Was wandering around the local gun show yesterday and stopped at a table full of older rifles. One was a Sharps Borchardt military rifle that had been sporterized by an German gunsmith. Rebarreled in 25-35 WCF, walnut stock and forend with heavy germanic style carving, antler fore end tip, horn pistol grip cap, tang site. Seemed like a nice rifle and something fun to play around with. Asking price was $2500, which seems like a lot, but maybe not - I don't have a feel for these rifles.

Let me know if I should go back and make an offer.

If you like it, want it and can afford it then go buy it and enjoy yourself shooting it.

What the hell do you care what it brings at your estate sale?

I am assuming it is 25-35 not 25-25. The 25-35 cartridge can be a very good deer cartridge and loaded in a single shot could surpass the original chambering using flat pointed bullets.

Sometimes you just have to buy something if it suits your fancy. I did just the same thing a few months back and bought a pair of Whitney Phoenix rifles. I only wanted one, but bid on both, hoping to get one and ended up with 2.

They are unique guns, I doubt that anyone is interested much in these guns, but I have them...

Is it a Sporter or a Schuetzen ?

If Shuetzen, be REAL sure that it fits.

If you grab it, sure would like to see some pics.

Luck,

GTC

Interesting what Whitney did there,....sat down with some scrap hardwood, whittled, carved, and sanded,
... glued his new pieces to a Rolling Block core mold and voila, another design born.

GTC

One thing that might justify the price is if it were barreled and customized by a noted American or German custom gunsmith (I think I can confidently say that there were no factory .25-35s). Is it marked with the 'smith's name or any marking that would be identifiable? Barrel maker?

Some of the most famous custom gunsmiths of the 19th and early 20th centuries loved Borchardts.

You are correct - 25-35. I fat fingered it the first time around.

It is a sporter type as opposed to Schutzen type, in my limited knowledge, as it has a shotgun style butt plate and no front palm rest.

The 6-5X52R is a European cartridge very similar to, but not the same as the 25-35. I have seen European rifles that claimed they were chambered in the 25-35, but I don't know if that is aftermarket or an association claim...

One of my sons has a "Remington" ML built on a pivoting action like that. Another company sold the same thing.

Neat rifles. Killed any rabbits with them yet?

Got a gopher with it...

Close enough.

Well, you enablers pushed me over the edge. I made a deal on the rifle today. Probably paid too much but I don't really care. I got the rifle and one box of new brass for $1900. So now that I've looked it over a bit, it's got a 1-14" twist barrel on it, so I will stick with 87 and 90 grain bullets to start with and see how it shoots. The trigger is pretty heavy and the safety needs a little work, I think. Anyway, pics to follow when I get some snapped later today.

Pics of rifle....

More

Nice!

I think you did alright, Tom.
You may well have to live with that trigger, a fairly stout pull was common to the design.

GTC

Lots of character on that one. Neat rifle!

I like it!!!

If you ever pull the forend off, have a look at the bottom of the barrel for maker's name or mark. The gun has been heavily customized and might well have been done by a classic 'smith of the early 20th century.

If you find marks and have any trouble deciphering them, ask here first and if that doesn't work, try a question on the "Classic and Custom Single Barrel Rifles" (or something like that) forum on www.doublegunshop.com/BBS That is the rifle forum of that "mostly shotgun" website, and some very knowledgeable single shot guys who specialize in custom rifles of the "classic" period hang out there.

Does that rifle show any signs of having been a military arm before it was customized? CT militia/national guard bought some in .45-70 if my memory serves me (don't bet the farm on THAT!).

Is that grip cap real ivory? If it is, it wouldn't be cheap today!

I will have to pull the forend off and take a look. It's defiantly a converted military rifle, as opposed to a factory sorter.

I don't know if the grip is ivory or bone. Anyway to tell?

Tom,

Nice rifle! I would have been severely tempted myself, as have a thing for German rifles, among others.

A 14 twist will normally stabilize short 100-grain lead-cored spitzers, and the 100-grain Speer Hot-Cor is about the shortest, if you can find any. The 100-grain Hornady Spire point will also usually work, but apparently Hornady just discontinued them.

While there are slight differences between the 6.5x52R and .25-35, a friend of mine has a nice little German break-action in 6.5x52R and has no problem loading for it with standard .25-35 brass and dies.

Nice, indeed! I'm a closet fan of Germanic-styled rifles too. I don't think I ever saw a Sharps Borchardt treated like that. It would have followed me home too.

Interesting under lever treatment. I've only ever seen pics of them converted like that, never in person. As for the ivory vs. bone, the only thing I know is to touch it (in an out of sight location) with a red hot wire to determine plastic vs. ivory (plastic will melt, ivory will burn). (It looks like ivory from where I'm sitting. Either way, it looks nice.)

Thanks for the kind words. I do need some load data for 87\90/100 gr bullets if anyone has data available.


I discovered last night that the rear peep has a fold down inner peep with a smaller diameter. When it's folded forward, the remaining peep is a nice ghost ring. I will shoot some pics in a couple days.

Typical setup on a Lyman tang sight, and a lot of early Lyman 48's too. If the stem is threaded for a screw-in aperture, I would stick one in, but that's me. All too often I find that that ghost ring entertained by those old Lyman tang sights becomes a "no ring" under certain field conditions.

Wow.

Great looker. I like the overall look of that one. You did well on the price I think.

Nice find Tom, I would probably have bought it and been happy with the price. Nice Rifle!

The bottom pic has the preferable triggers but the one you have can be alright.