Ive got a chance at a Brochardt reproduction

[country gent]

Gentleman Ive got a chance to add a Sharps Brochardt reproduction to my collection. A neat looking rifle with nice lines to it. Ive been sent pics of it and some 100yd groups. Its pretty close to what I want. Any info on them would be appreciated as to reliability, tooling needed, quirks or pluses. Ive had several 74 Sharps over the years Stevens 44 1/2 reproduction, high wall reproduction and a Hepburn reproduction.

[Don McDowell]

If a borchardt has a properly tuned trigger, along with a good barrel and chamber they can be amazingly good shooters.

[country gent]

That's what Ive heard this one was built by Al Story at Brochardt rifle Company. It and the groups shown look like a very nice rifle.

[Bent Ramrod]

You ought to have the good barrel and trigger pull, if it's a BRC reproduction. They displayed their wares here at a Gun Show recently and there was no doubt they pull out all the stops when it comes to quality.

I have a varmint rifle build on a Sharps-Borchardt action and a wreck of a Military Model I plan to get shooting. The only downside I have seen is that they are not easy to disassemble and get back together. Can't recall the exact troubles I had, but I find myself reluctant to do it again.

Someone with more dexterous fingers and better mechanical ability than me might have a different opinion. But I did notice that the old correspondence between the dealers and the company mentioned that the "hammer model" was more in demand than the new one, because, unlike the "hammer model," it was hard to get apart for cleaning. This appears to have mutated in modern writings, which aver that customers liked the hammer itself, and shunned the Borchardt because it didn't have one.

Anyway, congratulations on your purchase. I'm envious.

[Gunlaker]

I would jump at a good Borchardt by Al Story. I have an original sporter that was reconfigured into a modern version of the long range rifle. ( by modern I mean much heavier barrel ). The action came out of BRC and I believe it has their trigger job. The trigger is excellent. The rifle was built by Curt Hardcastle and is a super shooter.

Chris.

[Gunlaker]

I should add that the only quirk mine has, and perhaps it's common to all Borchardt rifles ( no idea as I only have experience with this one ), is that it's easy to chamber a cartridge with the rim ahead of the extractor if you are not careful. Then you have to knock it out with a cleaning rod. It's easy to deal with though as you develop a technique when chambering the round to prevent this problem.

The breech block is easy to remove for cleaning, but with the light BRC trigger job you have to be quite careful not to allow the striker to release when pushing out the breech block.

I think the only significant problem with the design is that it has no camming ability.

I really enjoy shooting mine. The stock fits me very well, and the rifle weighs 14 lbs so is a pussycat with the 84.5gr of Swiss I use in it.

I was looking at a rifle being sold on the ASSRA forum a while back. Maybe this is the same one? I like it, but the stock would not fit for me. That one has a BRC barrel which seems to be gaining some reputation. I have a highwall with a BRC barrel but have yet to shoot it.

Chris.

[earlmck]

About 40 years ago I broke the tip off the firing pin on my original Borchardt (it is a 22 hornet which is my primary sage rat shooter, so gets a goodly amount of shooting every Spring). Had to disassemble it to get at the firing pin at that time but haven't needed to since and I don't recall it being a huge deal; certainly easier than say a model 92 Win. So I am having a little trouble figuring out how "tough to take apart for cleaning" would be a big issue in one shooting smokeless powder -- the block drops down for breech cleaning of the barrel just fine.
I would love to have an Al Story reproduction -- his are so close to the original he offered to fix me up with one of his firing pins should this one over need another.

[country gent]

I put the Ill Take It on the rifle today. Would have liked a 40-65 but I have everything for 45-70 to cast and load for 45-70 also so not a problem. Sent the e-mail a few minutes ago asking for a couple little extras to be done but nothing major.

[marlinman93]

The repros done by Al Story are better than the originals! Exact copies, but with modern steel. You can't go wrong with one of them!