New Book on Civil War Carbines

Support for the 1863 shooter. Discussions of powders, loads, bullets, etc.
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Todd Birch
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Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2004 12:01 pm
Location: Somewhere in the Cariboo ....

New Book on Civil War Carbines

Post by Todd Birch »

I just received three new titles from the 'Man at Arms' book shop -
"A Collector's Guide To Military Rifles Disassembly & Reassembly", "Arming the West" and "Civil War Carbines - Myth vs Reality".
They're all excellent, well written, researched and illustrated. 'Arming The West" will change your outlook on the guns that won the west. The Sharps guns get mentioned a lot.

The one on Civil War carbines will interest anyone who shoots guns of the era, particularly Sharps shooters. In total, he tested eleven Civil War carbine types. He describes the Sharps carbine tested thusly:

"A Model '63 in perfect condition with 98% original blue and 50% case hardening colours. Bore is mint, measuring .520 land-to-land and groove diameter .542."
This typical of the condition of the arms he tested.

He tried both paper and linen cartridges, giving up on the linen. All bullets tested were cast from pure lead and he used beeswax/tallow lube, Swiss powder.
He shot at 55 yds, 110 yds and 220 yds. The Sharps ranked 3rd overall in accuracy; behind the Sharps & Hankins at 55 yds, between the Joslyn and Merrill at at 110 yds, between the Sharps & Hankins and Burnside at 220 yds.

He experienced the usual fouling problems that made opening the breech difficult, and found ut that it shot best with a fouled bore. He mentions nothing about blow tubing as he wanted to test under 'combat' conditions.

He designed his own bullet mould that produced a 462 gr. bullet with a diameter of .543, one thou over groove depth. I think he was oversize in his bullets as I cast .544 for my .54 Shiloh Sporter. I think he would have done better had he used a smaller bullet, maybe something like the Lyman 515141 'as cast' and letting it bump up.

Post Civil War, Sharps rifles and carbines with bores not larger than his were converted to 50-70 without resleeving.
"From birth to the packing house, we travel between the two eternities ....." Robert Duvall in "Broken Trail"
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