sharps rifle junky

[firefighter1990]

Idk how fitting of a topic this for this site but ill give it go. Title says it, im a sharps rifle junky and love playing around with this forerunner of long range rifles. I hv a few shiloh's and like everything else now days, its more and more expensive to shoot. Anyways, im am set on buying a chiappa mini sharps in 17 hornady hornet to make plinking more affordable. Was wonering if any of you guys have had any experience with the chiappa sharps either charles daily, lyman, or who ever else imports them. Thanks!

 

[MudRunner2005]

I have an I.A.B. 1874 Sharps reproduction .45-70, with a 29" full-octagonal barrel. It was a buddy's and I got it in a trade, but haven't shot it once since I got it...

 

[firefighter1990]

Nice! This is their fullsize model if im not mistaken, without you having shot it yet, hows the fit. Finish and craftmanshiplooks legit! Their mini sharps that currently has my attention is 20% smaller and half the weight of the fullsize. But all sharps rifles and replicas are a work of art.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Thanks man!

Fit is nice, although I'd rather it have a pistol grip style stock instead of the Enfield style...But hey...It's not something I shoot all the time, so it really don't bother me.

It locks nice and tight, action and stocks are fitted very well. It's a nice gun....I came out very good in my trade. Reason was, my buddy and his wife had 2 kids, so he wasn't anticipating much shooting or hunting for the next number of years and he is a Sharps junkie. But he can steal away to go fishing since he lives 6 mins from the lake...So he wanted my Carolina Skiff hull and trailer, and offered me the Sharps and a Kahles Helia C scope for them. I would have to be an idiot not to take the trade, so I did. He really is a Sharps maniac. He studies them, goes online to Shiloh's and C. Sharps's websites and builds them how he wants, he wants a custom so bad, but the last one he built was around the $5-7K mark.... The reason he let this one go is because it's only a 29" barrel and he wants 34" chambered in .45-110 (just like Quigley's gun ), with the Taylor tang sight. The one I have has a Taylor on the front, but standard slider sight on the rear of the barrel.

I have been pondering the idea of selling it to build my .280 AI whitetail build I have been wanting to build for a few years now, but I can't seem to find an actual value for it..... I've found everything from $1K-$2K....So, I have no clue.

 

[firefighter1990]

Theres a few black powder cartride forums out there with guys who really know their stuff, they can prob help you out there. They are old technology compared to modern lr rifles but they can still hold their own. I've seen some remarkable 1000 yard groups in bpc matches that look like they were shot with a scoped rifle. Im not too familiar with iab products so i cant tell you there. But glad to hear about them from someone thats played with one. Deffinitely perking my intrest on the hornet verson!

 

[lloydsmale]

when i first read your title i though you were saying sharps rifles are junky and i was seeing red!! There a beautiful gun, almost art work. As to the mini sharps ive got a little story. My buddy is pretty well known in the gun circles and when chiappa came out with the mini they sent him a 45 colt version to try. His 9 year old at the time daughter took it buffalo hunting and shot a 800lb cow buffalo with it. Shot was only at about 40 yards but it was kind of cool to be there to see a mini girl with a mini sharps shoot a buffalo.

 

[RT2506]

Mudrunner I have a sharps just like yours. I put a tang sight on it and a globe front. I shoot it with black powder and cast bullets mostly. It really shoots well with RCBS 45-500-BPS bullet over black powder or Pyrodex Select. It will average 10 shots in 2" outside to outside at 200 meters from cross sticks. It also shoots the Lyman 457193 really well with either black powder or Accurate 5744. These are really quality rifles. I got to shoot a couple times on an old coal strip mine a friend had access to out to 1000 yards. It was informal plinking at steel gongs but once you got the sights dialed in you could drop a bullet on it every time. I am sure the smaller 22 would be a hoot to shoot.

 

[firefighter1990]

Yes, i have read that review on gunblast! Glad to hear a first hand experience. The old world tang sight take some getting used to but that why i would like to get a more economical round in a sharps rifle. Im not gonna get my proficientcy by just hoping for it. But yes, in the right hands, a sharps rifle is very lethal! The billy dixon story is still amazing. A 1500 yard shot with a 50-90 at the battle of odobe walls, even with todays technology, thats an amazing shot!

 

[Augustus]

With today's technology that shot is rather ho-hum.

 

[John56]

Been fascinated by Sharps rifles for some time, but really didn't need one in the calibers that they were made for. However that changed when I seen that Chiappa was making one in 17 HH. So decided to pick one up. Seems to be well made and it is accurate. So far I've only run one box through it and haven't shot anything except paper and 20 oz pop bottles full of water out to 200 yards. Plan on working up loads in the near future as I have everything for that. I ended up putting a long eye relief HI-Lux scope on it. Tried another scope, but the hammer wouldn't allow it. I think if I had to do over I'd get one with sights. May still try to find a gunsmith to put sights on. Not the best picture, but this is what I have.

 

[firefighter1990]

Awesome! Glad to hear it on the quality and function of the chiappa. Very good gun-porn there!