Recently helping my brother move from DC area to his retirement home in WA State. Managed to get him out of "road march" mode (he was a tanker for 32 years) and stopped at C. Sharps Arms in Big Timber, MT, which is right off I-90. Very interesting visit. They acted like we might be customers and gave us the deelux tour (I called ahead and asked on my cell phone) and let us handle all their various models and finishes of single shots: Sharps '74, Sharps '75, and "Winchester" Hiwall 1885s.
The tour was excellent; a very knowledgeable female employee (who runs the turning center) showed us all the steps from bar stock to finished product and answered every question I asked, including stuff that many manufacturers won't answer like what parts/processes are outsourced and where and why. (Their '74 and Hiwall recievers are machined from forgings, for example, but the '75 recievers are investment cast like Ruger #1s at Ruger's subsidiary, Pine Tree Casting, where I got the tour in 2002. That may be why the '75s are a little cheaper.) When she didn't know the answer to a question, she asked the responsible craftsman.
I liked that they use the scrap pieces from the reciever forgings to make the smaller parts. Thrifty, just like the old timers were, and we should all be. They also sell walnut scrap from the stocking room in the showroom for $1-4 a piece. Some of it looks like dessert, and makes great pistol grips, forends, or knife scales. They also sell all the books relevant to single shot rifles and all the accessories for reloading and shooting.
This visit was the high point of my trip and I'm going to buy a C.Sharps Hiwall once I can figure out which caliber to order. Wish I could have gone to Shiloh Sharps right across the street, but they don't make Hiwalls and my bro, who only likes John Browning's designs post-1911 anyway (especially the Ma Duece), said "Saddle Up!" and into the truck we went and off west! (His truck, his dime, his retirement--that all adds up to "Yessir!" as far as I'm concerned).
We also stopped at the Custer Battlefield and my bro, who used to teach military history at West Point, gave me the tour. A sad place, but very worth seeing. If you've never driven from coast to coast, do it.
