Sudden Loss of Sharps Accuracy

[M-Tecs]

I'm not sure if who it was (Mike Venturino i belive) spoke to a sudden loss of accuracy in a Sharps of his that sounds eerily like yours.

He rendered the issue down to a broken firing pin.

I have no idea how a broken firing pin in a Sharps would affect accuracy but once it was replaced his issue was resolved.

Weak firing pin springs will give inconsistent ignition. I have seen sub 1/2 MOA match rifles turn into 2 MOA rifles with weak firing pin springs than back to sub 1/2 MOA when the springs are replaced. Going for 1 MOA to 7 MOA is a bit of a head scratcher?

https://bulletin.accurateshooter.com...-be-the-cause/

[Woodtroll]

^^^In the 1874, the main/hammer spring would provide the power to strike the firing pin, but that could also be weak or broken.

Another thought, does the firing pin move freely in its hole (is the hole battered, peened, or burred)?

Do you have access to a chronograph? I'm still thinking inconsistent ignition due to a mechanical change would be the cause of such a sudden change, ruling out leading or traumatic bore or crown damage.

[Woodtroll]

Just curious - did you ever make any progress on this?

[1874Sharps]

Interestingly enough, I found the problem. It turned out to be the same thing that happened to Indian Joe as he posted earlier in this thread. Let me give a little background: A year or so back I was having trouble with my Lyman 500 grain mold. It would not close properly and I wrongly figured that after several thousand castings maybe it just needed replacement. That bullet had always worked well for me, so I figured on buying a new one. I could not find one available so I bought a new 500 grain mold from Accurate Molds. The one I settled on was a little different than the Lyman. It was a bit longer in the nose and a bit shorter in the shank with one less grease groove. The idea of this new mold was to allow bullet seating a bit farther into the leade. I shot a number of loads with this boolit and did not have as good accuracy with it, so I picked up the old Lyman mold again to see if I could get it casting again. Turns out it was just carboned up and a good cleaning fixed it. Amazing what a little magnification will reveal. More on that in a second. As Indian Joe experienced, it appeared that the new boolit from the Accurate Molds did not carry enough SPG lube for the last couple of inches of the Sharps’ 32 inch barrel. I had undetected leading with BP fouling underneath it and that set up the conditions for pitting. I will be 65 this month and amazingly both of my eyes are better than 20/20 at distance. However my ability to focus up close started diminishing in my 40s. Like the flight surgeon humorously told me when I was a young aviator in the navy, “When you hit your 40s your arms are going to get short.” If I had only looked down the bore with magnification (maybe it’s time to get a bore scope), perhaps I would have seen the leading and avoided the pitting problem. Well, that’s water under the bridge. I decided to buy a Krieger barrel blank with Henry rifling and sent the blank and Sharps to Lee Shaver to have it made into a 12.1 pound silhouette rifle with an octagon to round profile with Hartford collar. (I always liked the looks of that style.) Krieger no longer makes the blanks with Henry rifling, but Buffalo Arms had some in stock. They are not supposed to be any more accurate than conventional rifling, but the Henry rifling is supposed to hold up to repeated shots without cleaning between shots a bit better without losing accuracy. You see, I figure if I am ever up against Marston’s bad guys in Australia that will give me an edge (a reference to Quigley Down Under, in case you have not seen the movie). The turn around time will be a good year because Lee Shaver is in great demand and a bit backed up, but he is a famous single shot expert and competitive BPCR shooter as well, so I don’t mind the wait.

[indian joe]

Interesting!!
I freebored mine about 1.5 inches first, got the worst rust mark out but still didnt fix it --ended up sawed four inches off it, recut the front dovetail, back in business !

[1874Sharps]

Some of us are born with carbines and need every inch we can get!

[indian joe]

Some of us are born with carbines and need every inch we can get!

thought we were talkin about gun barrels?? I was.........................

[Woodtroll]

Interestingly enough, I found the problem. It turned out to be the same thing that happened to Indian Joe as he posted earlier in this thread. Let me give a little background: A year or so back I was having trouble with my Lyman 500 grain mold. It would not close properly and I wrongly figured that after several thousand castings maybe it just needed replacement. That bullet had always worked well for me, so I figured on buying a new one. I could not find one available so I bought a new 500 grain mold from Accurate Molds. The one I settled on was a little different than the Lyman. It was a bit longer in the nose and a bit shorter in the shank with one less grease groove. The idea of this new mold was to allow bullet seating a bit farther into the leade. I shot a number of loads with this boolit and did not have as good accuracy with it, so I picked up the old Lyman mold again to see if I could get it casting again. Turns out it was just carboned up and a good cleaning fixed it. Amazing what a little magnification will reveal. More on that in a second. As Indian Joe experienced, it appeared that the new boolit from the Accurate Molds did not carry enough SPG lube for the last couple of inches of the Sharps’ 32 inch barrel. I had undetected leading with BP fouling underneath it and that set up the conditions for pitting. I will be 65 this month and amazingly both of my eyes are better than 20/20 at distance. However my ability to focus up close started diminishing in my 40s. Like the flight surgeon humorously told me when I was a young aviator in the navy, “When you hit your 40s your arms are going to get short.” If I had only looked down the bore with magnification (maybe it’s time to get a bore scope), perhaps I would have seen the leading and avoided the pitting problem. Well, that’s water under the bridge. I decided to buy a Krieger barrel blank with Henry rifling and sent the blank and Sharps to Lee Shaver to have it made into a 12.1 pound silhouette rifle with an octagon to round profile with Hartford collar. (I always liked the looks of that style.) Krieger no longer makes the blanks with Henry rifling, but Buffalo Arms had some in stock. They are not supposed to be any more accurate than conventional rifling, but the Henry rifling is supposed to hold up to repeated shots without cleaning between shots a bit better without losing accuracy. You see, I figure if I am ever up against Marston’s bad guys in Australia that will give me an edge (a reference to Quigley Down Under, in case you have not seen the movie). The turn around time will be a good year because Lee Shaver is in great demand and a bit backed up, but he is a famous single shot expert and competitive BPCR shooter as well, so I don’t mind the wait.

Thanks for the update! Please post photos once the rifle returns!

[1874Sharps]

Lee Shaver is in high demand and told me upfront that it’s going to take about a year to get to my rifle, so it will be a while before I get it back, but I will be happy to post photos as soon as I can.

[John in PA]

Damage to sight(s)? Broken solder joint , loose screw, dovetail loose, I had a joint come loose during a 1000 yard artillery match on time with my 10-pounder Parrott rifle. Couldn't figure out how it could have suddenly opened up groups so much, having shot winning scores for several years prior. Found the loose solder joint in the rear sight at the end of the match. Stabilized with a hose clamp (only option on hand) and won the match the next day.