Why on Sharps cartridges

[NickSS]

All this talk of heavy loads brings to mind a rifle I owned for a short time many years ago. It was a single shot english sporting rifle in 4 Bore. It was half round barrel with a false muzzle for loading and open sights. It came complete with two molds one for round ball and the other for a conical that was paper patched on loading. The balls weighed about 3 ounces and the conicals were around 4 ounces. I remember that there was a recommended bullet and powder charge for different dangerous game. I only fired two round balls with the charge recommended for lion and tiger of 15 drams of FG. My first shot was at 50 yards and the recoil rocked me back on one foot and spun me 180 degrees. I hounestly think that my shoulder blades touched. Like a young fool that I was I loaded it up for a second shot and jerked the trigger and shut my eyes. My second ball hit the 2X4 target frame and shattered it. I was hurting too much to try a third shot. I sold the rifle to a collector shortly after shooting it. I must say those two shots tought me that hevey kicking rifles were not for me give me a pipsqueek 458 mag any day.

[ColColt]

15 drams??!! That's 412 grains of BP. It's a wonder you have a shoulder. Those English must be a hardy bunch. They've always favored big bores and lots of powder. After shooting that monster the 375 H&H would seem like a .22. I got curious as to what a 4 bore round looked like. The pic tells it all.



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