new guy- NeedsTri Star Sharps help

[george1980]

hello , i was refered to this sight from a fellow i talked to on yahoo and he said everyone here would be more than happy to help , ok long story short i recently had a tri star 1874 sharps givin to me by a fellow that owed me some money , the barrel is marked 45-70 , but following a sugestion i stuck the depth guage on my verneer caliper into the chamber and its considerably longer than 2.10 a rough guess puts it at 2.45 so im not real sure what to do with it being as my gun savvy is near zero , is it safe to shoot or should i give it back and demand the 200 bucks the guy owes me , he was fairly honest about it when he told me he had only shot about 35 rounds and he couldnt hit a barn if he was standing inside it , suggestions ... unless its a lost cause i wouldnt mind keeping it ive shot muzzleloaders since i was 12 and wouldnt mind trying my hand at a cartridge rifle ... but if its going to be a money pit ill have to move on im currently delivering pizza's for a living and dont need to spend my cash on a dead horse .. thanks

[montana_charlie]

Frankly speaking...
Of all the Sharps makers in Italy, the TriStar has about the poorest reputation.
That doesn't mean it's a 'lost cause'. Some turn out to be reliable enough to be fun shooters.
But, it isn't hard to find complaints from guys who had to replace parts in the trigger group or in the lock...just to get it working right.

Also, Black Powder Cartridge Rifle (BPCR) is somewhat of a money pit even with a proven rifle, and you may want to consider that.

If you decide to keep it, I'm sure others will join me in helping you to get started. But, you can figure on spending twenty bucks right off the bat to get some Cerrosafe to cast your chamber...so we can figure out what cartridge you will actually be shooting.

If you want to ask some more questions before making that decision about giving the rifle back...shoot.

CM

[george1980]

montana charlie , i googled how to do a chamber cast and i am pretty sure im just barely smart enough to handle doing that , youll have to forgive me a little here other than how to be safe and general maintenence ( cleaning .etc ) i dont know a whole lot about anything , with that being said maybe you can help me out by telling me what kind of questions i should be asking ... everything does appear to be in good working order on the rifle both triggers seem to function properly same with the lock .....

[SharpsShooter]

The problem with the lock parts and triggers is that they are very soft. I've seen a couple of these go less than a 100 rounds before they literally disintegrated. Unless you are willing to take the time to harden the internals of the engagement surfaces, pins and all trigger parts, I'd likely return the money pit.


SS

[montana_charlie]

with that being said maybe you can help me out by telling me what kind of questions i should be asking .....

Ah!
I was thinking more about any questions you may have on BPCR in general...not questions about that particular rifle.
It is what it is, and it will work well for a long time, or it won't.

For your own decision making process, you will want to decide if you will reload for the gun, or buy factory shells. Will you cast bullets or buy ready-made.
Will you use black powder, a substitute, or smokeless...and where wil you find BP if that's your choice.

Your normal reloading setup will work, but there are some specialized accessories...some of which are more or less necessary for the job.
And, as soon as you acquire one, you hear about two more that you can't hardly live without.
That's the money pit aspect of BPCR.

CM

[george1980]

sharpsshooter this might sound like a dumb question but theres no reason i cant treat most of the parts like i would a muzzle loader is there , i have built a couple and theres a guy ive sent parts to in west virginia to case harden lock plates and other parts and he didnt charge a whole lot to do it ,

[NickSS]

The rifle you have was made by Padretti in italy. Some are OK and some have soft parts. I had one years ago that the only problem I had with it was the chamber had really tight head space. A friend of mine ran a 45-70 reamer into it to deepen the rim cut for the shells to seat far enough so that the action would close. It shot halfway decent and I kept the rifle for a couple of years until I decided I wanted a more quality rifle. If the lock parts start wearing fast you can case harden them and they will work for a long time. I never had any problems with the springs on mine so can not comment on that. It is possible that the chamber was reamed too long and you can either use 45-70 or see if 45-90 shells fit in it (they are 2.4 inches long).

[SharpsShooter]

sharpsshooter this might sound like a dumb question but theres no reason i cant treat most of the parts like i would a muzzle loader is there , i have built a couple and theres a guy ive sent parts to in west virginia to case harden lock plates and other parts and he didnt charge a whole lot to do it ,

George,

That doesn't sound dumb at all. Yes the hardening and polishing process is the same for both and there is no reason you can't do exactly what you speak of doing. My point was solely to be sure you were going forward with your eyes wide open to the potential issues that these rifles are noted for having. If the bore and chamber are in good shape, it is not an impossible task.




SS

[Wayne Smith]

If you have a propane torch and casenit (sp?) you can case harden them yourself. I've done it, and I'm a psychologist! Basically all it is is some carbon that you apply to the area and heat to get the carbon into the surface of the metal.

It is probable that a) that rifle will never be competitive at 500+ yds. and b) that it will be accurate enough for woods hunting. It depends on what you want to do.

If you are shooting muzzle loaders you probably have black powder. If you don't already reload even an original Lee loader will load the cartridges for little investment. Powder compression (yes, you want to do this, especially with Goex) can be done with an arbor press and a wooden plug turned with an appropriate shoulder. I've done it that way for years and no, I don't compete.

[KCSO]

Search IAB Sharps and yo will get all the answers. I hope he didn't owe you much!

[george1980]

thanks guys but after i figured out how to get the search function to work ( type computer in the box .. duh ) and with some good advice from you and others and not seeing anything good about these rifles and knowing from the start it has a miscut chamber i think im going to save myself the headaches and try to get the cash the fellow owes me if that doesnt work out ill give it a try and hope not to blow myself up , it is kinda a shame while the quality of the rifle isnt there i rather like the looks of the sharps maybe next rendezvous ill talk to some of the old timers an work myself into a percusion sharps ... thanks

[Freightman]

Keep the rifle until he comes up with the cash, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" at least you will have something instead of a empty promise that the ck is in the mail.
To get a rough idea of what the chamber is oil it good and put some wax down it. Not the best way but it will give you a rough idea.
Looked Tristar up, and on the auction sites they are listed at $600/$800. I didn't say they were worth that just what they are listed for.

[george1980]

well i went an had a nice long talk to the fellow i got the rifle from today , i will say if nothing else he was honest the chances of getting the little bit of money he owes is slim to none at best so im going to try my luck with it and hope for the best and while the 200 bucks acounts for a goodly part of a weeks wages its not worth making a fuss over and maybe losing a friend , but now moving on i took the lock and trigger group apart this afternoon and the good news is i cant see any wear on any of the parts and for the most part everythings nearly identical to what im used to looking at in my front stuffers so im not feeling as if this is going to be a project thats over my head , and monday morning everything except springs that might wear is going in the mail to be case hardened for peace of mind , thanks guys now im off to try give it a good cleaning and try frieghtmans idea for a rough chamber casting and slug the bore

[waksupi]

George, if he only owed you a couple hundred, put it on an auction site. You are sure to make more than what you were owed. Let someone else deal with it.

[george1980]

waksupi , your most deffinatly right i would be best off to find it a new home , but after all is said and done im not sure i could feel right with myself by selling it knowing its a piece of junk , i'd rather not have the bad karma ... i think im going to give it a try without spending much money and if it falls apart , i wont be out much ive got a 50-50 chance anyway , but i did do some cleaning the bore is bright and shiny with no evidence of rust or pitting , i did remove a pretty fair amount of lead from the end of the chamber , and following frieghtmans advice i plugged the bore about a half inch past the chamber with a patch and cleaning rod , and pouring in some candle wax i was able to get a decent cast the chamber length is between 2.45 and 2.49 and that closely matches what i came up with using a depth guage , so evidently its a .45-90 and not the 45-70 thats stamped on the barrel and the barrel slugged at .460 so i guess ill move forward and hopefully things work out