This followed me home today

Licensed to kill said:
I have a Farmington Shiloh in 45-90. Been told by several guys that are “into” Sharps rifles and the general consensus seems to be that the Farmington Shiloh’s are not as good (different chamber design) and therefore not as sought after as the Big Timber ones. I dunno, just what I have been told. Of course not relevant regarding the OP’s .54, just saying.
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The 1874 Farmingdales had a longer throat for paper patch bullets which didn t work as well with regular cast grooved bullets.They also had the same half #### position as the percussion rifle which was wrong
 
barbarossa said:
The 1874 Farmingdales had a longer throat for paper patch bullets which didn t work as well with regular cast grooved bullets.They also had the same half #### position as the percussion rifle which was wrong
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Yes, that is what I was told. The main reason I started paper patching my 45-90. The two previous owners shot it very little as they could not get it to shoot straight with grease groove bullets.
 
What are they like to shoot? The only percussion breechloader I've fired is my Starr carbine. The absence of gas leakage is remarkable.
 
tiriaq said:
What are they like to shoot? The only percussion breechloader I've fired is my Starr carbine. The absence of gas leakage is remarkable.
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I actually enjoy shooting them more than my centre fire Sharps.Though you can shoot them with bullet and loose powder the paper cartridges are the way to go.At the range after so many rounds the breech block will start to foul up and will have to cleaned up.The percussion versions require a more clean up at the end of the day than the 1874 Sharps
Also I never had a problem with gas leakage with any of the percussion Shiloh Sharps I ve owned
 
Pretty cool rifle
barbarossa said:
I actually enjoy shooting them more than my centre fire Sharps.Though you can shoot them with bullet and loose powder the paper cartridges are the way to go.At the range after so many rounds the breech block will start to foul up and will have to cleaned up.The percussion versions require a more clean up at the end of the day than the 1874 Sharps
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Do you hand make the paper cartridges? Pretty cool rifle
 
The problem with the early Farmingdale Sharps center fires that I’ve heard most often is that the barrel steel wasn’t too today’s standard so one doesn’t want to be blasting a lot of Barnes bullets down range.
I don’t think I kept all the pictures but if ever you get to Big Timber Mt, the nice lady will give you a tour of the production. Not surprised at the order backlog as only like 7-8 craftsman doing a lot of hand work along with some CNC help.

I did find one pic, a little pricey for me!
IMG_0966.jpeg
 
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barbarossa said:
They can be quite accurate but not normally as accurate as the centerfire cartridge Sharps
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They're almost always very accurate when bullet diameter is correct.

With these rifles, measuring the bores and either getting special molds built is well worth the money/effort.

Sometimes you get lucky and the bore is a few thou on the small side, then a standard diameter mold will work well.
 
I ve been told by a guy who use to work for Shiloh Sharps when they were based in Farmingdale,New York that the 63 Sharps in the Sporting Rifle versions especially the no2 pistol grip versions were rare as they weren’t as popular as the military rifle and carbines.I figured this had to do with the Civil War groups down the States
 
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