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I very much doubt that the No1 action is any stronger than the early made actions, for a start it is made in the cheapest way possible, a lost wax casting, which can never be as strong as a forging given the better grain structure, but the fact that it is both very cheap, and available, is why so many choose to "hot rod" these actions, thankfully, not many people are willing to destry a Farquhason costing £5000, to build some modern whizz bang caliber rifle, the Italian Sharps and Winchester copies are all made on very strong forged actions, so must be up to most rimmed calibers, the firing pin size being a limiting factor, but as for the "old" Farquharson actions I have .577NE and 475 No2 NE ,as well as .303" that have done 120 years of hard service in Africa and India none of them showing any sign of loosening up. The lost wax (investment casting) is sufficient as has been proven in service, and I think the American made copies choose this method for cheapness, but I am sure they are all strong enough, there should be very little cut out for any rimmed caliber, the problem comes when rimless calibers are used, there is certainly more recoil bearing surface on a falling block action than there is on a bolt action rifle.

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There is no issue with rimless or belted rounds in a Ruger #1. Most of the Ruger #1 chamberings develop much higher pressures than the old rimmed British rounds and give no trouble in operation.

No one is suggesting that the cost of the rifle makes it any stronger, the cost of a Farquharson is high because it is an antique, and there are many people wanting to buy, this as always, dictates the selling price, the strength of the Farquharson action is beyond question, with a huge breach block sliding up behind the cartridge it can hardly be anything else, my comments on the unsuitability of the rimless case is really only a comparison, why would anyone want more than a rimmed case can deliver in a single shot rifle ? To chamber it for some modern whiz bang wildcat would be silly, the extractor is another objection to a rimless case, at the range there is no problem, but in Africa, under duress it would be very embarrassing to have your sprung loaded extractor slip over the case rim. There is no need for such cartridges, people have tried to use high pressure cartridges in Africa before, most of them are still there!
And no, our market was not very large, but some of the most important and influential people were using these guns, and it takes a lot to build a reputation, but not a lot to loose it.

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