"Guns 'n Ammo" Article

[Todd Birch]

For those interested, the current "Guns 'n Ammo" magazine has a feature article by Gary James on the Sharps 1855 slant breech as sold to the British Army for their cavalry.
He shoots an original in the article with pretty good results.

The Brits had them barreled in .577, the largest bore size for a Sharps ever. Powder charge had to be reduced due to recoil.

What he doesn't mention is that while popular with the troops, it fell into disfavour for singing the cuffs of expensive uniforms! Several cavalry units used it during the Indian Mutiny of 1858.

The Brits found the Maynard tape priming system to be useless and removed it. The tapes got soggy in some climates and disintegrated in hot, dry climates.

Robbins & Lawrence submitted the vertical breech 1859 to the Brits for adoption trials, and while it passed, it was not adopted as a decision had been made for another design.

I have a Farmingdale '63 carbine in the British style without the Lawrence pellet primer hump. Looks a lot cleaner. One of my favourite rifles and a fun gun to shoot.