By some luck and prudent horse trading, I have a chance to acquire one for about the price of a used H&R buffalo classic.
Reviews on these guns range from disintegrating locks and sloppy chambers to "as good as pedersoli." The people who own their paper cartridge models seem to love them.
Most reviews begin with "a friend of mine bought one". The good reviews are usually by people who own them. The same applies to only a few bad reviews. Has anyone here had any firsthand experience with them?
do some online searching - here's a thread about the iab from 2007 ... those "first hand" experiences all seem to be nothing but bad news.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?21220-IAB-Sharps-model-1874
I had one and they can be made into a decent rifle with a lot of work. I got mine for $265 so wasn't too worried about it. But if you pay going price and have to add labor cost to it why not get a Ped or C-Sharps and know what you have for sure.
I didn't keep mine long enough to see if the lock parts were soft. There was a local dealer here that had the distributorship for them and had so many returned that they dropped it in about 6 months.
GUNFIRE! The sound of Freedom!
The guys giving a good report just don't want anyone know they made a mistake getting one. I would avoid them like would a cotton mouth.
A friend of mine purchased one for his son for Christmas. They took it outside and on the 5th round the firing pin broke. He called me and I asked him where the gun had been purchased and he advised he bought it from a friend who owned the small local gun store. I told him to take it back the very first day they would be open and ask for a full refund. He did and I told him to purchase his son a Pedersoli, which he did and now he has fired the gun many times with no problems.
Shooter of the "HOLY BLACK" SASS 81802 AKA FAIRSHAKE; NRA ; BOLD; WARTHOG;Deadwood Marshal;Bayou Bounty Hunter; So That his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat; 44 WCF filled to the top, 210 gr. bullet
An inexpensive rifle can be made to shoot as good as an expensive rifle.
Doing so requires much time, effort, and knowledge. By the time you pay someone with the knowledge to expend the time and effort, you have likely spent as much as the expensive rifle was to begin with.
The real downside is that, should you ever need to part ways with said inexpensive turned expensive rifle, you will be told it's only an inexpensive rifle... all that money spent making it shoot as good as an expensive rifle is lost forever.
Thus endeth the lesson.
I would just say that there are much better choices for not tooooooooooooo much more $$$...
I have a .54 caliber paper cutter. After 2-3 shots is is fouled so bad I can't open the action. Don't care for the sights at all. Have never had a safety problem with it, but would never buy another one. That's OK. It is more of a wall hanger than anything else.
I had one in 45-70, for a little while. The range of problems was almost laughable. I paid $350 for it about 10 or 12 years ago, it was a used rifle. I sold it for $300 and never looked back. My next 45-70 I bought is a Pedersoli Rolling Block. I love it. I am sure it will shoot a lot better than I am capable of shooting at my 73 year old ability. I haven't been shooting much for the last couple of years but before that I could keep it within 1 1/2" at 100 yards using any of my 5 different molds and Unique powder. I love those slow boolits. I load all of them to about 1000 FPS. Hardly any recoil.
You just described the biggest problem with an IAB; inconsistency. Yes, they can be found to shoot great, and work great. But they can also be found on the opposite end of the spectrum. Just seems like they aren't consistently good or bad.Originally Posted by Thundermaker
I used to have two. No more.
The first one made it to the gun range, and back to where I bought it. Chamber was so rough, brass would not come out with out the use of a ram rod.
# 2, which was the replacement for #1...........The chamber was some where in between 45-70 & 45-90. One could see day light between the stock & receiver. After firing a number of rounds, the saftey fell off.
The "clock works" of the gun looked like the parts had been cut out with an axe. After working with it for a summer, sent it down the line....
I have heard that IAB stands for Is Always Broken...... go figure.
If yours shoots good, good deal! If not, it's trading fodder.
I now have a Pedersoli "Quigley"....I'm keepin' this one.
What kind of "safety" was on that Sharps?
CM
Retired...TWICE. Now just raisin' cows and livin' on borrowed time.
That has been a problem with all the Sharps. The safety was poorly designed and they just fall off. You hardly ever see one still on a rifle anymore.
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Sorry.
Chill Wills
I looked at several a guy had at a local gun show. wood wasnt spectacylar and on one grain didnt appear to be flowing right to be as strong as it could have been. Fit and finish wasnt there. metal work wasnt as good as some. The gent that had them on his table must have seen the originals in the back or thought they were Csharps pr Shilohs from the price he had on them. I have a pendersoli long range sharps ( the model made for cabellas) while not the fit and finish it is nice and a well built rifle very accurate and reliable. It did break a lever spring after several thousand rounds. I also have C Sharps ( Hepburn) that is very nicely built and accurate and a CPA shilouette model that is very nice and they were a dream to work with. I have seen reproduction SHarps IAB, S&H, Thomas ( I believe was the legend on the barrel) that didnt look all that good. Think about it money saved on a rifle is only saved if the rifle perfoms and is reliable otherwise its just money ill spent
Charlie, it is hard to describe but they have lever on the block that covers the firing pin when the block is lowered. You have to move it to the right so the hammer can hit the firing pin once the block is back up. Pretty simple actually but a major PIA in reality. But considering the quality of the innards probably not a bad idea.
Bob
GUNFIRE! The sound of Freedom!
It is-was a IAB thing, thought most everyone had seen it or knew of it.
KW
Oh! Well, then! That explains my confusion.What kind of "safety" was on that Sharps?
My Sharps was 'preowned' when I bought it, so the safety must have fallen off long before I first saw it.
Thanks for the clarification, men.
CM
Retired...TWICE. Now just raisin' cows and livin' on borrowed time.
Do you have an IAB???????? I thought that you shot a Pedersoli. They can be removed and if I had one it would sure be on the list of things to do, IF I had one.
Bob
GUNFIRE! The sound of Freedom!
It was a flippy-uppie-thingy that got in the way when one was trying to shoot the darn thing. Why any one would need a saftey on a hammer gun is beyond me. I didn't loose any sleep when it fell off, I'll tell ya that!!!
Actually, I do shoot a Pedersoli.
I was just responding (with humor) to Chill Wills' remark about 'all Sharps rifles'.
Frankly, having no hands on experience with the IAB guns, I was totally ignorant of the fact that they actually do include a safety device.
CM
Retired...TWICE. Now just raisin' cows and livin' on borrowed time.
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