with a pin and the lever shaft. The action has no other screws holding the pieces together. The original Fraser used the trigger plate to support the trigger and its associated parts, the internal operating lever, hammer and extractor.

The V hammer spring on the original Fraser was attached to the front end of the receiver with a screw—a very flimsy arrangement and not very rigid at all. On some rifles the attachment was made via a lug dovetailed to the underside of the barrel. The new hammer spring is a modern coil spring because coil springs have more consistent spring force that can leaf springs.

The extractor in the original Fraser pivoted on the same axis as the hammer and lever which gave it poor mechanical advantage on extraction and had a very severe downward arc of travel. In the new action, the extractor was moved back as close to the face of the breech as possible. It is operated by the bottom of the breech block as the breech block descends to its bottom most position. This gives the extractor good purchase on the cartridge case throughout its rearward travel, and good mechanical advantage for powerful extraction force (about 2:1 mechanical advantage).

In addition the upper tang is welded to the receiver. The safety is securely fixed in relation to the trigger. The tang on the original was fastened to the receiver by a small screw, and its only purpose was to have a place to attach the tang safety. This screw sometimes worked loose causing the safety to malfunction rendering the rifle useless (and unsafe) until the screw was tightened.

The Griffin-Fraser receiver face and threads are square with the breech face. The receiver is 32 Rockwell "C', the breech block is 40 Rockwell "C", and internal parts are 50 Rockwell "C". The trigger plate is as rolled.

The new arrangement is infinitely superior to the original. Griffin is satisfied that this version meets or exceeds his original specifications. Because I consider these changes to be substantive and not merely cosmetic, I have chosen to call the heavily modified action the Griffin-Fraser.

DISASSEMBLY. To disassemble the action, first drop the hammer. Remove the small pig tail wire on the left front of the action (rotate and pull up). Push out the rear action pin, push out the side lever. Draw the trigger plate straight down out of the receiver. Done! All internal parts will stay with the trigger plate. The internal parts are very well finished. You will not hurt the action to disassemble it.

FEATURES. • Heat treated chrome moly receiver and breech block; • Totally enclosed firing pin; • Adjustable trigger; • Tang safety; • Through stock bolt;

• Straight line feeding when the breech block is at its lowest point; • Tool steel internal parts; • Trigger plate action (all internal mounted on the trigger plate);

• Coil spring mainspring attached to integral hanger bar; • No screws to hold the internals in place; • Superior quality throughout.

A limited number of actions will be sold at a price of $2250. These actions are not assembly line made, and judging from the serial numbers from existing Fraser records, only about 400 single shot rifles were built. Expect to cough up well into five figures if you're lucky enough to come across a Fraser for sale.

This action is superb and I am awaiting its return with a 30-40 Krag chambered PACNOR barrel. I plan to design the prototype forearm and stock. It's a challenge I'm looking forward to.

As a final note, Griffin is toying with the idea of tooling up to reproduce a limited number of Farquharson actions. I told him to go for it !
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