My .45-70 Sharps sees it's first smokeless loads.

[Model 52]

It's got a lever so I'm putting it here...

I used to shoot my Quigley model Sharps in .45-70 a lot when I lived out west, but after a transfer to northern VA seven years ago and a further move to NC a couple years ago, I stopped shooting it much, especially with black powder loads.

So I took it out of the safe yesterday and worked on developing some casual shooting loads for 250 yards or less that:
1) approximate black powder velocities,
2) use relatively inexpensive commercial cast "cowboy" bullets, and
3) use the powders I have on hand (since components are still tight) preferably smaller charges of fast burning powder.

I have a fair supply of 405 gr flat points from Meister cast bullets on hand (a Magma Engineering design plain base design) so they were the default choice. I loaded up 15 rounds for re-zeroing the Pedersoli Soule sight and testing purposes with 14 gr of Unique, then worked up laddered loads with 2400 and (using a 5/8" square 1/4" thick polyester batten wad) and RL7.

The soule style vernier sight captures the flavor of the original but it is frankly a bit of a pain in the ass, and despite the high cost $300 15 years ago) this one has developed a bit of back lash in the windage adjustment so you have to move the knob until you feel it engage the sight base, then count the graduations. There are times when i find my self contemplating replacing it with a Marbles Improved Tang Sight. The adjustable aperture disc however works very slick and I like it as well as a much more modern Merit adjustable aperture.

The worst group of the day was 2 1/4" but most averaged around 1 1/4" and the best two groups were under an inch, one just under and the other .85" center to center.

The irony here was that those two best 5 round groups were shot first and last and were the 14.0 gr Unique loads, so I could have stopped right there and not loaded anything else. They also had velocities of around 1,150 fps, so they fit the bill for ballistics. And the cost is right at .34 per round without having to cast my own lead, so while not .22LR cheap, it's still pretty inexpensive fun.

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These were the first smokeless powder loads I've ever shot from my Sharps in the 12 years I've owned it, and getting god accuracy was a whole LOT easier than BP. It was also odd to not have to use a blow tube and be able to shoot a 100 rounds without cleaning or even dry brushing the bore. This smokeless powder stuff sure is easy to shoot. Clean up at the end of the day was also not required (but like any good Marine, I did it anyway) and it was a lot less messy.

My current BP load is a 480 gr Lyman 457658 "Schmittzer" bullet with SPG lube on top of a .457 card wad and 82 grains of Goex FFg. My Sharps has a long throat so the bullets can be seated long, but it still requires a drop tube and a powder compression die to get that charge in a Winchester .45-70 case. With normal seating depth and without using a drop tube the a max load in a modern .45-70 case is about 65 grains.

Cimarron Quigley Model in .45-70 with .405 grain flat points (Magma Engineering) and 480 gr Lyman 457658 loads.

[joec]

That is the gun I lusted after for a couple of years. The current prices are about $2400 which would mean a divorce if I spent that much for a rifle.

[Model 52]

That is the gun I lusted after for a couple of years. The current prices are about $2,400 which would mean a divorce if I spent that much for a rifle.

No kidding, the prices have gotten rather high.

If I recall correctly, I paid $900 for mine 12 years ago, which was $100 below retail at the time, and the Billy Dixon Sharps was selling for $800. Rifle and sight have both doubled in price since then.

I recall when Quigley Down Under was released in 1990, the factory price for a Sharps rifle from Shiloh Sharps or C. Sharps Arms went up only slightly, but the wait times went from a few months to 3 or 4 years, with much of that due to people buying up production slots to sell for outrageously marked up prices when the gun was finally ready.

The good news for all the new Sharps shooters is that it created a healthy market for reasonably priced but still very good quality Armi Sport and Pedersoli Sharps copies that were actually in stock in gun shops now and then. Price and availability were both factors in buying this one.

The bad news is that the Italian Quigley clones have went from being $800-$1,000 rifles to $1,800-$2,300 rifles and at that price point I don't think I'd go that route again.

Shiloh Sharps and C. Sharps Arms make exceptional rifles, and are American made, but presently the Shiloh Sharps Quigley Model is overpriced at $3,400. In comparison the Armi Sport and Pedersoli From Down Under models are $1,750 and $2,300 respectively. (They no longer call them "Quigley" rifles so I suspect lawyers were involved.)

What makes the Shiloh Sharps Quigley model over priced however is that you can get their Hartford or Sporter No. 3 rifles with polished barrel, traditional checkering, pewter tip and military butt plate, and patch box options for about $2,700, only $400 more than a Pedersoli From Down Under model (and still$700 less than a Shiloh Sharps Quigley. Going that route also gives you a choice of barrel profiles and lengths that you don't get with the standard Pedersoli and Armi Sport models, plus the qaulity is exceptional.

As Italian Sharps clones go, the Pedersoli is often regarded as preferable to an Armi Sport, but I have never noted any major differences in quality and finish of mine versus the Pedersoli Sharps i have seen. I own an 1859 Sharps Bedan, an 1874 Sharps and an 1892 Takedown Rifle, all made by Chiappa/Armi Sport and I've always been impressed with the quality, finish and performance. I have no complaints about accuracy with my 1874 Sharps.

The Armi Sport Billy Dixon is a reasonably affordable option as it sells for $1,325. There is no patch box, and the barrel is standard blue rather than highly polished, but it's $750 less expensive than the Pedersoli Billy Dixon and half the price of a similarly configured Shiloh Sharps

I were to do it over again then, I'd have gotten the Billy Dixon has a thinner profile 32 inch barrel and is a full 2 pounds lighter than the 34" heavy octagon on the Quigley model. It's much more practical in the field.

If I were to do it over again now, I'd probably go with the Shiloh Sharps Hartford with the options listed above - but at $2,700 that's not going to happen any time soon, so I'm both happy with my current Sharps and glad I got it when I did.

The other issue with a Sharps is that the vernier tang and soule sights sights sell for another $250-$400 with another $80 to $200 for a globe front sight depending on the style and options. The wood cased Soule front and rear sight I screamed about paying $300 for at the time is now a $600 item.