Original Sharps Catridges??
Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2019 9:49 am
I've been doing a little research on Sharps Cartridges and was hoping the Sharps Collectors out there could help me out? Was the 40-90 Sharps Straight, a cartridge developed by the Sharps Rifle Company? Most will say, "of course", but Frank Sellers does not list it in his book. Cartridges of the World says that it came out around 1885. That's four years after Sharps had closed its doors. Another reason I am wondering about this is that I saw a picture that shows a highwall chambered in and stamped 45 Sharps 3-1/4" by the factory. According to records from the Winchester Collectors website, 30 highwalls were made in that caliber and 743 in 40-90 Sharps Straight. One of those in .45 3-1/4" could be a highwall used in the bear article. Sellers is pretty firm in his book that the Sharps Company never made a cartridge longer than 2-7/8" other than one experimental rifle for the Union Metallic Co. The 40-90 is a 3-1/4" shell. Could these two cartridges be Winchester developments and they stole the Sharps name for marketing purposes? Since Sellers had access to the Sharps records when he wrote his book, you'd think he would have mentioned the 40-90 straight if there were records for it.
Do any of you collectors of Sharps rifles have or know of one chambered by the Sharps Rifle Co. for that caliber?
Do any of you collectors of Sharps rifles have or know of one chambered by the Sharps Rifle Co. for that caliber?