I just found a .54 caliber Pedersoli (I believe) Sharps. No pics yet. I am trying to justify spending some of my 401K money to buy it. The owner wants $900 for it, It is a beautiful gun and appears to be unfired. If I buy it I will be learning how to make linen cartridges. Wish me luck.
Sharps .54
- Thread starter tom in nc
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Rifle or Carbine?
I shoot a Sharps in N-SSA competition and making paper cartridges is waaaay easier than linen and leaves nothing in the bore for the next shot.
I'll just share my own experience with Sharps rifles. I bought a Pedersoli years ago, and it was nothing but problems. There was so much gas leakage that the block would freeze up after just a few shots, and the ignition was very unreliable. I learned that the Pedersoli design was different from an original, in that the breech block was fixed and the chamber moved. Backwards from how they were designed. I also learned there were two men out there, Charlie Hahn and Larry Flees, who could fix them and redesign it to actually work. Rather than do that I traded it plus some cash for a New York made Shiloh which is true to the original design. It doesn't leak, I can shoot it as long as I want with no problems. Ignition is fast and always works. Accuracy is terrific. There is no way I'd go back to a Pedersoli, even if it took me a very long time to save up enough money for a Shiloh. I understand the Garrett ones are nice too, but have never handled one of those.
As for cartridges, I tried the linen ones and they're a real pain to make. Paper is the way to go, regular stuff for the body and hair curler papers for the ends. You can buy a 1 inch round paper punch on Amazon and easily make plenty of those. At some point I bought an old Shiloh paper cartridge making kit which came with nitrated paper and a plastic dowel. I never used the papers but the dowel works great for making cartridges. Kid's glue sticks hold everything together except I use elmer's glue to attach the paper to the bullet.
As for cartridges, I tried the linen ones and they're a real pain to make. Paper is the way to go, regular stuff for the body and hair curler papers for the ends. You can buy a 1 inch round paper punch on Amazon and easily make plenty of those. At some point I bought an old Shiloh paper cartridge making kit which came with nitrated paper and a plastic dowel. I never used the papers but the dowel works great for making cartridges. Kid's glue sticks hold everything together except I use elmer's glue to attach the paper to the bullet.
900.00 is way cheap for a like new Pedersoli 59 Sharps whether carbine or rifle and like mentioned before paper or tubes is the way to go. The Sharps is one of the most beautiful rifles ever made in my opinion. The replica's are no exception I just wish they could leave all the junk off the barrels and stick with historic markings only.
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Buy it! Had one and sold it. Big regret. That’s a fair price.
I have had a couple of them, I made paper cartridges. Never had any problem, no sparks left over for the second shot
$900 is a steal for a Sharps. You might pick it up as an "investment" even if you don't want to shoot it.
One HUGE point here is that some have had issues with the block binding up after a couple shots. That can easily be dealt with by greasing the block with Mobil1 synthetic grease. It's the pink, pure synthetic grease. Zero issues since I started using it. White Lithium also does a good job but isn't as "persistent" as the Mobil1 and you'll have to reapply after about 50 or so shots.
Charlie Hahn and Larry Flees mods have been mentioned and yes, they help. I've seen Shiloh and some Pedersolis run with no mods at all other than the grease.
Paper tubes are the way to go. Nitrating is not needed. I roll mine out of copier paper and use hair curler paper to seal one end. Put it the powder, a bit of filler, use Duco cement to glue the paper to the bullet. Lube grooves only with a brush dipped in beeswax/lard/coconut oil.
I guess it works......
Charlie Hahn and Larry Flees mods have been mentioned and yes, they help. I've seen Shiloh and some Pedersolis run with no mods at all other than the grease.
Paper tubes are the way to go. Nitrating is not needed. I roll mine out of copier paper and use hair curler paper to seal one end. Put it the powder, a bit of filler, use Duco cement to glue the paper to the bullet. Lube grooves only with a brush dipped in beeswax/lard/coconut oil.
I guess it works......
Johnnyntrain
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Bought mine and had it dropped shipped to Charlie Hahn. Great work shoots all day no problems. While you're at it have him ship some of his cardboard tubes If you make the ring tail bullets, I remember eras gone moulds has them.
Good price on that.
Mike in FL
50 Cal.
A very expensive rifle. Way more than 900 new. Rather than take opinions, maybe get some user reviews from Google. I had a new C. Sharps 1875 in 45/120, which was never an original caliber. 45/110 was the max. Anyway, after trying for a year to develop a cartridge load, I gave up and sold it.
How can I tell if the breech block mods have been done already? The current owner doesn't know. He operates a pawn shop but put the gun back planning to keep it, but decided that he would sell it to me because I have bought several firearms and airguns from him.
Just buy it... seems everyone agrees that is a good deal. Try it out with the Mobil1 grease like @dave951 said.
If you love it, great, you done good. If you eventually decide you don't like it, sell it for what you gave for it, or get the mods done yourself.
And if you do decide to sell it to get your money back, please PM me first!
If you love it, great, you done good. If you eventually decide you don't like it, sell it for what you gave for it, or get the mods done yourself.
And if you do decide to sell it to get your money back, please PM me first!
kh54
45 Cal.
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I agree with others who have said, “Buy the Pedersoli!”
About three years ago I had an IAB Sharps civilian model that jammed the third round I tried to fire. Nothing I did made it better. I sent it to Charlie Hahn who charged $175 for his work. It was still a problem but he took it back and made it right at no additional charge. The last time I used it I think I put 25-30 rounds down range with no issues. Unfortunately, I believe that Charlie has retired. I tried to email him a few weeks ago and it was returned undeliverable.
I can’t speak to the Flees mod but I found this thread on the N-SSA forum: https://www.n-ssa.net/vbforum/showthread.php/22033-Pedersoli-Sharps-O-Ring-questions. One of the posts describes why Pedersoli’s movable sleeve design is flawed. If you get the Pedersoli have Mr. Flees perform his magic anyway. If you don’t get the Pedersoli, please send me a PM so I can reach the seller.
I now have an unaltered Garrett Sharps. The gas check plate isn’t perfect but I can shoot up to 20-25 rounds before I need to lube it before continuing and I like shooting the original design even with the occasional problem. I’ve read a few posts on both MLF and others who have fired either originals or Shiloh Sharps all day without any jamming due to gas leaks and fouling. I take those claims with a little bit of salt. I understand that soldiers in the ACW who carried the Sharps sometimes had issues, with directions from the manufacturer to spit on the action if it jammed during battle.
About three years ago I had an IAB Sharps civilian model that jammed the third round I tried to fire. Nothing I did made it better. I sent it to Charlie Hahn who charged $175 for his work. It was still a problem but he took it back and made it right at no additional charge. The last time I used it I think I put 25-30 rounds down range with no issues. Unfortunately, I believe that Charlie has retired. I tried to email him a few weeks ago and it was returned undeliverable.
I can’t speak to the Flees mod but I found this thread on the N-SSA forum: https://www.n-ssa.net/vbforum/showthread.php/22033-Pedersoli-Sharps-O-Ring-questions. One of the posts describes why Pedersoli’s movable sleeve design is flawed. If you get the Pedersoli have Mr. Flees perform his magic anyway. If you don’t get the Pedersoli, please send me a PM so I can reach the seller.
I now have an unaltered Garrett Sharps. The gas check plate isn’t perfect but I can shoot up to 20-25 rounds before I need to lube it before continuing and I like shooting the original design even with the occasional problem. I’ve read a few posts on both MLF and others who have fired either originals or Shiloh Sharps all day without any jamming due to gas leaks and fouling. I take those claims with a little bit of salt. I understand that soldiers in the ACW who carried the Sharps sometimes had issues, with directions from the manufacturer to spit on the action if it jammed during battle.
When I bought mune, MEW, about 30 years ago, it was $1000.00 out the door. This is a fantastic price
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The going rate for new Pedersoli Sharps guns, if you can find them, I believe has crested $1400+.
So $900 would be a very good deal.
As I told you on facebook, I believe, you are probably going to find that the Pedersoli Sharps only shoots 8 or 9 shots before the action locks up.
At least on some of the Pedersoli Sharps (and for sure with mine), Pedersoli made the chamber sleeve so that it "free floats". It slides back and forth in the barrel. The only thing keeping it falling out the back of the gun is it is too large to fit through the bullet "U" groove in the receiver. According to Mr. Pedersoli, they didn't do this on all guns. It wasn't clear if they fixed this going forward.
Historically, the chamber sleeve was designed to move, but you had to use a special tool (bushing tool) inserted from the muzzle to do this. You are essentially "headspacing" the chamber sleeve against the breech block gas check plate. It needs to be a tight fit so as not to leak a lot of gas, but can't stick out too far or you can't insert the breech block back into the receiver after removing it for cleaning.
The sleeve was thus movable, but not free-floating. Pedersoli got this wrong.
Larry Flees removes the barrel, removes the free-floating sleeve, and presses in a new sleeve that is adjusted to bear against the gas check plate properly.
While the Pedersoli Sharps comes from the factory with the "Sam Dobbins O-Ring Job" - the gas check plate is backed up with an o-ring, Larry makes a new gas check plate from AMPCO bronze and a smaller diameter o-ring.
After doing this, I shot my Pedersoli Sharps Carbine 89 consecutive times without cleaning. I used this gun in N-SSA competition for some years.
I don't think non-members can access this, but was my review of Larry's work:
https://www.n-ssa.net/vbforum/showt...w-Larry-Flees-Pedersoli-Sharps-Carbine-rework
You can contact Larry Flees at [email protected]
It cost about $400 to have the work done, including shipping both ways. This was back in 2016.
I tried every kind of grease that people said to use and nothing worked. The gun just leaked too much gas until Larry fixed it.
I bought a Shiloh Sharps last year and it shoots indefinitely without locking up out-of-the-box.
I don't know if Pedersoli has fixed this issue or not. I hope so. I would be really put out if I paid $1400 for a new one and it could only shoot 8-9 shots before fouling locks up the breech block, and then have to pay another $400 on top of that to get it fixed. You are into Shiloh Sharps prices then.
So $900 would be a very good deal.
As I told you on facebook, I believe, you are probably going to find that the Pedersoli Sharps only shoots 8 or 9 shots before the action locks up.
At least on some of the Pedersoli Sharps (and for sure with mine), Pedersoli made the chamber sleeve so that it "free floats". It slides back and forth in the barrel. The only thing keeping it falling out the back of the gun is it is too large to fit through the bullet "U" groove in the receiver. According to Mr. Pedersoli, they didn't do this on all guns. It wasn't clear if they fixed this going forward.
Historically, the chamber sleeve was designed to move, but you had to use a special tool (bushing tool) inserted from the muzzle to do this. You are essentially "headspacing" the chamber sleeve against the breech block gas check plate. It needs to be a tight fit so as not to leak a lot of gas, but can't stick out too far or you can't insert the breech block back into the receiver after removing it for cleaning.
The sleeve was thus movable, but not free-floating. Pedersoli got this wrong.
Larry Flees removes the barrel, removes the free-floating sleeve, and presses in a new sleeve that is adjusted to bear against the gas check plate properly.
While the Pedersoli Sharps comes from the factory with the "Sam Dobbins O-Ring Job" - the gas check plate is backed up with an o-ring, Larry makes a new gas check plate from AMPCO bronze and a smaller diameter o-ring.
After doing this, I shot my Pedersoli Sharps Carbine 89 consecutive times without cleaning. I used this gun in N-SSA competition for some years.
I don't think non-members can access this, but was my review of Larry's work:
https://www.n-ssa.net/vbforum/showt...w-Larry-Flees-Pedersoli-Sharps-Carbine-rework
You can contact Larry Flees at [email protected]
It cost about $400 to have the work done, including shipping both ways. This was back in 2016.
I tried every kind of grease that people said to use and nothing worked. The gun just leaked too much gas until Larry fixed it.
I bought a Shiloh Sharps last year and it shoots indefinitely without locking up out-of-the-box.
I don't know if Pedersoli has fixed this issue or not. I hope so. I would be really put out if I paid $1400 for a new one and it could only shoot 8-9 shots before fouling locks up the breech block, and then have to pay another $400 on top of that to get it fixed. You are into Shiloh Sharps prices then.
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