Farmingdale Business Rifle

[anticus]

Recently acquired a Farmingdale era Shiloh Business Rifle in .45-70. My first Sharps. (Have some experience with Trapdoors). It's in great condition, but lacks a rear sight. Barrel dovetail has a flat plug (?) installed to protect it. Tang is drilled and tapped for a vernier sight. A mid range sight from MVA seems like a good choice but I'd appreciate some feedback from more knowledgeable folks. I'll post some pics as soon as I figure out how

[anticus]

tang.jpg

attachment=1]sharps.jpg[/attachment]

[bobw]

What is your intended purpose of the rifles use? Barrel sights are fine for hunting and plinking to 200 yds or so. A vernier tang will help you for precision out farther but to take real advantage of that you will need a replaceable aperature frt sight like a shiloh or mva #111. So figure out your main use of it and go from there. Bobw

[J.B.]

Sure do like the lines on a Business Rifle. You have a tunnel front sight of some description by the look of it now.. does it have removable inserts ? As Bob indicated, decide first what you want to be doing with it. With a 28" bbl, the mid range sight may well take you out a fair distance as you'll need less movement in the rear to allow you to get out further. The long range sight would guarantee it.. but may be overkill depending on your needs. Congratulations on the find. I've a similar rifle on order.. so its nice to see one every now and again. Enjoy.

J.B.

[bobw]

The last business rifle I bought was a 50-70 it had 1 factory option the glass bedded forend. Military rifle butt, solid straight grain walnut. Looks pretty basic and simple. You might say simple basic elegance. It came equipped with a #111 front sight, a blank in the rear dovetail and a #108 mid range tang sight. Not a lot of windage there but it was more than adequate for a local 1,2,3,400 gong shoot I do once a month. With a simple substitution of my #103 lr buffalo staff it would be "at home on the range" at the Q.un like some of the more popular rounds for gong shooting the 50-70 is amazingly easy to get good results from. The previous owner include his load data and bullet mold on the deal which made things simple. Your 45-70 will shoot flatter and work well too. Good luck. Bobw

[Randy Bohannon]

Will the round screw mess with mounting a tang sight ? Cool rifle

[bobw]

Might be wrong of course but that straight shadow line above the bottom screw indicates there was one at one time. All my tang sight bases cover the top one don't yours? Bobw

[anticus]

I'll use her for target shooting. The longest range around here is about 300 yards max, but I'd like to shoot as far as 1000 yds if I can find a place. I live in SE Missouri.

[Luke]

I'd say an MVA 101 soule, and a 113 front sight if that sight does not have a spirit level. The Standard Handley is a good idea as well.

[bobw]

On the other hand a Lee Shaver frt sight with spirit level and replaceable aperatures works fine for around $110 plus it has a screw in retainer to hold the aperatures instead of a snaggy leaf spring. A lr soule would be better if you plan on a 1000yd ability. But first load and shoot it before you spend a pile on sights. Barrel sights will tell you if it has potential..mb

[Luke]

Bet that's got a 1/20 twist in it.

[bobw]

Might be, back in late winter of 2010 shiloh posted they were gonna have round/ bull barrel run and Bill Bagwell and a few others ordered b guns with a 1 in 20 twists for shoot ing 400 gr bullets. IIRC Bill said that it still shot the gov't bullet too. He made some awesome groups with that rifle and barrel sights. At that time I ordered a b -gun to get in that run but spec'ed a 30" barrel off a #2 Creedmoor silhouette rifle with original style tight chamber cut with Orvilles reamer in 45 2 7/8". Steel shotgun butt and a few frills. I dubbed it " the All business rifle". When the word came through in early September it was done on a Wednesday and I told the boss I wasn't gonna be there on thursday& friday, he laughed and said drive careful. I hit Big Timber about 4 did the paper work loaded it up and went and found a motel room. Then downtown for a steak with a couple a beers. Next morning I packed the truck and went up in the foothills north of the river to some blm ground and shot 30 rds of the 50 I brought. I had loaded 50 rd box without having the gun but with the advice of powderburner and they worked fine. Back down to Shiloh bought a XLR buffalo soule sight and headed home.. there a road trips and a trip to shiloh in the fall picking up a new rifle is damn hard to beat.. 2 weeks later with the same loads and a penny frt sight I took a 14" antelope buck at 95 yards. Sometimes life don't get a whole lot better. Bobw

[Luke]

That rifle dates to the early 80s. 1/20 was the standard twist back then.

[Luke]

Just thinking a Saeco 881 would be great in that rifle, and Midway has that mold on sale.

[bobw]

Might be Luke but it's a greaser. I am thinking a .442" Kal tgbs mold adjusted to 420 grs at 1 in 30 wrapped with 9 lb onion skin would give you close to a original load with 75 grs of 1 fg at over 1300 fps. Lots of buffalo went down with that. Bobw