A Week In Heaven?

[KCSO]

A friend just dropped off an original Sharps rifle so I can load up a batch of 45 2 1/10th 80 grain paper patch loads for him. The gun is made for PP and doesn't handle the naked slugs very well. So for the next week I get to roll PP and test a Sharps hunting rifle. I will be posting photo's of the gun. This is a 28" bbl Bridgeport Old Reliable with set triggers and was converted from a carbine at the Sharps factory. The rear sight is a long tang buckhorn and the front is a low silver blade in a stel base. The gun weighs in at 8.2 pounds and is going to be used for deer if we can get a better group from it.

Boy it's just going to kill me to have to shoot this for a week (NOT).

[Bullshop]

If you deceid to try other than PP maybe this would work for you too.
I do custom loading also besides custom casting. A customer brought in an early Shiloh Farmingdale 45/120 for hunting ammo. He had had it for many years without firing it and wanted to use it for moose and bison.
This was a real early rifle built by Wolfgang and was as perfect a rifle as I have ever seen. Not a flaw could be found anywhere between wood and metal. Thing is on the early guns he coppied the PP throat of origonal Sharps. This customer didnt want PP or BP so I was challenged to find a boolit/load that would work with that long throat/chamber. The one that worked realy good was the RCBS 500gn fngc. That long parrallel sided boolit could be seated out to fill the throat and still have enough in the case for good hold.
That georgous Sharps rifle shot as good as it looked. The customer did get his moose and bison using that rifle.
The boolits were used without gas checks, cast in 30/1 alloy, and loaded with a duplex smokless load.
BIC/BS

[kodiak1]

Ther is nothing like an Original Sharps or even the Shiloh and The C. Sharps Rifles they are a work of art and a real joy to shoot.
Ken.

[KCSO]

The 45-2 1/10 80 gran pp ctg. had a chamber cut longer than the 45-70 and 75 and the rifling has a taper for the pp to seat in. If I cut a 45-90 case off a tad and seat it with a 450 bullet seated out some it will shoot laed with reasonable accuracy. That is not what the owner wants, he wants the real deal and he doesn't want to use 45-90 cases. I am loading 70 grains of swiss 1 1/2 F g in a w/w case with a 450 gr pp bullet and a card and a felt grease wad under the bullet. This puts the bullet right into the leade and we have went from keyhole at 50 to 1 1/2" groups at 50 yards and the owner is dancing for joy. Here is a photo of the rifle next to my repro and a photo of the different loads 45-70 PP 45- 2 1/10 and a 45-70 govt. The one thing I really like about the old sharps is the 1/2 cock is where it should be, just off the firing pin instead of way back in the middle. Otherwise the gun is just about a match for my repro. The paper patch slugs I am using are 451 straight slugs patched with patching paper from Buffalo arms and sized to 458 and lightly lubed with bullet lube. They seat just into the rifling and I can get from 3 to 5 shots without wiping and good accuracy. It is currently 93 degrees and no humidity so on a more moderate day this should do for deer hunting as if you don't get him by the third shot you won't get one at all.

[Bullshop]

Oh yea that aughta do it!!!
BIC/BS

[KCSO]

Having had the chance to have 3 Sharps repro's and an original Sharps all apart on the bench at one time I have some interesting comparisons. First off none of the Itye Sharpses have the half cock in the right place. The Pedersoli, Armi Sport and the Taylors all are way to far back. The original Sharps safety notch is just 1/4" off the firing pin. The Armi Sport is the closest match to the original Sharps as far as the action goes, but they have a two piece firing pin from the factory and sometimes have ignition problems. The Taylors (IAB) have a god awfull safety and a firing pin return spring that won't even let the gun fire without work. The Original Sharps has no firing pin return spring and just uses the tit on the breech block. The Pedersoli had a modified breech block with a bushed firing pin and a gas shield behind the firing pin. This is the safest and best arrangment for firing heavier loads, but not authentic. The Original Sharps has a stock about 1/2" shorter than the replicia's, and the buttplate is 3/8" shorther up and down and 1/4" narrower than the replica's. The Original has a lever stop that holds the lever in position against the spring when the gun is open. The Taylor's has a coil spring arrangment and the Armi Sport has no stop so the breach block drops down below the loading chute when open. The Taylor extractor is fitted so loose that the shells can be chambered with the rim under the extractor and then the gun won't close. Low and behold so do the others including the original, so this is why Schoyen put on dual extractors. None of the replica's can get the wood right. The original Sharps rifles I have handled all had narrower fore stocks and slimmer buttstocks than the repro's and most particuliarly the comb of the stock should be a hard comb rather than the sloping comb of the repro's. The ONLY Shilo Sharps I have handled got the details right and had the modern breech block, so I would have to rate that as the top of the line even over the original rifles.

[moodyholler]

According to Seller's book, there are two distinct half cock notches, depending on where the gun was manufacured. Early guns use the high notch just like a percussion and the later Hartford rifles used the low notch. Many sharps were returned to the factory and rebarelled and fitted to later parts. moodyholler

[waksupi]

I had a Garrett Arms Sharps some years ago. Sold it for medical bills at one time. It was a great shooter. I put a Montana Rifle Barrels barrel on it. (Previously Sharon Barrels, ran by Jerry Cunningham, and Harrison Weimer, not the current Montana Rifle Co.) Heavy business configuration. Cut off the primer feed block, and shortened the hammer by about 1/4". Changed out all the internal parts, for original Sharps parts. Re-stocked, checkered, and poured a pewter nosecap. Then, there was a bit of antiqueing done. The late Austin Monck was one of the foremost Sharps collectors in the country, and thought it was an original when he saw it. If you ever find one of these rifles around, I'd suggest getting it.