I whish they'd make a Ruger with the side lever conversion. I'd be in for one of those for sure.
I whish they'd make a Ruger with the side lever conversion. I'd be in for one of those for sure.
Domari Nolo
While I dearly love Hepburn rifles, I can't say a side lever is much good for extracting any case that has much resistance to leave the chamber. They are fantastic for bech shooting where I never need to roll the gun on it's side to extract a case though.
I think with others building Hepburn clones now, I doubt Ruger would ever consider expanding their limited production of the #1 to include a side lever version.
Maw, at the grocery store, meat market aisle, with her trusty Remington-Hepburn in one hand and a Jim Bowie in t'other. Pricelessly classic. An era, a lifestyle, and a people long gone and most likely never to return.
She is a lady you would really want to be on her good side. What a great pic. Todd/3leg
in one competition a shooter came with a ruger no 1 with tank sight and the range officer told that the rifle does not qualifie since no hammer
the shooter red the rule on this and it stipulate that a rifle with visible hammer are allowed but it does not say how much of the tiger has to be visible and the shooter showed the small part of the hammer that is visible on the ruger and won is point....... so he was allowed to shoot
The Sharps Brochardt is a rifle of the correct era and its banned also due to no hammer. Its just the way it is.
There are conversions of the Remington Rolling block to a side lever to open the block. I believe you still have to cock the hammer by hand first though. On the number 1 cocking the striker, lowering the block and ejecting the cartridge case may be a lot of force on the lever to accomplish. My Hepurn takes a pretty good push on the lever to get the case out enough to remove it with out hooking it with a finger nail to slide it out a little more. ( C Sharps repo in 45-90). I like the looks of the side lever and the ease of it from prone and the bench also. I am going to do a roller when the shop is up and going for a project and may convert it to side lever also.
Tho well meaning, I think you two are spreading fake news
The Sharps Brochardt and the Ruger #3 & #1 are able to compete in all NRA Black Powder Target Rifle matches.
Chill Wills
Well actually the Ruger and other hammerless rifles have been legal in NRA BPTR since the rules were reinvented. The Borchardt actually went out of production in 1880, and why it was left out of the legal rifles when they came up with the BPCR silhouette rules is something of a quandary.
Long range rules, the rest drool.
This whole hammer vs. hammerless rule is stupid, and has always caused hard feelings amongst Sharps Borchardt owners who wanted to compete with their old guns. Considering almost every competition uses chamber flags and doesn't rely on hammers to indicate if a gun is safe, it never made any sense.
The Borchardt rule is a puzzle, as by the end of the Creedmoor range and even carrying into Sea Grist, the majority of people using Sharps rifles were shooting the Borchardt.
Long range rules, the rest drool.
I understand your point of view. However, if you are an NRA competitor, you know it is just the sanctioned NRA BPCR silhouette matches that have the 1896 rule and the additional rule about hammers. All other matches either allow them or if not, it is a local match/rule. All NRA and international matches have no such rules for "BPCR target rifle" competition.
Disclaimer; I hope I have been clear enough to not have someone reading this respond 'our bla-bla match down here" doesn't let this rifle or that rifle action play! What goes on at someone's 'one-off' match is up to them. I hear a lot of opinions on rules expressed from people that have never attended one of these sanctioned matches. Please come and shoot one time! Loading BP is not hard. You will be pleased and have fun. We are a very friendly bunch!
Last edited by Chill Wills; 04-17-2018 at 01:56 PM.
Chill Wills
It is not just NRA BPCR matches that have this rule. There are a number of long range dinger shoots that also do not allow hammerless guns. I realize these may not be NRA sanctioned, or affiliated to a national organization, but there are others. See SASS Long Rang Rifle rules. Or MRPA rules. Or, etc., etc.
I think most of those who don't allow hammerless guns are doing so because they like a certain look to the guns on their line. It certainly isn't because a Borchardt or Ruger is unsafe without a hammer.
Last edited by marlinman93; 04-17-2018 at 04:16 PM.
Yes.
I don't know how else to say it.
Chill Wills
The major gong matches, Badlands, Quigley, Baker, Ekalaka, Tensleep, and Alliance all allow for "hammerless" rifles.
Long range rules, the rest drool.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |