Notes from the gun shop...

Had a great time at the gun shop today.  7 background checks.  Neat guns abound.  Among others there is a slightly ratty but functional S&W New Departure Safety Hammerless .38 S&W, a .38-56 Winchester 1886, a .348 Winchester Model 71, and the following Sharps in .45 2-1/10" aka .45-70 Government chambering.  So what follows are photos of that last gun with my comments.  What do you think?

Rifle overall view

I had to take photos inside the shop today, it was raining, and so I had to work with our rather nasty indoor fluorescent lighting.  I'm sorry to say that this was as good a full-length photo as I could get and it doesn't show the part of the barrel with the front sight.  The barrel interests me.  It is pretty pedestrian.  It measures 32-1/4" long and tapers from 1-1/8" across the flats at "collar" to 1" across the flats at the muzzle.  There doesn't appear to be any finish, i.e. it was finished "bright".  Well, not all that bright as there isn't a high polish to this barrel at all.

Top view of rifle and breech-block

Here you can see the action (to the right of the frame) and barrel.  Note that the action has all the finish gone, apparently worn off, and pitting from use.  It seems to me that this is OLD pitting and the barrel has less "patina".

The rear most barrel marking. 

This is the rear-most barrel marking.  If you look closely at the previous photo you can see exactly where this marking is on the barrel.  For those who may not be able to read the photo it says, "C SHARPS PAT" on the top line with "SEPT 12 1848" centered below it. 

The other barrel marking, closer to the muzzle...

This is the other barrel marking, much closer to the muzzle a little more than half-way to the muzzle from the breech.  Again, it says "SHARPS RIFLE" over "MANUFG CO" over "HARTFORD   CONN".

The front sight...

This next is a photo of the front sight.  I've never seen one exactly like this.  It currently has an aperture insert. 

Into the breech...

I tried to get a photo of the breech of the gun and up the barrel which appears as clean as a whistle.  It is immaculate.  If original, I can only imagine that the odds are against a rifle having had such good care for over 120 years of BP and years of corrosive primers.  There does appear to be a "cinder" or something hanging in the chamber.  I don't know what that is, I don't remember seeing it while examining the rifle and didn't notice it until I got home to look at the photos. 

The right side of the receiver...

 This shows a bit of the butt and forearm as well as a side view of the sight and receiver.  It seems to me that the gun's action saw a bit of rough use before being converted to center-fire and re-barreled and has been taken care of since.  There is pitting on the hammer (re-blued over the pitting) and the receiver and lock plate are now in an "in the white" condition.  I notice that the lock plate looks a bit rusty in the photo but it doesn't look that way in hand.  Not sure why but sometimes the photograph shows us what the eye misses. 

Left side of the receiver...

This shows the left side of the receiver and you can clearly see what I mean by pitting.  

A bit more detail of the sight...

 I think this is a modern sight.  No maker's mark that I can find.  Seems to be of high quality.

The butt stock...

 I wanted to show the figure in the butt.  If not original it certainly appears to have been refinished. 

The butt plate...

The butt plate has no finish but shows use.  

What else do I know about the gun?  Well, I think that the owner had used it for silhouette shooting.  I was unable to weigh the gun but I think that Sharps-wise shooters will have an idea of what it weighs.  In the hand it appears to be a very nice gun.  The Lawrence priming mechanism seems to be as much there as one would expect from a conversion to center-fire but I don't know about such details.  I didn't have an opportunity to actually measure the chamber either and am going on what I was told about the chambering.