After reading Val Marlinman93's nice article about his beautiful Freund 50 caliber Sharps, I was inspired to write about my first Sharps rifle. I just finished making a new butt stock for my old Shiloh gun. Then I as a much younger man and had a new wife. I think at the time the honeymoon was over. Strolling through a surplus gun shop in Western Pennsylvania. Springfield Sporters was run by Bill Rogers a Pacific theatre veteran. I could sometimes get him to tell a War story about fighting the Japanese. Looking through his racks of imported Mausers, Enfields, and Springfields I saw a barreled action with a $35 tag on it. Turned out to be a Shiloh Sharps Farmington, NY gun. No wood or breech block, just a stripped action with a round 28" 1874 Business Rifle barrel. Bought it and took it home. Began looking at gun shows and the suttlers row at the national skirmishers events outside Winchester, Virginia. Found some Civil War surplus parts that came out of Bannermans Island. Even found an 1863 Sharps rifle buttstock with a patchbox. Found a percussion lock, lever, and trigger plate. Oh boy my first sharps was getting some parts!! Found a Civil War rear sight too. Had to work over the Civil War lock plate. Ground the tape primer parts off and did a little welding to make it look like an 1874 lock. The only thing I was missing was a center-fire breech block. Called Wolfgang Drogue who was the original founder of Shiloh Sharps long before he sold the business and it was moved to Big Timber, Montana. Wolf sold me a breech block, 45 cal extractor, and an 1874 wax cast hammer for $140. I made a forearm out of a piece of walnut and figured out how to make a tin/silver forearm tip. Loaded up some 45-70's and cast boolits and headed to the range! What a great shooter! Weighs in at 11 1/2 pounds. Several weeks ago I took it out of the safe and removed the military buttstock and decided to make a buttstock with a shotgun butt. The little Civil War rifle buttstock hurt to shoot full house 45-90's. So here are a few photos of my progress. The buttplate is an old Winchester Model 71 steel buttplate that very closely resembles the original Sharps butt plates. Built a 3/4" cast off into the buttstock. Had to heat and bend the trigger plate tang to match. I have a saw mill on the farm. Every once in awhile a nice piece of walnut gets sawn. This blank was stunning! A lot of rasping and sanding! I thank God for the trees he made and just marvel at his beautiful artwork in the wood I saw.Attachment 325355Attachment 325356Attachment 325357Attachment 325358Attachment 325359Attachment 325360Attachment 325361Attachment 325363