doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Shiloh Sharps question

Something's been bugging me for several years. I grew up passionately in love with Sharps rifles from the time I was about 10 years old. Frank Sellers' book is burned into my memory and my copy was read until the binding fell off. I owned a Shiloh at about age 14 and later put a big heavy barrel on it. But all that time, it kept gnawing at me - Shiloh rifles just don't look like the originals.

There is something...different...does anyone else see what I mean? I think it's a combination of stock design and barrel profiles. The action is probably a direct clone. I know the hammer and underlever is identical. But their stocks do not look like original stocks, and from what I can see their barrels (except probably the military barrels) just look drastically different. I say all this because I'm thinking of getting one and getting into paper patch again (I haven't done it in about 20 years) but I'm wondering if there is a Sharps out there that really looks like an original rifle. My firearms appreciation is as much about the aesthetics of the firearm as it is about function and accuracy.

Or maybe I'm all wet and just need new glasses. Advice from other Sharps-shooters would be appreciated.

The so-called pistol grip are furthest from the truth..
Have you never seen an original Sharps? Why not sell 3-4-5 other guns and get a nice original?
You don't mention C. Sharps?

More like 20 or 30 other guns to buy a nice original - and those would be 20-30 NICE ones. A good competitive quality sharps is mroe than a nice new pickup fully tricked out.

Ryan, I agree that there are differences. I don't have the eye for shape and style like some, but I know the forearms look wrong to me. Too thick. The schnable too heavy.

Also the finish and wood grain is nothing like the originals. But I like my Shiloh just fine and I shoot a lot of critters with it.

Oh, they're fine rifles, I hope it didn't sound like I was trying to disparage them. Just splitting hairs over aesthetics. The quest for the intangible - never ending, I suppose.

No, you didn't come across as disparaging, I think everyone
here can relate to the little things that either make or break a rifle for us.

Several friends shoot Shilohs and one has, must be a dozen, How many Mike G. I know you read this ;-).

My view on them is that none of them are chambered for the original cartridge but a modern version that will shoot groove diameter lubricated bullets.

Thought it would be fun to get one without a barrel or bad barrel and have it made for paper-patched (the original kind) bullets, which would mean a special reamer and cases. I've not done that, I guess, because I like the Borchardt better.

I think some of it has to do with what today's shooters are looking for, especially in the target configuration. Because of the 10 lb limit during the Creedmoor days, barrels were much smaller in diameter giving the rifle a more graceful look. Today's shooters are putting a lot of lead down range in a shorter period of time, so to deal with recoil, rifles are 2-2 1/2 lbs heavier and to keep proportions similar, the wood dimensions are a little heavier too with thicker pistol grips and added cheekpieces.
Michael, does Mike G. run around with Bob E.? Met and shot with those guys at the World matches and in Phoenix.

Michael, does Mike G. run around with Bob E.? Met and shot with those guys at the World matches and in Phoenix.

That would be the suspects, Bob now lives in WY. I'm not much of a competitor so I don't travel to the shooting events.

If I decided to own a Sharps, I'd look for a 50-70 carbine conversion. A few thousand dollars could get a very decent example...

When I returned home from Vietnam in 1966 with some money in my pocket I had the chance to buy a very nice 1874 Sharps target rifle or an engagement ring. I was "pressured" into the ring but the Sharps had a long barrel and target sights, front and aft, and was priced at $125 about the same as the ring. I know what the ring appraises for now and I guess I am glad I will never know what the Sharps would be worth.