Gents,

I find this topic fascinating and thank you all for your input.

I'm a bit inclined to believe a lot of these dimension changes to improve strength involve a lot of paranoia/"vibe" more than engineering calculations/principles. Perhaps the change to modern steels also complicates this discussion. When dealing with low carbon steels "bigger meant stronger" whereas with newer steels the elements of the action could be smaller while being stronger.

I think a lot of these changes were made due to "what might happen" not what failures have occurred.

In an effort to make these guns of suitable weight to make the finished gun shootable they certainly can afford to have "overbuilt" actions.

I mean no disrespect to anyone when I say this. I'm "all ears" when it comes to the knowledge you guys bring to this discussion.

Transvaal your bedside table reading must be very similar to mine because it is the Donald
Dallas book on David McKay Brown that generates my original question. Fantastic book !!!

Does anyone have the Donald Dallas Holland and Holland book ??? Does it go into the same "manufacturing/mechanical" detail/process that the David McKay Brown book does ???

Vic Venters" book is also "to hand" along with Shotgun Technicana by Michael McIntosh and The Hammerless Double Rifle by Alexander Gray. Shooting Sportsman articles also drive some of this "inquisitiveness".

Vic Venters if you're viewing this it's about time you did another book as you've got plenty of fascinating material to fill it with.

With modern manufacturing methods- EDM in particular - it makes some of these processes easier to include. Adding a hardened insert into the "draw' that is changeable would allow this feature to be added to both shotguns and double rifles - of course they would be fitted "blacked down" differently to suit the guns operation.