200 Yard Challenge

[Kinman]

I've been fooling around with a 45-90 Sharps rifle for a couple of months and have been holding the ten ring for the past few months. One of my old buddies looked at my shooting and said "Thats real good shooting but...you'll never hold a minute of angle at 200yds, if you do I'll buy you a six pack of your favorite."
I got down to the range today and set up ready to go at around 9:00, no wind, no sun on my target. Shot the first ten, scored a 99-6X, the X ring had a group right at 2". The second string of 10 had a bit of light on the target, a faint following breeze and scored a 99-5X, the X ring came in at 1.75". They all felt good and the flyer doesn't bother me at all because of the group concentricity.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Nice! Now for the Load data. Bullet, Powder, Primer, bullet lube?

My C. Sharpe's 1874 Rifle is 45-70 (2.10") 30' Octagonal 1" Barrel , Made around 1974 in New York, before they transplanted to Montana.

THe BP Silhouette Chickens are shot Offhand, a round 5 MOA Group will do very nicely.

Your rear sight looks to be Montana Vintage Arms?

Ivan

 

[krsmith58]

very good shooting. what a rifle. a few more pics of your rifle would NOT hurt my feeling. again, great shooting, kenny

 

[Kinman]

Nice! Now for the Load data. Bullet, Powder, Primer, bullet lube?

My C. Sharpe's 1874 Rifle is 45-70 (2.10") 30' Octagonal 1" Barrel , Made around 1974 in New York, before they transplanted to Montana.

THe BP Silhouette Chickens are shot Offhand, a round 5 MOA Group will do very nicely.

Your rear sight looks to be Montana Vintage Arms?

Ivan

Sharps 2.4 538gr. Paul Jones Bullet, OAL 327.8, 75gr. Swiss 1-1/2F, CCI-BR2 Primer
This is a C. Sharps from Big Timber, Baldwin Front and Rear, 32"-1-1/4" Badger barrel, weighs just under 16lbs

 

[Kinman]

Thanks, I'm stoked...I love shooting this thing, difficult to get a target out beyond 200, we do have a 300 and a 600 but it requires shutting down the entire range as the mid range trajectory from 600 is around eighteen feet above the parking lot.
I have an S. Sharps in 38-55 that is a nice 100 yd rifle and one that is light enough to hunt with although I wouldn't want to pack it very far, pack it in, set up and drop something.
I plan on shooting the big gun from cross sticks if weather allows, it was perfect today.

 

[tndrfttom]

Nice! Now for the Load data. Bullet, Powder, Primer, bullet lube?

My C. Sharpe's 1874 Rifle is 45-70 (2.10") 30' Octagonal 1" Barrel , Made around 1974 in New York, before they transplanted to Montana.

THe BP Silhouette Chickens are shot Offhand, a round 5 MOA Group will do very nicely.

Your rear sight looks to be Montana Vintage Arms?

Ivan

Kinman's groups are impressive! It makes me want to start experimenting more with my own equipment. I've cast bullets for, and loaded, 45-70 for years and was always pretty happy with 3 to 4 MOA groups with my 385 grain Ideal GC bullet, smokless powder, reloads.

My Shiloh Sharps is one of the ones produced in Farmingdale, New York. I ordered in it September, 1979 and got it in January, 1980. (Price back then was $411 dealer and $549 retail). I'm glad I had the sense to hang on to it and not trade it off.

 

[Farmer17]

My mens church group went to a resort in Wynnewood, OK recently and we road four wheelers, fished, went on a zip line, shot skeet, shot a hog, and shot on the shooting range. Many guys had not done much shooting and I brought several guns and the gun that everyone wanted to shoot the most was my 20" barrel Rossi .357 M92. There was a white rock about the size of a brick on the side of a dusty hill 220 yds away and we were shooting .38 Specials that dropped about 10 feet or so at that range. You had to put the bead of the front sight on the rock and the very bottom of the front sight post in the rear sight notch. I'm not sure if anyone hit the rock but you could see every round kick up dust and most shots were missing it by inches and this was from the standing positing leaning on a steel post. Guys that hadn't shot many guns were giggling that they were able to nearly hit that rock at that range.

 

[Frank237]

I've had a pair of C Sharps 1874's over the years. Sadly i am terrible with IRON sights anymore. Great shooting and great handloading too.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Sadly i am terrible with IRON sights anymore.

That is why I had my Winchester 1885 (made in 2005) 38-55 drilled and tapped for my 15x Unertl 2" Varminter! The shop that did the work loved doing it for me, but said they would never do another. They had a hour in setting up the first hole to drill because of the tapered barrel! Had to grind the Redfield sight blocks to fit the flats. But it will get a crowd drooling just pulling out of the case!

The first 20 shots after zeroing my iron sights (Lyman 17M Globe & modern Lyman 1886 Tang sight) using a Trail boss load with Bear Creek 255 FN moly coated bullets, (off a one piece rest) shot all 20 in a group that could be covered with a Nickle! That was in 2007, after my stroke in 2011, I just don't see as well!

Ivan

 

[Kinman]

That is why I had my Winchester 1885 (made in 2005) 38-55 drilled and tapped for my 15x Unertl 2" Varminter! The shop that did the work loved doing it for me, but said they would never do another. They had a hour in setting up the first hole to drill because of the tapered barrel! Had to grind the Redfield sight blocks to fit the flats. But it will get a crowd drooling just pulling out of the case!

The first 20 shots after zeroing my iron sights (Lyman 17M Globe & modern Lyman 1886 Tang sight) using a Trail boss load with Bear Creek 255 FN moly coated bullets, (off a one piece rest) shot all 20 in a group that could be covered with a Nickle! That was in 2007, after my stroke in 2011, I just don't see as well!

Ivan

I think more of the guys with iron sighted Sharps rifles should think along those lines. I have an S. Sharps 38-55 that came with an MVA 6X scope. The guy that owned it previously bought it to hunt hogs, deer and some exotic goat down in Texas. He had a good time with it for a number of years, had some shoulder surgery and did not want to go through building himself back up to working a big gun. I'd be much happier with a 15X, especially for working targets. 6X works great for hunting, but 15 would be much better. I'm considering doing much the same as you have done. I like the 38-55 for 100 yard target and can shoot it through the poor weather under cover at the range.

 

[Frank46]

Have a Pedersoli 1874 sharps infantry rifle in 45/70 and as all the local ranges are closed due to the virus, will be spending some quality time casting bullets for it. Have to slug the barrel to get an idea of what it will take. All my Lyman molds cast too small. Accurate molds will be getting my business from now on. Beautiful Sharps guys thanks for sharing. Frank

 

[kmyers]

Great looking rifles and nice shooting.

200 yard challenge for me is how long it takes me to mosey that far. I think my best time is 30 minutes.

 

[Kinman]

Have a Pedersoli 1874 sharps infantry rifle in 45/70 and as all the local ranges are closed due to the virus, will be spending some quality time casting bullets for it. Have to slug the barrel to get an idea of what it will take. All my Lyman molds cast too small. Accurate molds will be getting my business from now on. Beautiful Sharps guys thanks for sharing. Frank

Get your barrel slugged and check out Buffalo Arms, Dave Gullo has access to some excellent molds in just about any configuration you could ask for. Even though his molds may be listed as unavailable, if you ask he will have one built and the turn around is less than a couple weeks. I have had excellent results with Brooks molds, again custom made to your requirements. I have a favorite Paul Jones mold that produced the shots I recorded above, his molds are without question the best I have seen, you can use his bullets as cast with no problems. Unfortunately like most of the greats his stuff nearly unobtainium, I got lucky in that mine came with the rifle.