That is the "free bore" issue. It IS bad, and if the rifle has it, I would return it immediately for a refund and look elsewhere. Otherwise, you will spend lots of time and money TRYING to make it shoot, and it will never shoot as well as a Sharps should. Don't sell the 40-65 until you get this thing squared away.
These older Shilohs made when Wolfgang Droge owned the company can really be a disappointment and a pain in the rear in the shooting department.
They are. If it has a "B" prefix or suffix in the serial number, it is a Bryan gun, and you are in good shape. The Bryans didn't buy the company until after 1986, IIRC, hence my original post.
No problem. I should have posted that it has a "B" prefix. Good to know. Too bad I sold the bullet moulds I had for the .45-70 I had. Lots to learn for the big boomer but I sort of had buyer's remorse with the Pedersoli even though it is a nice gun. It just aint a Shiloh.
Picked up the rifle yesterday and it looks fantastic! It came with 20 rounds of ammo. 20 Bertram cases cut down to 2 7/8" with 103 grains of Swiss 1.5Fg powder with a 405gr lead roundnosw grease groove bullet
In an effort to maintain my fickleness I have sold the .45-110 in order to purchase another Shiloh. I found that the 34 inch barrel is rather unwieldy in a deer blind or Florida swamp. I had made up my mind that my primary hunting arm will be a Shiloh Sharps. I really want to thank Mr. Bagwell for all his help and suggestions. I am in the process of aquiring a Saddle Rifle with a 26 inch standard octagon barrel in .45-70 Government. It has a full buckhorn rear and a MVA mid range vernier and a globe front. The only immediate change will be to swap the globe for a penny blade front. I assume the standard blade sight can be ordered from Shiloh. I am thinking this will be pretty close to perfect for my needs. It has everything on it that I would want if ordering one from Shiloh. Hopefully I won't be putting this one up for sale any time soon!