Is there anything currently in production that resembles the Wichita Mini?

B

benenglish

Guest
I want a Wichita Mini action.

WichitaMiniAction.jpg


Unfortunately, they've been out of production for years and I haven't been able to find a used one. Does any other company make anything conceptually similar?

TIA for any pointers.

Ben in Texas
 
Brad Stair in Utah (Performance Guns ?) bought the old Rampro action line and converted it to CNC and was coming out with a mini action.

Not sure what is contact info is now and status.

BH
 
Thanks

Thanks for starting me to looking.

I found a page at gunmanufacturers.com that says:

"Performance Guns Gunsmithing by Brad Stair, attention to detail.
Brad is so successful with his custom hunting and sniper rifles and retrofits, he cannot take on new customers or new products until he moves into larger facilities ... "

However, the fine print on that page indicates it hasn't been updated in 7 years.

I also found this contact information in a post that someone with your nick made to longrangehunting.com about 6 years ago:

Performance
3621 S. 4700 W
West Haven Utah 84401

(801) 731-8152

Then I found a post to saubier.com, ostensibly quoting an email from Mr. Stair, saying he had not yet built 100 actions and didn't want to make a public push (with a web site, etc.) until he did. His email address was shown as perfguns@gmail.com. That was dated late 2006.

I found further recommendations of his smithing work dated the middle of 2008 and a note, dated early 2009, that the reconstituted Rampro action business, under the name Wasatch, had apparently stalled.

I'll send him an email tonite and follow up with a phone call later if I don't hear back.

Thanks for pointing him out to me.

One note: IIRC, the Rampros were basically round actions, right? The descriptions of the Wasatch actions that I've found indicate that a Wichita Mini-like version of the Wasatch would be a quarter-inch shorter than the Wichita. That's good. But the Wichita action is perfectly round which is exactly what I want for a project that will end up being highly engraved. I hope the Rampro, now Wasatch doesn't have a bedding flat on the bottom.

Thanks again,

Ben
 
Wasatch action

The Wasatch actions are not the shell holder type, but they are compact. Here are a couple of pictures of the Wasatch. They run about 1/2" shorter than a model 7 action. Pictured in the action is a 17 Remington.
Drew

actionright.jpg
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actionwcart.jpg
 
I have noticed a trend

in what seems to be cantileavered front scope mounts. My experience with them from having owned a couple of New England Arms single barreled rifles which had them was severe accuracy problems due to the mounts flexing. I diminished the problem somewhat by putting tension on the cantilevered end but was not able to eliminate it completely. I wonder how folks have been able to avoid the problems I experienced?
 
drewh said:
The Wasatch actions are not the shell holder type, but they are compact.
Click to expand...
Thanks for more than just the pictures. Your phrasing helps me to understand that I wasn't sufficiently clear in my original post.

Wichita calls their action the "Wichita Mini" but I don't place a big emphasis on the "mini" part of that name. I think that maybe BountyHunter thought I was seeking a small action which is why he brought up a particular gunsmith and the Wasatch actions. (I really appreciate knowing what happened to the RamPro designs, though. Thanks, BountyHunter.)

However,

While smaller is better for this project, I'm not looking for a small action, specifically. I'm looking for a "blind" action, one without ports, utilizing a shellholder-style bolt face that is fully withdrawn from the action after every shot in order to reload. This is for a project that will ultimately be highly engraved so I'm looking to maximize the surface area of the action for the engraver to fill with artwork.

It's beginning to look like the Wichita Mini is, by far, my best choice since it's just a plain round tube that presents a perfect blank slate to the engraver. Too bad there were only about 200 made in the early 1980s and none since.

Thanks to all for your help but it looks like I'll have to keep searching. That's OK; I'm in no hurry.
 
German Salazar said:
It's the blind aspect of the Wichita that appeals to me as well. I'm interested in using it to replace the action in my primer testing rig and for a variety of reasons I'd rather not have a port. Since I built my rig around a left-hand setup, I'd rather keep it that way when I rebuild it.
Click to expand...


German, have you thought about finding a shell holder bolt and building and action around it?

A lot of the old bag guns used to use these type of bolts. R.W. Hart used to do these, I wonder if they could do a bolt for your needs? Building a tube action would not be beyond imagination either.
 
Wichita Mini

Beneng -

I have THE last WIchita Mini made.

Nolan Wichita assembled it for me... in fall 2007 !

Please read your PMs.

Regards,
357Mag
 
I think Bob White of Shooters Corner has a couple. One I thought was on a railgun. He might part it out. Don't remember what size it was but it was a shell holder action.

Hovis
 
Kitsap said:
At least the right name for the head gunsmith, but nothing about new actions.
Click to expand...
I heard from Mr. Stair; he sent me lots of pictures. The action he makes looks very nice, like an improved RamPro. However, they are not the type I was seeking.

Thanks for the lead, though. It's always good to file away snippets like that for future projects.

Ben
 
Accuracy?

I don't know about accuracy. I'm not a benchrest shooter so my standards aren't so high. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that action shouldn't be a limiting factor in the accuracy of whatever firearm you build. That's actually saying quite a lot.

But I want the action for more of an art project than anything else. To me, accuracy is secondary. It's certainly not unimportant; I intend to shoot the final product quite a bit. But it's not the first consideration.

As for your comment on the compactness, be advised that it's pretty fat; it's bigger than that picture makes it appear. Here, have a look at a drawing with some dimensions:

WichitaMiniBenchRestActionSch.jpg
 
That drawing has a.........

mistake. In the NOTE, it should probably read, (and it looks as though someone "corrected" it) LH threads, THEN, RH threads. The effect of having those threads that way, would be to "draw up" tighter, the bolt sleeve to the bolt body. The RH threads on the LH action, the LH threads on the RH action, the way the Newton action was, I believe, done.
 
I built my first 6PPC on a Wichita Mini. Winter of 1979. With that rifle, I didn't lose very often. It just plain shot! I built a couple of others for other guys and they were exceptionally good shooters. One of them, I barreled with a Hart HV taper and went out to test it. The first five shot group, cleaning between shots, was around .160. The next two were both under .1". I sold mine in 1983 and would love to have it back. As much as anything, I liked that it was different. Regards, Bill
 
Are the Wichita single shot pistols the same action as you`re looking for? I stumbled on one chambered in 708 today if you are interested.
 
Joe S said:
Are the Wichita single shot pistols the same action as you`re looking for? I stumbled on one chambered in 708 today if you are interested.
Click to expand...
I really appreciate the lead. However, the pistol action isn't the same. Wichita made at least three different bolt pistol actions. The Silhouette Pistol (catchy name, huh?) resembles the Mini action except it's longer, with an ejection port, a bolt stop and a flat bolt handle. They also made a lightweight version, the Mk 40, slightly redesigned and using lots of aluminum. Then there was their Classic pistol, using the action from their Classic model rifle. The Classic was one gorgeous, limited edition pistol with an octagon barrel of about a foot in length, a bit of tasteful ornamentation, and an exhibition-grade wood stock. At $3500 (or was it $2500?) list price over 25 years ago, I don't imagine they sold many but boy, oh boy, I sure wanted one.

I have a Silhouette Pistol. I may wind up using that action for this project but I really don't want to go that direction.

Thanks again; I really appreciate it.
 
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