pedersoli sharps questions

[leadeye]

Picked up this rifle and the Savage in the picture at a sale this weekend. I have never owned a Sharps but the deal was too good to walk on. The rifle appears to be in working order and in 45-70 caliber, but I have nothing to compare to having never handled one before. Anything I should look for in particular?:)

[John Boy]

Pedersoli barrels are match grade. Make up the right bullet loading data and they will shoot nice groups. Mine shoots accurately to 1000yds

[JRW]

One of the basics with this rifle is after firing, put the hammer on half cock notch, then open the lever to remove the shell. If this is not done, you will drag the firing pin over the bottom half of the shell. The Sharps design does not have a retractable firing pin. Not a big deal for the brass, but can bugger up your pin.

Have fun with the beast, you will not be disappointed with it.

Jim.

[runnin lead]

You need to put the hammer to half cock before opening the action,if you don't you will end up with a broken fireing pin, the pressure from the hammer holds the fireing pin out
I haven't broken oin yet on my Pedersoli but have broken one on my C. Sharps.
It wouldn't be a bad idea to order a few spares
In many if not most cases they will still fire with abroken fireing pin for a while anyway but they are eratic ,things ( bullets) just dont seem to go just quite where they were sposto
accuracy takes a dive
You also realy watch over any one who wants to try it out half cock halfcock half cock & they still end up opening the action on you half the time anyway

[runnin lead]

I type S L O W

[leadeye]

Good info, I know this is a noob question but what does the small lever on the side do? Part of disassembly?:grin:

[405]

Short answer about the lever on the side. It is the main pin that holds the guts (block) in the action. It moves past a detent (usually) with finger pressure then is pulled out. You may have to wiggle it to remove. No problem. They are made to field strip and clean. Ditto on going to half cock (actually like 1/8th cock:)) before opening action. [[Interesting note on that. If you watch Quigley closely.... Selleck checks, out of habit, at least once during the movie to make sure the hammer is at half cock before opening the Shiloh.]]

[EDK]

Good info, I know this is a noob question but what does the small lever on the side do? Part of disassembly?:grin:

Yes. Depress the plunger and rotate the pin out to remove the breech block assembly. My SHILOH has a tiny spring on the firing pin, but you need to go to half cock for dis- or re-assembly.

Mike Venturino has a personal "horror story" on a broken firing pin at the Nationals IIRC. Basically, the accuracy went to h***, but the rifle will still fire with the broken firing pin.:Fire::castmine::redneck:

Reloading for black powder cartridge rifles is a whole different ball game. Go to shilolhrifle.com/forums and BPCR.net and do a lot of reading.

[NickSS]

Ditto to everything said above concerning half cocking the hammer and disassembly of the breach block. You do not have to take the block out to clean the rifle. I take mine out about once a year to clean and oil the action and block. The firing pins are the weak point on a sharps. I have not broken one on a 74 model yet but I have broken several on C Sharps model 1875 rifles. They seam to break easy if you try to open the action without half cocking the hammer. I have also broke them after several thousand shots. So pick up a couple of spares for your shooting box. By the way I have seen pedersolli's shoot very well and they have good barrels.