Edition 2016-1 Published by C. Sharps Arms Co., Inc.
Manufacturers of A WORLD FAMOUS SERIES of Classic Metallic Cartridge Rifles and Classic Sights
P.O. Box 885, Big Timber, MT 59011 Phone: 406-932-4353 Fax: 406-932-4443
2016 www.csharpsarms.com * [email protected] 2016
THE AMERICAN SHARPS SHOOTERS
Publisher: C. Sharps Arms Co. Inc., John R. Schoffstall – President
Mike Nesbitt - - - Editor ([email protected])
Allen Cunniff --- Field Contributor ([email protected])
Dangerous Don McDowell - - Field Contributor ([email protected])
Table of contents: Page
MY RIFLE, SIGHTS, AND LUBE by Ashley Garman …………………..….. 3
THE 4TH (HOPEFULLY ANNUAL) ICICLE MATCH by Mike Nesbitt……7
OLD WEST CENTERFIRES by Bob Gietz ........................................ …………9
Outstanding Products ……………………………………………………..….. 12
MY “TAKE” ON THE .44/77’S HISTORY by Mike Nesbitt……………….. 19
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose
our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves,” Abraham Lincoln.
MY RIFLE, sights, AND LUBE
By Ashley Garman
After my story about paper patching bullets came out, Mike asked me
for more details about my rifle and some of my other ways and doin’s. So here
is that follow-up, hopefully with the details you readers will appreciate.
My rifle gun is a C. Sharps Arms Model 1874 Hartford Sporting Rifle
with semi-fancy wood, standard Military & Sporting semi-crescent steel butt
plate, and German silver nose cap. It was built in early 2012 and has one of last
of the Badger barrels; a 34-inch No. 1 heavy tapered octagon with no Harford
Collar. It is .45 caliber, nominally chambered for the 2⅞-inch case. It has a
buckhorn barrel sight, an MVA #113 low profile spirit level globe front sight, and MVA #103 long range
Buffalo Soule rear sight.
The rifle originally came with a hooded post front sight and deluxe long range rear. At my first
Rattlesnake Mountain long-range match in March 2013 we had a 30 mph crosswind at 1000 yards. That
amount of wind used up all 14 points of windage adjustment on my sight and I still had to hold two targets
(about 20 feet) to the left, just to get close. Records show I actually hit the paper once in that relay. I soon
replaced the hooded post front with a wind gauge spirit level globe front sight, giving me an additional 22
points of windage adjustment. Some days that still wasn’t enough.
And while it worked OK, that wind gauge front sight was always a concern, being so fragile and
vulnerable sticking out the way it did. A bigger problem with it (One you might want to share with John S.) is
that the spirit level was very difficult to see in anything but ideal light conditions. I filed the notch deeper to
expose more of the glass vial, but the color of the fluid did not enhance visibility at all. A cheap yellow level
snipped from a plastic stud finder and held in place on the top barrel flat with a rubber band actually worked a
whole lot better – similar to your spirit level in the barrel dovetail.
Fast forward a year. In the summer of 2014 I gave up on using a blow tube and switched to
wiping. Wiping necessitates folding down the rear sight between shots. I very quickly discovered that
my C. Sharps Arms Deluxe Long Range rear sight wouldn’t hold elevation. The problem is in the original
design. On that type sight, windage adjustments are held by tightening the eyecup, while elevation adjustments
are held by tightening a set screw against one rail of the sight staff.
Unfortunately, the long range staff is -- well, long. With elevation settings in the middle range of
adjustment, tightening the set screw causes the rail to flex. The set screw bottoms out without putting sufficient
pressure on the staff to keep the elevator from slipping. In long range matches I learned to check my elevation
setting when I flipped the sight back up after wiping. But occasionally I’d forget; and when I did I often got an
ugly surprise.
In BPCR silhouettes there simply wasn’t time to count the ticks on the Vernier scale to verify the sight
setting for every shot. After losing a number of matches I should have won (even if I do say so myself), I gave
up on the C. Sharps Arms sights and ordered the MVA
combination which I have now.
I’m not suggesting the MVA sights are any better
than CSA. Precision and quality are probably about the
same – in both cases, excellent. And I actually prefer the
traditional style long range sight. I think it looks more
appropriate on a Sharps 74. But the Soule style is clearly
better suited for target shooting, particularly if one
intends to wipe between shots, because on a Soule the
eyecup locks the elevator, allowing the sight staff to be
folded up and down repeatedly without losing the
elevation setting. I considered buying the C. Sharps long range Soule. But the MVA Buffalo Soule had twice
the windage adjustment, allowing me to dispense with that delicate wind gauge front and its invisible spirit
level.
I do have a pet peeve with the MVA though. The elevation markings on the vertical sight staff are
harder to read than the C. Sharps, and to me the windage markings on the drum make no sense at all. The
windage drum is marked in ½ minute increments with five of those, or 2 ½ minutes, making one full
revolution. Two complete revolutions of the windage drum would make 5 minutes. Four revolutions would
make 10 minutes. To keep track of the windage settings it would make sense for the hash marks on the sight
base to have three short lines representing 2 .5, 5, and 7.5 minutes; followed by a long line representing 10
minutes. Instead, MVA marks the sight base with four short lines, then a long one for each 12 ½
minutes! Whuh?
As for my homemade lube, I originally got the recipe from a listing I found somewhere of historical
bullet lubes. Many of the lubes listed were difficult or impossible to replicate because they contained
unavailable ingredients like whale oil, or difficult to find and expensive substances like Japan wax. But there
on the list was the U.S. Army’s standard lube formula, circa 1880, comprised of three parts tallow and one part
beeswax.
Further research confirmed that the Army’s standard bullet lube in the 1880’s was 3:1 tallow and
beeswax. Leave it to the Army to come up with something relatively cheap and readily available. What I
couldn’t find was details. Was that supposed to be beef tallow or mutton tallow? Were those proportions by
weight or by volume? Since I don’t recall reading about great sheep drives and government sheep contracts in
the late 19th century, I have to assume the Army was mostly buying beef, and that therefore beef tallow would
have been much more readily available.
A trip to the local butcher shop yielded all the beef fat I could use, for free. One-pound blocks of
beeswax were available from the local craft store for a not-too-unreasonable price. Rendering the fat isn’t
difficult; but it takes a while and is a bit messy and smelly. That’s a chore best done on a day the wife is
away. Once the tallow is rendered I store it in mason jars in the back of the refrigerator.
To mix the lube I use a double boiler – a mason jar in a pot of boiling water. I cut chunks of tallow and
wax and weigh them on a postage scale, then combine them proportionally by weight, three parts beef tallow
and one part beeswax. Once melted and mixed, it forms a solution that does not separate. It can be melted and
re-used over and over. I use it for grease cookies and to waterproof my paper patches. But it would probably
work just as well to lubricate grease groove bullets, either by pan lubing or pouring warm into a lubricator-sizer
and letting it cool.
On page 346 of Frank Sellers’ book Sharps Firearms, he describes the original “lubricator molds”
pictured on page 350. The molds are described as being 3/16-inch thick. Taking that as the standard, I set out
to produce grease wads of that thickness or just a little thinner.
Using the containers available in my kitchen, and a little high school geometry, I came up with a method
to produce consistent 1/8-inch thick “float cakes” of bullet lube. Fill a 3-pound Darigold cottage cheese tub
with boiling water to the level of the heavy horizontal bar at the top of the "Nutrition Facts" column (just below
where it reads; "Servings per Container about 12"). Gently pour a full 2 oz (53 cc) measuring scoop of melted
lube onto the tub of hot water. Allow to cool overnight in the refrigerator, then remove the cake, pat it dry with
paper towel and store it in in refrigerator in a folded sheet of wax paper in a gallon Zip-loc bag. Lube discs are
then punched out of this hardened “float cake” of lube.
Lube discs can be cut out of the flat cake using the mouth of the charged and compressed case, but doing
that smears grease down the inside of the case. When the final fiber wad is seated over the lube disc, the grease
seals the wad, trapping air underneath, causing the wad and seated bullet to pop up unless there is sufficient
neck tension to hold them down.
A better solution is to cut out the lube discs in advance. For that I use a .45 Long Colt case with a
roofing nail stuck through the drilled-out flash hole for a plunger. I remove the float cake from the refrigerator
and let it warm for a few minutes at room temperature so it doesn’t crack when I cut it. Then I cut out a disc of
lube using the .45 case, push it back out with the nail, and set it on wax paper. I get about 80 lube discs out of
one 5¼-inch float cake.
Those are stored in the refrigerator until well
chilled, preferably overnight. After charging my cases and
compressing the powder charge under a .060 veggie wad, I
set the loading tray in the refrigerator for a few minutes to
chill. When everything is ready I quickly spear the lube
discs and carefully place them in the chilled charged
cases. Keeping everything cool prevents grease smears
and trapped air.
Also the .45 Colt case is slightly smaller in
diameter than the .45 Sharps, so the lube discs slide into
the cases a bit much more easily.
For the grease cookie in my heavy long-range
loads, I use one lube disc topped with a .030 Walter’s
Top men shooters at Quigley, Ash is standing 2nd from left veggie wad. For my lighter short-range loads I use two
lube wads topped with a .060 Walter’s veggie wad. The double-thick grease cookie takes up a bit more space
and puts a bit more grease in the barrel to support using a blow tube. Grease and veggie wads are then pressed
down firmly onto the compressed powder charge and measured to ensure consistent height and to determine the
minimum seating depth.
I use a seater die to seat all the bullets to a uniform depth just below the lowest measurement found. For
example: on my last batch of long-range cartridges, the case mouth-to-wad measurements all fell between .549”
and .555” so I seated all the bullets to .560”.
The same stuff is used to waterproof my paper patches. After the bullets have be wet-patched and the
patches allowed to dry for several hours, or overnight, I smear them with a thin coat of my 3:1 homebrew. The
easiest method I’ve found is to wipe each bullet using a cotton rag dampened with melted lube. I tried cotton
balls dipped in melted lube but they left lint. Same thing with Q-tips. And both of those applicators got the
lube too thick.
The late Paul Matthews suggested that anything which turns the patch translucent is bad. Wiping the
bullets with a rag or dauber dipped in melted lube did exactly that. It also made the patches come unwrapped.
The solution is a 3x5-inch piece of an old cotton t-shirt with a pea-sized piece of lube folded in the
middle. I hold the folded cloth in front of a space heater until the lube melts and wets the cloth. I can wipe 5 or
6 bullets before the melted lube starts to congeal. Then it is held in front of the space heater for a few more
seconds before wiping a few more bullets. After wiping 20 or 30 bullets, depending on how saturated the rag
was to start with, I add another little piece of lube.
Wiped bullets are stood on end on an aluminum cookie sheet until cool and hardened, then stored point-
down in plastic cartridge boxes. To avoid scraping off the lube or snagging the end of the paper patch, I guide
each bullet into its slot in the box with a little funnel made from rolled up scrap paper. The longer 540-grain
bullets fit in boxes designed for .44 Mag/45 Long Colt cartridges. The shorter 480-grain bullets fit better in
boxes intended for .45 ACP cartridges.
That’s about all I can say about my rifle, its sights, and the lube used in my ammo. It seems to work for
me. Good shooting to you!!
THE 4TH (HOPEFULLY ANNUAL) ICICLE MATCH
By Mike Nesbitt
The black powder cartridge silhouette match held at Eatonville, Washington last December had a real different
twist to it. That was their 4th Annual Icicle Match, being named in honor of the general weather conditions plus the
special awards. I knew nothing about this special match when I got to the range that morning except that we’d be given
the choice of shooting a regular NRA match or a “fun match.”
When I signed in I told Beth Morris that my choice was to shoot the regular NRA match because it was my idea
that I might improve my scores and maybe get out of B class. She asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to try the fun
match? How much ammunition did you bring?” I told her I had 100 rounds for my .40/70 SS and then asked her for
more details. She said they were going to shoot the same targets, generally, but with different rules, just for fun.
The different rules; the chickens would be shot at from either sitting or prone while the pigs would be shot at from
the offhand position. Turkeys and rams would be shot at as normally done except that one of the critters would be shot at
with no spotters, as if it was a hunting situation. The “no spotters” target would not be identified until the match was
about to begin. And, the chickens, half of them were “quail,” little California quail with top-knots and everything. Very
tiny for 200 meter shooting.
Well, I was reluctant but Beth was too convincing and I added my name to the “fun shoot” list. So did Sam
Snelson and so he and I became spotting partners for each other. Then we got our relay “assignments” and my first
targets were the turkeys at 385 meters. Just my luck, turkeys are the hardest targets for me to hit. On top of that, we had
to shoot the turkeys with no spotters.
So there we were, shooting an odd-ball silhouette match, in the western Washington fog. Every time a nearby
shooter fired, the smoke from their rifles added to the fog. In addition to that, my scope fogged up! That left me with
rather little to see but I did get some shooting done during the 2nd half of that relay, knocking down two of the highly
elusive turkeys. By the way, for the shooting done with no spotters, there was no limit to the number of shots you could
shoot and I probably fired 15 shots to get those two birds.
Sam probably did better than I on the turkeys, I really don’t remember. He shoots iron sights so he didn’t have
the fogging trouble that I started with. Then we moved to the rams where my score didn’t improve and Sam got even
further ahead of me.
With the second relay behind us, it
was time for lunch. The lunch was prepared
by Diana Mitchell and she certainly deserves
the greatest compliments. No, there wasn’t
anything left of her soup and if you wanted
seconds you needed to be one of the first in
line. A good hot lunch on a cold day is
always a great thing.
Then it was my turn to try shooting
at the chickens and quail. Those quail were
small! Sam tried to cheer me on by
exclaiming, “You’ll never hit one of those!!”
But I got into my sitting position and gave it
a good try. My try was good enough to
clobber two out of the five quail targets.
And when those little quail were hit, they really At least 16 shooters shot at this 4th Annual Icicle Match
sailed through the air. After that, I continued on the chickens and nailed four out of the five of those. I had never done
so well on the chickens so getting so many was simply sweet revenge. (I should have gotten a picture of those quail!)
By the way, the two quail I hit were both gotten with head shots so I didn’t spoil any meat…
The last relay for Sam and me was when we’d shoot at the pigs, 300 meters, offhand. Again, Sam’s confidence in
my shooting echoed off of the trees as he voiced his expectancies of my scores. But to his surprise as well as my own, I
hit four of the pigs while shooting offhand. And I think that was better than what Sam did while shooting his .45-2.6” in
this match.
Awards were then given to the high scoring shooters for both iron sights and scopes. Those two shooters were
Steve Morris and Cary Thorogood. They were both awarded with Santa Claus hats plus “icicles” which were hung from
sash ribbons and worn around their necks. It was near dark when all was finished and it really was a lot of fun.
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
-- Thomas Jefferson
Old West
Centerfires By Bob Gietz
Our second match of the Old West Centerfires season got underway with
only five shooters plus one absentee who was allowed to do his “paper work”
early along with having a signed witness. The February weather was clear and on the cool side, so the hot
coffee brewed just behind the shooting area was quite welcome. And we had a newcomer, a pilgrim names
Lew Gaiser who joined us while shooting a borrowed .50/70 rifle. (Just watch, he’ll have his own rifle soon.)
In addition to that, we had a visitor named Bill Burgin who has just purchased a Sharps replica in .45/70 and he
came to observe our doin’s in order to help get his act together. Bill says we’ll be seeing him again, at our next
match in April. By the way, Bill was kind enough to take the picture of our shooting group.
This was a short range match with paper targets positioned at 50
and 100 yards. The target at 50 yards was the double bullseye buffalo
which is usually shot at with muzzle-loaders. At 100 yards another
muzzle-loading target was used, the standard 100 yard bullseye.
These are the same targets that we have previously used at those
distances. Our shooters are primarily members of muzzle-loading
clubs and those targets are what we have on hand. While our targets
and the distances we shoot them at might be different than most other
black powder cartridge matches, the challenge and competition are
still the same.
Previously we did not allow scopes or spotters at our matches.
Lew Gaiser at his first bpcr match. That was a hold-over from our primitive habits with the muzzle-
loaders. But beginning with the 2016 season we are allowing scopes and spotters. And now, after using the
scopes and spotters for only two matches, we encourage their use. Having the spotters is a very real benefit and
the added time required for additional relays is very slight. We’ll use scopes and spotters from now on, much
like almost all other black powder cartridge rifle matches.
At this match the shooting started with all competitors beginning with their targets at 50 yards. It did
seem like everyone’s sights were out of adjustment, and fresh adjustments were made after the spotters located
the hits. That was basically true for all shooters except for Jeff Ritter, our absentee shooter. Jeff had gone to
the range a week early with Mike Nesbitt in order to get his targets perforated because he had duties that would
keep him away from the match. He did very well and his score at 50 yards, a 94 out of 100, simply couldn’t be
beaten. That gave Jeff a head-start in points and the other shooters never caught up.
Jim Dickerman did give catching up a real good try. He shot a 92 at 50 yards and then outshot Jeff at
100 yards by one point. As you can see in the scores, that put Jim just one point behind Jeff for the match.
We’ll have to see how this little battle continues at our next match, where the shooting goes to 200 yards.
Sam Snelson’s .45/100 could be heard roaring as he did his best to beat the other scores. Sam doesn’t
use full loads in his .45-2.6” from C. Sharps Arms but he does use load with more powder than any of the other
shooters at this match. His 50 yard target was just a bit lacking but he did his best to make up for it at 100
yards. In fact, his 100 yard target held the high score for the day at that distance. While he did make a good
valent try, he still finished one point behind Jim.
Then we get down to Mike Nesbitt’s level. Mike was using another new rifle. Actually, it was the Billy
Dixon rifle from C. Sharps Arms that he wrote about three years ago but now it is re-barreled to .50/70 caliber.
That gives him a 13+ pound .50/70 that should lay bullets in on top of each other. While we might expect that,
it hasn’t happened yet. Let’s just say that Mike hasn’t found the bullet this heavy rifle really likes yet.
Lew Gaiser was shooting another of Mike
Nesbitt’s .50/70 rifles, the round barreled
“Hartford” from C. Sharps Arms. That rifle has a
sporting tang rear sight which is not readily
adjustable and Lew simply used it be holding at 6
o’clock on the bullseyes at 50 yards, then holding
for the middle of the bullseye at 100 yards.
Holding that way on the targets generally takes care
of any trajectory and Mike did the same thing with
this rifle about two years ago, with very good
results. Lew didn’t do bad at all and we expect to
see him coming back.
Down at the bottom of the list for this match
we find Don Kerr. Don has not practiced and his
score reflect as much. We’ll see him ‘catch on’ at
later matches and his .45/90 Hartford by C. Sharps
Arms is a rifle that will give him very high scores
after some practice shots are taken.
Here’s the group of shooters for this match All in all, our short range match was a lot of
fun and it was a very good way to spend the morning. Sharps-oriented prizes were awarded to all shooters and
everyone is going to try to do better at our next match, which will be on April 2, 2016. Join us if you’re in the
area of the Capitol City Rifle & Pistol Club, out of Littlerock, Washington.
Scores for this Match
Name Rifle/Cartridge 50yd. 100yd Total Jeff Ritter 1874 Shiloh Sharps .45/70 94 86 180
Jim Dickerman 1874 Shiloh Sharps .45/70 92 87 179
Sam Snelson 1874 C. Sharps Arms .45/100 85 93 X 178 X
Mike Nesbitt 1874 C Sharps Arms .50/70 90 80 170
Lew Gaiser 1874 C Sharps Arms .50/70 87 69 156
Don Kerr 1874 C Sharps Arms .45/90 87 68 155
At the end of this season of Old West Centerfire matches we will again award prizes for the aggregate of
scores. This is simply done by adding up each shooters’ five highest match scores which were fired during this
season of matches. We will have a total of six Old West Centerfire matches during the season and this means
our shooters can miss one match and still be in the running for top scores in the aggregate.
Season’s Accumulative Scores (Not In Order)
Name Rifle & Cartridge Accumulative scores
Allen Cunniff 1874 C Sharps Arms .45/70 193 5X
Jim Dickerman 1874 Shiloh Sharps .45/70 361 3X
Jeff Ritter 1874 Shiloh Sharps .45/70 357 3X
Mike Nesbitt Remington Rolling Block .44/77, Sharps .50/70 338 3X
Mike Moran 1874 C Sharps Arms .44/77 167 2X
Bob DeLisle 1874 Pedersoli Sharps .45/70 166 X
Don Kerr 1874 C Sharps Arms .45/90 315 2X
Sam Snelson 1874 C. Sharps Arms .45/100 178 X
Lew Gaiser 1874 C. Sharps Arms .50/70 156
“We have the best government that money can buy.” Mark Twain
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTS: by Mike Nesbitt
Cyberguy's Lube Pans
In addition to custom cutters, Cyberguy
also offers a dandy covered lube pan. Having a
lube pan with a cover is an advantage that can
quickly speak for itself because it can be put on
the shelf without the fear of having dust or dirt
fall into the lube. Seen at the left is my own
lube pan from Cyberguy loaded with a mixture
of 44/77 and .50/70 bullets, ready to be cut out
of the lube cake.
These rather small lube pans measure
just 4 7/8” across and they’re about 7/8” deep.
While I refer to that as being rather small, I do
think they are plenty big enough. I can lube up
to thirty .50 caliber bullets for my .50/70 at one
time, maybe more but I haven’t needed to try.
Of course, if you have more to lube it only
takes a few minutes to melt the lube again and
then begin cutting out the second batch.
In fact, I like this size of lube pan because it doesn’t take a whole brick of lube to fill it. I do have a
larger pan for lubing paper patched bullets but the lube in that is very shallow when compared to the lube
needed for grease groove bullets, even the rather short .50/70 bullets.
When I started pan lubing bullets, I began by using empty shallow pet food cans. A sardine can was
tried too. That did work, quite well in fact, but this covered lube pan has a lot of advantages. Being covered,
which I’ve already mentioned, and its size are the two biggest advantage, for sure.
Cyberguy can supply these small covered pans for $3 each and shipping is another $3 for one to three
pans purchased in the same order. Having more than one pan would be an advantage for shooters who might
like to dedicate pans to specific sizes of bullets, either calibers or bullet lengths. If requested, Cyberguy can put
labels on the lids to those pans.
If you were thinking about getting one or more of his custom cutters, it might only seem convenient to
add one or more of these lube pans to your order. Again, payment is accepted in checks or money orders but he
actually prefers PayPal. (Paypal doesn’t require him to go to the bank.) The address, again, is Cyberguy’s
Custom Cutters, 632 Lovell Road, Sweden, Maine 04040.
He says to email him with any questions at [email protected].
"Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust must be men of unexceptionable characters." —Samuel Adams, 1775
New .40/82 WCF Brass from Jamison Captech International recently
announced a new run of brass for the
.40/82 Winchester and this will certainly
be warmly received. The .40/82,
generally regarded as one of the headline
chamberings for the Model 1886
Winchester lever action, is now being
used somewhat for black powder
cartridge silhouette shooting, putting a
little more bounce to the ounce on those
.40 caliber bullets headed out to claim
their rams or turkeys. Brass for the
.40/82 can be formed from .45/90 (2.4”)
cases but it’s always nice to have
properly headstamped ammunition. Of
course, folks looking for ammo to feed
their old Model 1886 rifles will love it
too.
This brass takes the standard #14
RCBS shell holder, the same as the
.45/70. One more possible use for these
new .40/82 cases is to use them in rifles
chambered for the .40/70 WCF because
the .40/70 Winchester case is identical to
the .40/82 but used a different loading.
These new cases can also be shorten and
sized to form the .40/70 Sharps BN brass. Yes, then it wouldn’t have the appropriate headstamp but I don’t
know of “ready to roll” brass being made for either of these .40/70s, WCF or Sharps BN.
If I could, I’d give you a short shooting test with this new brass. Being without a .40/82 rifle, I’ll have
to simply alert you to the availability of these new cases. Orders can be placed directly to Jamison Brass and
Ammunition, Captech International, 2441 Dakota Craft Drive, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701. For telephone
orders call 605-791-1974 or by email to [email protected]. Prices for the new Jamison .40/82 brass include
20 cases for $35.00 and larger orders can be made.
“We the people are rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who would pervert the Constitution.” -- Abraham Lincoln
G. R. Thomas, Holster Maker One side-line to Sharps shooting that I enjoy doing is shooting revolvers from the general buffalo
hunting era, or more correctly, newly made copies of the revolvers from the buffalo hunting era. Those
revolvers, mostly Colt Single Actions in .45 Colt and .44/40 plus the Uberti copy of the Smith & Wesson
Russian Model #3 in .44 Russian, of course, need to be equipped with reloading gear, bullet molds, and carrying
gear, namely belts and holsters. This also serves as a good warning to you that more will be said about these
revolvers and revolver shooting in editions yet to come.
Right now I want to call your
attention to a holster made for me by
Gary Thomas. It was made to fit a
Smith & Wesson #3 New Model but
it will also fit the Schofield and the
Russian Models. Those were all
different versions of the #3 and they
all have the same frame size. This,
naturally, includes the modern copies
of the old Smith & Wesson’s guns
and the six-gun included in the photo
here is a .44 Russian by Uberti. This
holster was made to fit a #3 with a 5-
inch long barrel but the holster is long
enough and open bottomed so it can
very comfortably carry the Russian
Model with the 6 ½-inch long barrel.
This is a holster that I expect
will see a lot of use. It is made to be worn on my left side for a crossdraw but it can be worn on the right with
only a slight angle of back-slant. Please give me a little time to try
each of those positions in actual use.
Gary does not have a catalog. Instead he prefers to
interview each potential customer to find out what kind of holster is
desired, for what gun, and how the holster will be worn. His
finished product stands out as being very professional and for a
holster similar to this one he will ask $75 to $100 dollars depending
on the gun’s barrel length. Other features, options or characteristics
are open to discussion. To contact Gary you can write to him by
mail at Gary Thomas, 132 Fairgrounds Road, Salmon, Idaho
83467 or email him at [email protected].
One of the penalties of not participating in politics is that you will be governed by your inferiors." Plato
IXL ENTERPRSES Sight Insert Cards
One of my favorite front sights is the Globe sight
with changeable inserts and spirit level made by C.
Sharps Arms. However, in some of our small local
matches (that you get wind of in Bob Gietz’s reports
about the Old West Centerfires shoots) we
sometimes use bullseye targets that are either too
close or simply too big for the largest aperture in the
inserts supplied by C. Sharps Arms for that sight.
As you can guess even if you haven’t experienced
this; it’s hard to hold center when you can’t see the
edges of the bullseye. Other front sights such as the
MVA models might also have this problem and IXL
Enterprises has come to the rescue.
They produce a sight insert card of blued .012”
thick spring steel featuring 10 apertures with much a greater range of aperture sizes. I believe 6 of those
apertures are larger than the largest among the inserts supplied by C. Sharps Arms with their sights. And the
IXL Enterprises Front Sight Insert card comes only with apertures. It does not contain any posts, cross hairs, or
other types of front sight images. Just the nice wide range of apertures, from .085 to .155 in diameter.
The two apertures from this card that I’ve used came from the middle of those sizes and my problem of
not seeing the entire bullseye is quickly cured. Now we’ll have to see if that helps. (Or course, it should!)
Ordering one or more of these sight index cards is simple. Just send a check, no credit cards please, to
Ron Snover, 1245 Delta Valley Road, Greeneville, Tennessee 37745. The price per index card is $25.00 and
that is postpaid. Similar sight index cards are also made to fit the Lyman 17A front sights. If you need to call
in order to get more information the phone number is 423-234-0184 or email [email protected].
“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.” -- Thomas Jefferson
“We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.” – Aesop
“To Learn Who Rules Over You, Simply Find Out Who You Are
Not Allowed To Criticize.” --Voltaire
ARMED PATRIOT DRONE T-SHIRTS
C. Sharps Arms’ “Armed Patriot Drone” T-Shirts. Logo reads, “I AM AN ARMED
PATRIOT DRONE, CONTROLLED BY GOD.” These Tee’s are 100% cotton,
available sized Medium, Large, and Extra Large. Colors, either red or blue. Price
$15.00 plus postage.
To get your shirt send orders to or call C. Sharps Arms, P.O. Box 885, Big
Timber, MT 59011-Phone: 406-932-4353.
You can also order these shirts from our
web site at
www.csharpsarms.com
These new shirts do make a “timely”
statement. Let’s spread the news by
declaring our loyalty and faith.
MY “TAKE” ON THE .44/77’S HISTORY
By Mike Nesbitt
The history of the .44/77 has never
been made completely clear, in my most
humble opinion, and I’d like to plant some
seeds of thought in your minds about when
and where this notable cartridge was
developed. Please bear in mind that I am
actually guessing at some of this but my few
guesses are made, I hope you will agree, with
a rather fair foundation.
First of all, as Frank Sellers said in his
book Sharps Firearms, the .44/77 was based
on a Remington cartridge. Too many of us
have believed that Remington had the .44/77
first and that Sharps simply adopted it as a
chambering in their Sporting rifle of 1869.
Remington did have their .43 Spanish at that
time so let me ask, why would Remington
introduce such a similar cartridge firing a bullet
only .007” larger than the .43 when such a move
would not be worth the tooling to do it?
My assumption is this; Sharps borrowed the
case from the .43 Spanish (maybe from the .42
Berdan) but adapted it to the .44 caliber barrels they
had already been making for their .44 percussion
sporting rifles. Admittedly, I have not found a
Sharps .44 caliber percussion rifle to verify this but
we do know that Sharps was making .44 caliber
rifles with percussion ignition. It would have been
rather natural to use existing tooling for those
barrels.
Also worthy of possible note is that Ballard
bought their target barrels in .44 and .45 calibers
from Sharps. Sharps barrels did have a fine
reputation.
We also know that the “.44/77” was a
Remington loading and that Sharps always referred
to this cartridge as the .44-2 ¼” loading it with
either 70 or 75 grains of powder under 380 and 405
grain bullets. According to Roy Marcot in his
excellent book about Remington Rolling Block
Sporting and Target Rifles, the earliest mention of
the .44/77 by Remington did not take place until the
latter part of 1872, about the time that production of
their #1 Sporting Rifle really got under way.
To me this all strongly suggests that the .44-
2 ¼” cartridge was originally made and developed
by Sharps, either from the .43 Spanish which was
also developed in 1869 by UMC or, like the .43
Spanish, developed from the .42 Berdan which also
used 77 grains of powder. Sharps and Berdan were
certainly not strangers. Three years later
Remington adopted the .44-2 ¼” as a chambering
for their Sporting Rifles and gave it their own
designation, the .44/77.
We can also echo Frank Sellers again by
mentioning that until 1876 the .44-2 ¼” was the
most popular cartridge in the Sharps sporting rifles.
It continued to enjoy a very fair popularity even
after Sharps dropped it from regular production.
Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier'n puttin' it back. – Will Rogers