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

In a recent horse trade,I acquired a Hartford made,1874 Sharps Sporting Model rifle.The rifle has not been messed with,and is in sound,brown,uncleaned condition.

However,the bore is awful!I am not interested in owning a rifle I can't shoot.In my financial interest,should I have it relined,or sell it to a collector?

Opinions please---

I am all for relining. I would do it in a heartbeat and I would think very carefully about whom I would have do it and what would be the liner.

The alternative is to rebarrel it, save the old barrel for resale but this is less satisfactory because you are then faced with looking at this new barrel every time you bring the rifle to your shoulder.

In my opinion, a rifle that is not shot or not shootable is not a rifle any longer. Of course, that is just my very inexpensive opinion.

I guess that I'm with Brent. And the Old Guys would have relined or freshed out a non-shooter in a heartbeat, so what you're contemplating is at least "traditional." I'm not a collector so can't make the complex "calculus of value" (i.e. is an original rifle with a lousy bore more valuable to a collector than a nice Sharps with an eminently shootable, but not original bore? I SUSPECT that most collectors would say DON'T alter it, even to get it shooting again....but I would anyway, or sell it to a collector, and replace it with a replica, if the $$$ worked better that way.). Anyway, the only value that matters is to YOU.

Whether to reline or rebore depends on a lot of things, especially what caliber it is now and what caliber you want. Neither is visible on the outside of the gun if done right.

What caliber is it now and how is the caliber marked?

CALIBRE 40 on top flat,about 1" in front of the breach with an upside down 70 on the side flat ,same location.If I do anything with it,I think i should keep it the same caliber.I think 40-70 bottle neck,I have not done a chamber cast.

According to the factory records it was shipped to New York City in 1876 with a 30" barrel and single trigger.The rifle was returned to the factory and shipped to Meacham of St. Louis,and get this,with double set trigger and 24" barrel.

Pictures Pictures Pictures

PLEASE!!!!

If you were to rebarrel, you would not do badly sending it back to Sharps one more time - this time in Big Timber MT. But I would reline it.

Brent

R. Glenz
Are you sure the bore is ruined? I would clean it eloctronicaly and see what it realy looks like. There is a lot of information on this process on the internet. Get it real clean and then decide what to do with it. The electronic cleaning will remove rust to bare metal.
Tom

tomc
I have worked with lots of old rifles.I have a PA long rifle,dated 1806 on the barrel.I recut the rifling myself and now head shoot squirrels with it.Never again!
I got lucky with a Holland double rifle also.Couldn't see through the bore,but with allot of scrubbing,it shoots fine.
My point is --take my word for it,no hope for this bore!

Call Dave Casey at Rockymountaincartridge.com. There are several folks that could do a really good job of relining this thing, but Dave would be my pick for this sort of thing.

I sent him a Ballard Pacific that I had shot some and thought was not accurate enough to warrant keeping as is. He looked at it, decide to argue himself out of a job with me. When I didn't believe him, he took it out and shot some really pretty good groups and so I gave in. He sent it back and I've been killing antelope with it ever since. I guess my point is, he worries about doing a rifle justice.

BrentD
What kind of turn around time does he have on gun work?I don't mind months,but years--NOT.
That is a nice buck,very nice with black powder!