RFBR actions

[shoot4fun]

Seems I remember the name Jim Williams and a bunch of Suhls he acquired at one time. I had some friends that shot RFBR back as far as the late mid to late 90's and they liked the Suhl. I remember trying the BR50-50 match once with a 541-T, no tuner and some old Lapua Midas L. I did better than the effort I put in but my USPSA days won out for my time then. Late 90's IIRC the Time Precision was around wasn't it?
As for Calfee guns, I have an older (best I can tell) mid 70's solid bottom and wing safety Anschutz he built a BR gun on. Not sure what brand barrel but it has a very light 5018 trigger, Hoehne Tuner, threaded tenon, and McMillan BR stock. I was immediately told by some on RFC it would NEVER be competitive but, at least in our local crowd, it has almost always fared top 3 and even came out on top a couple times.
I have since retired it for a Lonestar 2500 RBLP with Shilen Ratchet that I admit (simply due to being left port) I am even more competitive with.

 

[TRSR8]

Lee,
Just saw this.
Early on lots of Suhls, 54’s, Sprinkling of 40x’s.. Calfee did several 54’s, I had one.Sporters….lots of 54 sporters, first true customs were Halls, most suffered ignition issues over time.
Falcons could be good…..problem was, couldn’t get 2 the same.
Swindlehursts were great, still could be competitive. Calfee went out of his way to trash them but ultimately with all the EDM parts they got priced out of the mkt.
10X’s came and went……bad management but outstanding platform, still shoot 2, pretty sure TKH shoots a couple.
If it’s a RF almost everything has been tried.

Tim

 

[VLNBYR]

Not that long ago a Suhl was selling for$650 or so. Very cheap for an action and great trigger. If they had been left port there may never been any customs.

 

[PWNolan]

Scott,

I do believe Joe shot a 2500X last big match.

Lee

This was from Triple Crown. I'm pretty sure this is what he shot the whole week but wasn't watching the entire time either.



He shot a custom Anschutz at Indoor Nationals at Chickenfoot back in March

Last time I saw him shooting a 2500X was at ARA Outdoor Nationals two years ago

 

[Hi-NV Shooter]

Lee,
Just saw this.
Early on lots of Suhls, 54’s, Sprinkling of 40x’s.. Calfee did several 54’s, I had one.Sporters….lots of 54 sporters, first true customs were Halls, most suffered ignition issues over time.
Falcons could be good…..problem was, couldn’t get 2 the same.
Swindlehursts were great, still could be competitive. Calfee went out of his way to trash them but ultimately with all the EDM parts they got priced out of the mkt.
10X’s came and went……bad management but outstanding platform, still shoot 2, pretty sure TKH shoots a couple.
If it’s a RF almost everything has been tried.

Tim

Tim,
I heard about Swindlehursts. and yes, Falcons between the 3 different generations they can have different tenon lengths, firing pin set ups every saw one of these a flat sided Falcon says Baity Custom only.

Lee

 

[Hi-NV Shooter]

This was from Triple Crown. I'm pretty sure this is what he shot the whole week but wasn't watching the entire time either.

View attachment 1673939

He shot a custom Anschutz at Indoor Nationals at Chickenfoot back in March

Last time I saw him shooting a 2500X was at ARA Outdoor Nationals two years ago

Thanks Pat, not sure when I saw he was shooting a 2500X maybe it was the indoors from 2 years ago.
in any case that looks to be a different rifle or stock maybe.
Lee

 

[doclu60]

Lee, cool looking rings in that second picture. Any idea who made them?

Also, is the rifle pictured in Pat's post a Suhl? I am not that familiar with European actions. I have seen two Annies Joe shoots, and at the time, both were in modded factory stocks. When I saw his Suhl back in Kansas several years back, it was in a DIY modded Suhl stock and he told me it was a work in progress. That stock Pat pictured doesn't look anything like what I saw, both in shape and color.

Scott

 

[Hi-NV Shooter]

Lee, cool looking rings in that second picture. Any idea who made them?

Also, is the rifle pictured in Pat's post a Suhl? I am not that familiar with European actions. I have seen two Annies Joe shoots, and at the time, both were in modded factory stocks. When I saw his Suhl back in Kansas several years back, it was in a DIY modded Suhl stock and he told me it was a work in progress. That stock Pat pictured doesn't look anything like what I saw, both in shape and color.

Scott

Hi Scott,

The rings came with the action I believe they were made by Leonard Baity they are 1" you need a set of rings? send me an email.

Looking at the picture pat posted hard to tell can't really see the back of the bolt, but it does look smaller in diameter and round unlike an Anschutz.

Lee

 

[doclu60]

Hi Scott,

The rings came with the action I believe they were made by Leonard Baity they are 1" you need a set of rings? send me an email.

Looking at the picture pat posted hard to tell can't really see the back of the bolt, but it does look smaller in diameter and round unlike an Anschutz.

Lee

Hey Lee,
Nope, don't need any 1" rings at the moment, but those are cool looking rings!

I did a web search a moment ago on Suhl 150 actions. The action pictured by Pat looks like it could very well be a Suhl. Where is the bolt stop on an Annie?

Scott

 

[68Hoyt]

Anschutz on the left , Suhl on the right

 

[Hi-NV Shooter]

Hey Lee,
Nope, don't need any 1" rings at the moment, but those are cool looking rings!

I did a web search a moment ago on Suhl 150 actions. The action pictured by Pat looks like it could very well be a Suhl. Where is the bolt stop on an Annie?

Scott

I think you might be right as I don't see any signs of a wing safety which I believe Joe favors the early actions.

Lee

 

[doclu60]

Anschutz on the left , Suhl on the right View attachment 1674088

I think you might be right as I don't see any signs of a wing safety which I believe Joe favors the early actions.

Lee

Okay, thank you both! Between the two of you, pretty sure we are looking at a Suhl in the picture. Back of the bolt in 68Hoyt's pic and what looks like no cut out for the bolt on his Suhl compared to the Annie. Also, as Lee mentioned, pretty sure Joe's Annies do have a wing safety.

I could text Joe, he's been wanting to buy my Riverside weights, and ask him, but I'll bet that is the Suhl I saw him shoot in Kansas.

Excellent thread you started Lee. Lot of cool stuff has been brought up in it!

Stay safe,
Scott

 

[Williwaw]

Excellent thread you started Lee. Lot of cool stuff has been brought up in it!

Yup!

 

[Hi-NV Shooter]

Okay, thank you both! Between the two of you, pretty sure we are looking at a Suhl in the picture. Back of the bolt in 68Hoyt's pic and what looks like no cut out for the bolt on his Suhl compared to the Annie. Also, as Lee mentioned, pretty sure Joe's Annies do have a wing safety.

I could text Joe, he's been wanting to buy my Riverside weights, and ask him, but I'll bet that is the Suhl I saw him shoot in Kansas.

Excellent thread you started Lee. Lot of cool stuff has been brought up in it!

Stay safe,
Scott

Thanks Scott, I started the thread as I am seeing more of the factory actions where I am shooting. Utah started ARA and there were 18 UL shooters with 40X, Anschutz and just a sprinkle of Vudoos as the only custom action.

Lee

 

[VLNBYR]

Joe told me he prefers the trigger in the older models Anschutz.

 

[TRSR8]

Lee, cool looking rings in that second picture. Any idea who made them?

Also, is the rifle pictured in Pat's post a Suhl? I am not that familiar with European actions. I have seen two Annies Joe shoots, and at the time, both were in modded factory stocks. When I saw his Suhl back in Kansas several years back, it was in a DIY modded Suhl stock and he told me it was a work in progress. That stock Pat pictured doesn't look anything like what I saw, both in shape and

Tim,
I heard about Swindlehursts. and yes, Falcons between the 3 different generations they can have different tenon lengths, firing pin set ups every saw one of these a flat sided Falcon says Baity Custom only.

Lee

Lee,
First 1-2 Eck got sent to him wouldn't even fire as sent. After talking to Baity vowed never to touch another….never did.
The Swindlehursts’s were complicated, needed care with ignition setup but were real things of beauty.
Way back, shot a couple CFBR matches with Vic Swindlehurst, who was from Ontario. Lots of final design changes came from Billy Brawand, now gone, dear friend, dairy farmer who happened to own 20-30 oil/gas wells. He was the guy in the final stages of making jacketed BR grade RF bullets to handload. Early on IBS RFBR matches were group matches, but was partially responsible for the “ mass produced, waxed lead bullet” mandate that was not there in the sanctioning bodies prior.
How’s that for old forgotten history?

 

[Rockingham]

real shame about baity. it seems it all went down hill when they started incorporating ideas from the midwest gunsmith.

 

[Hi-NV Shooter]

Lee,
First 1-2 Eck got sent to him wouldn't even fire as sent. After talking to Baity vowed never to touch another….never did.
The Swindlehursts’s were complicated, needed care with ignition setup but were real things of beauty.
Way back, shot a couple CFBR matches with Vic Swindlehurst, who was from Ontario. Lots of final design changes came from Billy Brawand, now gone, dear friend, dairy farmer who happened to own 20-30 oil/gas wells. He was the guy in the final stages of making jacketed BR grade RF bullets to handload. Early on IBS RFBR matches were group matches, but was partially responsible for the “ mass produced, waxed lead bullet” mandate that was not there in the sanctioning bodies prior.
How’s that for old forgotten history?

Yes, I heard about the incident between Leonard and Eck. I do know Leonard was not all the time real pleasant speaking on the phone with or in person. the couple of times I spoke with him first time I spent about two hours talking about a whole bunch of stuff seems he did custom work for S&W before their custom shop came into being.
I ordered some parts, and he sent them to me along with a bore guide at no charge. second time was whole different person, not sure if his health was the reason.

Lot of great information being posted about the past actions.

Lee

 

[Hi-NV Shooter]

real shame about baity. it seems it all went down hill when they started incorporating ideas from the midwest gunsmith.

I think I know who you mean.

 

[Tony K Harper]

I think I know who you mean.

Before the history gets rewritten based on words from people that know little to nothing about the subject let me say this.

Leonard Baity's greatest contribution to RFBR was him being willing to produce 6 o'clock bolts for Turbo actions. This was only because a certain Midwest gunsmith encouraged him to do so.

At the time Leonard was still developing the Falcon action but he was willing to devote his time and efforts to improving the Turbo action. Who else would have done that.

Falcon actions were good, perhaps as good as most SAP actions, but Leonard had health problems, and his heart just wasn't in it at the end.

He had a very talented guy that work with him, this guy was the one that actually made those rings. I'm sorry I can't recall his name now. But when he decided to take another job that left Leonard on his own and that pretty much killed Falcon.

Leanard was a great guy, but he had a sense of humor that not everyone understood. I recall asking if he would put certain serial numbers on two actions for me. I wanted them in sequence.

Leaonard immediately responded with "sure Harper, how about F**k you one and F**k you two.

TKH