My newest and last Sharps rifle

great lookin rig

FS

Now....all ya gotta do is put some padding on that table so ya won't skin up ya elbows!! May I suggest something like onto this:


Shootingtab by Sharps45 2 7/8, on Flickr

A prone shooting mat folded double works well!

Rick, I didn't know I'd be using the bench, so I wasn't prepared. It wasn't too bad, and I barely noticed.

Besides, the wound's almost healed. It didn't even bleed all that much.

thats a fine rifle! you cast your own bullets?

csa 357 wrote:thats a fine rifle! you cast your own bullets?

Pretty much have to cast my own. Custom cast bullets are way too expensive, and sometimes you can't find exactly what you want.

The load for the 50-70 is a 450-grain military style pointed bullet over 70 grains of FFG. Another load is a 473-grain Gibbs paper patch bullet with 72 grains of FFG. The 450 is cast of 1:20 tin/lead, while the other is 1:60 tin/lead.

Wow that is some rifle. But you should hunt with it at least once in its life! That deer will be whacked.

Recently purchased the Lyman 1874 Sharps in 38/55. Weighs 6 1/2 lbs., fit and finish is perfect, nice wood and according to Lyman chamber and bore are to SAMI specs. Nicely accurate.
Shooting the Lyman 264 gr. GC cast boolit which was designed for the .375 H & H...got two of those. 25 Gr. of RL7 gives me about 1,500 fps and is bad news for feral hogs.
The hunting aperature was a bit large and the target too small. Put the target on the drill press and opened it up slightly...works great. Only complaint is that windage is adjusted only by drifting the front globe sight. Retails for about $1,500 but I paid $1,200 at a local gun emporium. I'm 66 and it is handy enough to haul around all day.,

Glad to see you shooting the right kind of Powder in there
Nothing like the Old Sharps and the Winchester 1885's ----

I'd like to see pics of that rifle wharrison.

Interesting topic on your rifle. What's it take to clean a sharp's?
Where you getting your Goex?
And what's that's that pistol in your avatar?

sidroski wrote:Interesting topic on your rifle. What's it take to clean a sharp's?
Where you getting your Goex?
And what's that's that pistol in your avatar?

Cleaning is actually easier than cleaning a smokeless powder rifle. I have a .50 caliber "wiping stick" made of Delrin and some patches. My cleaning solution is one part Murphy's Oil Soap and about ten parts water. After firing I run a few saturated patches through the bore (from the rear, letting each patch fall off so that no patch is dragged back through to the breech), and once I get a more or less clean patch (usually after only two or three wet patches), I follow up with dry patches. Then I use Bore Butter to coat the bore before putting the rifle away. The visible metal gets whatever treatment is handy, usually some Rem Oil wiped on for protection against moisture.

Contrary to what some may say, it is not necessary to remove the block unless I'm using brass for the first time. Once it's fire formed, the brass keeps residue from blowing back past the case into the innards of the rifle. I pull the block and clean it every three or four sessions, but my 45-90 went a whole shooting season of four matches over five months before the block ever came out. Total cleaning time is about ten to fifteen minutes.

When shooting the 1863s, things are a little more complicated, as there is no metallic case, only paper and powder, touched off by a musket cap. Then I use a transmission funnel and pour a gallon or so of hot Murphy's and water through the bore and finish off with dry patches. The block has to be removed and disassembled, but it's not exactly rocket surgery.

The rifle in my avatar is a Sharps 50 1/2" or "50-90." The rounds in the belt are for that rifle. It's a considerably bigger OOOMPH than the Saddle Rifle, which uses a 1 3/4" case. The revolver is a Beretta Stampede in .45 Colt caliber.

Here are some traditional "buffalo" loads for the Big Fifty. The bullet is a paper patched 473 grain Gibbs cast of 60:1 lead/tin on top of 100 grains of FG powder. I'm reserving this load for either the return of the Magic Bison Herds or for any stray Tyrannosaurus Rex wandering by. And before anyone asks, yes, it will drop an elephant, but it would need a heavier, harder bullet. And yes, it kicks a mite.

Free-Stater: I agree with you on the cleaning. As with any cleaning discussion - there are as many "ways" and "opinions" as Carter has little liver pills......most are right, some a little shakey.

A BPCR shooter friend in Ok City started me using the Murphy's Oil Soap for the bore a long time ago....and he said he mixed up Simple Green in a jug to drop his cases in as soon after shooting as he could. - This guy shoots on our National long range team.
Well one day I tried the Simple Green full strength on a patch - and I drop my patches out just like you do --- I have a rod that has a slot near the end for a patch to slide thru--- that keeps the rod from banging the end of the barrel when the jag/patch exits the bore. About 3 or 4 of those patchs do the job -- -I then run a few dry patchs thur the bore -- and if I am going to shoot again soon I just rub my bullet lube on a patch real good and run it thru a couple of times..( I clean my flintlocks the asame way) ..if it will be a long time before shooting I coat the bore with Eezox.. I also treat the outside of the gun with Eezox. You can find Eezox at www.eezox.com. It is great to prevent rusting - I shoot a lot of trap in the summer and I use it to protect my shotgun from all the sweat I easily generate.
Give the Simple Green a try sometime.

That is a beautiful rifle. I've wanted a Sharps .45-70 for a while now, preferably a Creedmore style. I'd like to see if I could do anything long range with it.

Cottondoctor, I'm ahead of you on the Simple Green. I first started using it to clean BP revolvers, which are notoriously difficult to get clean without a major investment in time. Or maybe it's just that great minds do think alike, huh?

Ditto on the Eezox. I got a bottle as a gift a while back and use it especially when I'm not going to be shooting a gun for an extended period of time. It's good stuff, but I'm also using Kroil, especially for any bore that's picked up lead or copper.

Back to the Simple Green. I've tried a combination of SG and Murphy's in water, but I'm not really seeing any difference in how well it works. Either or both will do just fine, it's just a matter of personal preference, I think.

Someone asked where I get my powder. I was getting it from a guy in our club who has his dealer's license and was selling Goex, but when Goex changed hands, he discontinued that and now sells Swiss. Many shooters have discovered KIK, an Eastern European company which uses top notch components but at prices that really can't be beaten. I bought a case of KIK from http://www.powder.com for something like $13.00 a pound, including shipping and HazMat. That's 25 pounds of powder delivered directly to my door for barely half the price of Swiss. The KIK comes in FG, 1.5FG, FFG and FFFG. It shoots cleaner in my guns than the Swiss, probably because of the superior Black Alder charcoal they use in the mix.

I'm still working on the accuracy of the 50-90, mostly trying to fix a flinch I developed years ago and which comes out when I begin to get fatigued. But I am working on it, and I've had some good success lately.

The 50-70 is best with the "military" load of 70 grains of BP and the standard 450-grain bullet. The difference is that I'm using FFG instead of the original FG. I get a little bit more power and it shoots somewhat cleaner. It would make a really good hunting load, and it's relatively economical as well. If I were going to hunt with the rifle, this would be my load for anything up to elk or black bear size. I have a friend who's taken several bears up in Canada with his 50-70, and once hit they tend to stay hit. :-)

At presant I shoot a lot of ATA Trap - so that has taken me away from shooting my rifles as much------but I have used the Simple Green for many years --- I like the pump bottles as it makes it real easy to use.....
Yes Ezzox is great - I buy it by the gallon
I have been using Kroil for years -- super great stuff - I use it alone or as mixture of 2:1 - 2 parts Shooters Choice and 1 Part Kroil....picked that up from Precision Shooting magazine years ago....works for all kinds of guns.
I have shot a lot of Gorex - still have some of the "good" Cartridge they made...and I have shot Swiss --- the last powder I bought I got from a place in Arkansas--been so long I would have to look it up - I think it was in or near Fort Smith...great price at the time. I have not tried the KIK but have heard of it --- I need to renew my subscription to the Black Pwder Cartridge Rifle News. I know Steve and know Bob Glot who writes the from the loading beench articles for them.
I have a 50-90 listed on here that needs a good home --- I used it with with a 548 gr bulet and 93 grs FF (that spells "real rifle" )to take a big buffalo---

You're not going to make me go look at the Classifieds, are you?

Free_Stater wrote:You're not going to make me go look at the Classifieds, are you?

Yep -- -if someone wants the 50-90 it still leaves me with 2, 45-90's and several muzzle loaders to burn up the black powder--

RMulhern wrote:FS

Now....all ya gotta do is put some padding on that table so ya won't skin up ya elbows!! May I suggest something like onto this:

A prone shooting mat folded double works well!

I love your shooting bench, did you build it?

I like that bench too----if you have plans plese send me a set, maybe I can get one of my son-in-laws to build one....