Accuracy of Original '63 Sharps

[Todd Birch]

Just found an interesting commentary on the accuracy potential of an ORIGINAL Sharps '63 Military Rifle in an old copy of the NRA 'Rifleman' .....

"I tried a Model 1863 Sharps in 'never-fired' condition - one of a crate found in a warehouse in New York some twenty years ago (breaks yer heart, don't it?), military-type rifles with long barrels.
The breech mechanism was tight, but the bore and chamber fouled rapidly. Without cleaning, accuracy fell off even faster than in muzzle loading Whitworth rifles.
The fourth or fifth shot was likely to be off. Cleaning at frequent intervals would remedy this on a range, but would have been impossible in battle."

Jack Weller, June 1954

Makes you wonder just how Berdan's boys went about cleaning their '63s since they didn't carry an under barrel cleaning rod like the Springfields of the infantry. Pull-throughs, maybe?

Here's the specs and accuracy he reported:

bore - six groove .520"
bullet - .535", 370 grains

50 yard group - 5 1/4"
100 yard - 10"
400 yard hits out of 15 fired - 2(!)
1,000 yard accuracy - poor

Note that it was nominally a .52 and the .535 bullet was most likely a "Christmas Tree" ring tail design.

I don't think there's a man on this forum that can't do better than that with his '63!

Todd

[1stregtengr]

there are a bunch of guys at NSSA that get a whole lot better than 5" at 50 yds with original carbines. I would say 1-2" is more likely

[Todd Birch]

Had my .54 '63 Sporter to the range today with two loads:

Lee .54 Minie and classic 'Xmas Tree' ring tail, both with 75 grs FFg. 5 shot 2" groups off hand at 50 yds, no problem. The ring tails were loaded with Charlie Hahn's paper tubes.
In both cases, you could cover almost three rds with a quarter.

On a challenge, I plinked a pig sil at 150 yds off hand. A guy shooting from the bench with a scoped rifle had been doing it, thinking he was pretty hot.
He didn't stick around long after that .....

[snapcap14]

1-2" groups w/ a armispoet 59 sharps NIE # 381 bullet 38gr 2ffg.

[Todd Birch]

Snapcap14

From the bench? Off hand? Distance? Made up cartridges or loose powder?

If cartridges, how are you making them up with 38 grs of powder?

[snapcap14]

todd
from the bench at 50yrds. off hand the groups are a little bigger than that.
don't ask me how much My N-SSA practice tragets w/ load data are in the garage on my propery 150 miles from here. So I can't tell you. Cant use charlies tubes due to there inside DIA. So i nitrated paper and roll my own. Did try charlies tube in my sons sharps before we sold it they worked great.
my breach is short. it will not hold more than 42gr of 2ffg. w/ the bullit and powder combo i only have 3/16 of an inch of space from the cartrage to the breach block. I see no need to use filler. I also had the breach block modified. for more constant ignition and shorter flash channel and a streight run from the nipple to the breach eleminating 2 90deg turns.

[Todd Birch]

Snapcap14

Boy, that is a short chamber! What calibre rifle?

My .54 Shiloh will hold 100-110 grs - OUCH! My .50 chamber is short, holding 55-60 grs.

Yeah, the 2x90* flash hole is interesting. If it gets crudded up, you got a problem.

[snapcap14]

54 cal not sure what the rings on the bullet are. the tubes i roll are only .875 to 1" long. the bore was so over sized I had it lined. the gun is an armi sport as i said. got it at a fair price but had to put another 200 into it to get it to fire and shoot consistantly.

[Todd Birch]

Snapcap 14

I'm amazed at your dedication and willingness to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
Most would have dumped it and found another rifle.

I'm going to enjoy shooting my .54 a lot more now that I've got those tubes from Charlie Hahn. The 75 grs they hold behind a bullet makes shooting a joy.

I can always load up for moose with a full house load. But - the two moose I have taken where dropped by a BP-equivalent smokeless load 45-70. Moose are not hard to kill when properly hit.

[snapcap14]

never understood why people want to waste more powder than needed to get a good group. understand first I am talking targets only and not more than 100 yrds, under stand I never shoot more than that. and recoil maters to me. half that powder is still burning when it comes out the barrel
so dose nothing for u but act as a filler as far as I'm concerned. corn meal is a lot cheeper to get the powder against the flash hole.
now for my sharps that I put 200 into a gun i got for $550 NEW. so what I did was worth it. to have a good shooter. a reline barrel that was not really needed but wanted it to be the same as my sons bore which was a lot smaller. want to shoot and cast only one bullet , a trigger job that is smooth and crisp at 3 1/2 lbs that is also internaly adjustable. a SS breach sleave w/ an o ring modification that I can shoot more than 50 rounds w/out it starting to freeze up. and a breach block modification to eleminat 2 90 deg turns and shorting the flash distance by about 1" if I remember right.
MY thoughts on the whole thing

[Todd Birch]

Snapcap14

You can't knock success! If it works - it works. Your mods are ingenius.
The brits tried all kinds of tricks with the Sharps system as well trying to make it more functional.
Two of them were to eliminate the primer feeds and the other was a direct over-chamber nipple for more reliable ignition. You're re-inventing the wheel.

I agree that it makes no sense to pound yourself unnecessarily for no good reason. Shooting is supposed to be a pleasureable activity.
With a .54 (32 bore) Sharps, shooting a lighter load is both economical and practical.

I've tried the corn meal filler once and found it a pain as an extra step. That's when I bought some of Charlie's tubes.