farmer '63 carbine

[loophole]

A more detailed report on my first trip to the range with my 54 cal. Farmingdale cav. carbine. This rifle has srn 7xx and I would not argue if someone told me it had never been shot.
Wood is not quite as well filled as my more recently made Shiloh and C.Sharps, But the quality of the walnut is better than Shiloh or C.Sharps use for their lowest grand wood today, from what I have seen.
First impression is that the rifle is so light, short and handy. I have been shooting a couple of shiloh '74's with 30" barrels (one std, one heavy half oct) and I
had forgotten what a pleasure a carbine can be for someone 69 yrs. old with a bad back.
I worried before I fired the first round that the recoil would be unpleasant--60 grs. FFg with about a 500 gr x-mas tree bullet. Surprisingly, I found it to be more pleasant than a couple of lbs. heavier 45-70 with a 500 gr. bullet and 65 grs.
Just my imagination, or maybe there is less felt recoil with the larger bore?
I reported on another post that the front sight is too short--hits about 7" high at fifty yds. I understand why military sights were set this way, but most of my shooting is done at 50--150 yards, and it is impossible for me to hit anything trying to hold 7" over the target. I'll have to find a way to put on a taller front sight.
The trigger pull is far too heavy. I started out building flintlocks with Siler and later L&R locks, so I can tell by looking at the tumbler that that the full cock
notch is at the wrong angle--a decent pull is impossible without stoning the notch. However, the combination mainspring/sear spring is something I'm not familiar with, and the searspring portion feels awfully stiff to me. Anybody have any thoughts on that?
A few years ago I had an armisport '63 sporter. Among other problems it had nagging ignition problems. When I ordered the Shiloh I was uneasy about whether it would go off reliably, particularly if the flash had to penetrate more than a very thin layer of paper cartridge. Another concern with no basis.
Using the same top hat caps I had bought for the pasta burner. after using one cap to dry the oil out of the flash channel, every round fired perfectly,
including some with paper catridges with tails folded so that the block did not cut them off, and the flash had to burn through several layers of paper.
Okay, I know most of you know all this, but if anyone has had bad experience with imports, I can tell you that even gong back 30 years ago Shiloh mad a rifle which is not to be compared with the imports.
I'm glad I got my carbine, particularly now that Shiloh has stopped making them again.
Steve K

[Free_Stater]

I know what you mean about the apparently lighter recoil. I had a .54 Farmingdale for a while, and it was amazing how easy it shot, using loads similar to yours. I have no idea why, but in my case it could be that the military butt welded to my shoulder better and more naturally, along with lower velocities produced by muzzle loaders versus similar loads in brass cartridges. Send me a PM and I might be able to help you out on the paper cartridges.

[tljack]

I have a Famingdale 63 carbine I shoot often. I can hit a softball sized target at 130 to 150 yards, aiming dead on all day.

Love it!!

Terry Jack

[George Babits]

I had a shiloh Sharps Military rifle for back in the 1980's and it was a real pleasure to shoot. The neat thing about these paper cartridge rifles is that they shoot very well and defy just about everything that is told about the black powder cartridge rifles - -no compression; loose powder in the chamber; bullet/twist relationship; you name it. I used the Lyman 54 caliber minie and it shot wonderfully. That rifle got away from me, but now I have an original 1863 Sharps with a very good bore. Just haven't had the time to try it yet.

George
Salmon, Idaho

[Todd Birch]

My .50 Shiloh '63 carbine is marked [Shiloh Products Inc.] It also has the Wolf's head logo. It has the best looking, dark figured wood of my 5 Shiloh rifles.

I make up cartridges with 50 grs of FFg and the Lyman 515141, the same bullet I use in my 50-70 MR, '63 MR and 50-70 carbine. It is surprisingly accurate and recoil is next to nothing, compared to the .54 '63 Sporter I had!
That huge Xmas Tree bullet and large powder chamber made it a bear to shoot. I hope the new owner is happy with it!

One of the targets on my 'brag wall' is a three shot 2-1/2" group fired from sitting at 100 yds with the '63 carbine.