My new Sharps

[mtnman31]

Right before the 4th of July, I received my new Shiloh Sharps. I ordered it in Jan 07 right before I deployed. I figured I deserved a treat for myself. All I can say is that it is awesome. Worth the wait and every penny. I have only had the chance to put a dozen rounds down range and they were, GASP, some jacketed bullets. They were all I had on hand. I am getting ready to load up some black powder cartridges for it and use it like it was designed. Let the fun begin.

8110

[WildmanJack]

Dam nice gun.. Wish I had one myself. One of these days... One of these days!!!!

[madcaster]

THANK YOU for your service to our nation SIR!

[405]

You bet! Ditto to madcaster's comment- THANKS!
No problem shooting some Jbullets down the bore. By shooting a few and cleaning often.... getting rid of all the copper each time... you are actually knocking all the "cobwebs" out and breaking in the bore. I think Shiloh actually recommends it for break-in or used to. Won't hurt a thing. If you try some 405 grain Rem FP Jbullets on top of a mild "trapdoor" load of 4198 or 3031 and carefully shoot for groups you'll get an idea of what the gun is capable of. Then you'll spend the next X years trying to duplicate the tiny holes! :mrgreen:

[13Echo]

If you shoot jacketed bullets make very certain you get the copper out of the bore before firing blackpowder and lead. The copper in the bore seems to make lead fouling much more difficult to remove. I suspect it's because the copper adheres really tightly to the bore, much tighter than usual leading and lead clings to copper tighter than it does to steel. I suspect it's an actual alloying of the copper and lead. Unfortunately the lead seems to protect the copper from bore cleaners that are formulated to dissolve copper. Worse yet if you use a BP substitute and clean with an ammonia containing bore solvent a chemical reaction occurs that frequently results in bad bore rusting. There is no reason not to fire your rifle with jacketed bullets just get the coppering out.

Jerry Liles

[Jon K]

mtnman31,

Congratulations, great looking treat...............Thanks for your service.

How about some details.......caliber? 30" Heavy?
Have you found a place to shoot? Pala is N. SD couty
http://www.ncsapala.com/

Jon

[longhorn]

Very nice! Is that a saddle rifle with 28" heavy octagon barrel? It'll sure make a nice woods rifle. Nice wood.

[mtnman31]

It is a 45-70 Hartford model, 30" heavy full octagon barrel, mid range buffalo soule sight, and spirit level front globe. I had the full buckhorn rear sight put on too. In retrospect I probably could have done without it. Reason being, I intended to have the buckhorn rear sight on for closer or faster shots that wouldn't require the precision of the vernier sight. Problem is with the vernier sight laid down, the staff is too long to load and unload cartridges without having to wiggle around it. If I find that I can't live with the buckhorn sight, I can always take it out and have a blank put in to fill the dovetail slot.

[Buckshot]

.................Mighty fine looking rifle. Definately something to be proud of.

.............Buckshot

[BruceB]

mntnman, sir;

My Sharps' was a gift from my wife, back when Shiloh started making them around 1980. It had a dove-tail mounted barrel sight and a German-silver front blade.

I mounted a Shiloh "sporting" tang sight on it soon after receiving it. This is a simplistic sight with rudimentary graduations, and adjustments are done by loosening the eyepiece and sliding it (either windage or elevation, or both) to somewhere approximating one's desires.

I found that the staff was very dangerous to the eyes if using the barrel sight with the tang sight folded to the rear, and if the sight was folded frontward it was a serious impediment to loading and ejection. Not good either way.

The plan was to zero the barrel sight for hunting at 100 yards, and the tang sight at 150. The combo turned out to be just too awkward (for me) in the field..

When I had Shiloh re-barrel the rifle, I therefore specified NO dovetail cut for a rear sight, and then I mounted a fine Axtell tang sight along with a spirit-level front with beaucoup insert options. Naturally, now that I'm gettting interested in a long Malcom-style scope, I discover that it requires that missing dovetail for the rear mount....

Your rifle looks beautiful. Enjoy.

[Boz330]

Bruce, take a look at the MVA scope set up, it doesn't require the dovetail cut. It just has screw on mount blocks.

Bob

[BruceB]

Thanks, Boz. That is a VERY useful tip.

I haven't really decided about the scope yet, but it has certain attractions for some of us older gents....apart from the choker of a price tag.

[Boz330]

I looked at both and decided on the MVA because it has a course windage adjustment up front and a fine adjustment in the back. It also has a sliding scope instead of the locked down solid scope. I think that might be easier on the scope as well as my eyebrow. The only thing that I don't like is that there is a fair bit of backlash in the elevation screw if you want to go the opposite direction from the last correction. Thet takes a little getting used to. BUT, it sure is nice actually seeing what your shooting at. I can still do ok on the big paper targets with the irons but those silly wets are next to invisible and that is what I really like shooting.

Bob

PS. Mtnman31, didn't mean to hijack your thread. Very nice gun and thanks for your service and good luck.