Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only The great 458 Winchester. Everyone should own one at least once

Amen. And those cartridges were contemporaries of each other for the shootin'matches of early 1870's.
When John Rigby finally gave up on muzzleloaders he adopted the .45-2.4" Sharps and .45-2.6" Sharps cartridges as his "Match" cartridges.

Speaking of John Rigby and the Irish muzzleloader clingers at Creedmoor in 1873,
John Rigby was the star, his scores were tops, and the Americans would have lost with their Sharps and Rolling Blocks
if one Mr. Millner had not fired one of his shots at the wrong target at 1000 yards.
Just retold as an excuse to mention the muzzleloader of John Rigby:

36" octagon barrel
0.451" bore diameter
0.480" groove diameter (!)
1:18" twist, constant, no gain twist
8 grooves, grooves and lands of equal width, "one-half the original surface untouched in rifling"

Projectile:
Hardened lead, 530-grains weight, paper-patched, BOL 1.42"
"The hollow in rear of the bullet is filled with plaster of Paris, which remains in its place during the flight of the bullet,
and prevents the paper, lubrication, etc. from being lodged in the cavity. This forms the Mr. Rigby's patent."

Charge: "86 grains Curtis and Harvey's No. 6, at all distances.

Lubrication: "An octagonal tallow wad, lightly tempered with wax."

IIRC, rifle weight limit at Creedmoor 1873 was 10 pounds, whether muzzleloader or BPCR.