Home Forums Hunting & Shooting BPCR Retirement gift- Shiloh Sharps Montana

I've only been shooting/ reloading BP cartridge for 4 years. (95% Condition 1873 Trapdoor, -1883 cartouche)

I retire May 24th this year, age 57, after 39 years with the Boeing Company.

Here is what I ordered from Shiloh. Don't hate me.

Model type Recommended by a forum member from another forum over 2 years ago I believe when I started researching! Last August I visited both Shiloh and Sharps,complete with a tour of each.
Quigley Match 2020, here I come!
16 month wait.....

1874 MONTANA ROUGHRIDER
Options:
CALIBER: 45-70;
BARREL LENGTH: 30";
BARREL FEATURES: NONE;
BARREL WEIGHT: HVY.OCT;
WOOD UPGRADES: SEMI-FANCY (+$306.00);
LENGTH OF PULL - SHOTGUN BUTTSTOCKS ONLY!: NONE ;
BUTTPLATE: TRADITIONAL STEEL (+$96.00);
METAL FINISHES: PACK HARDEN (+$300.00);
BACKGROUND FILL - (ENGRAVED FRENCH GRAY ONLY): NONE;
BRASS ESCUTCHEONS: BRASS (+$25.00);
TRADITIONAL CHECKERING: NONE;
SLING SWIVELS: NONE;
CUSTOM BEDDING: CUSTOM BED (+$50.00);
FOREARM TIPS: NONE;
HARTFORD COLLAR: NONE;
POLISHED SCREWS: FIREBLUED (+$77.00);
SCHNABBLE ON PISTOL GRIP: SCHNABBLE (+$92.00);
REAR BARREL SIGHT: DOVETAIL FILLER (+$35.00);
VERNIER TANG SIGHTS: #107 - LONG RANGE (+$353.00);
FRONT SIGHT: MVA #113 (+$167.00);
DRILL AND TAP MVA SCOPE: NONE;

Dang fine rifle you'll have to be sure. Just for fun you might want to have them use either a reamer with the 7 degree lead built in, or I think they have a reamer copied from an original Borchardt chamber. That way if you decide to bail off down the paper patch trail, you'll be good to go, and either will shoot grease groove bullets just fine.

Good tip, Ranch13!
I'll see if I can call them today and add that.
PP bullets is not something I've done yet, but it is intriguing!

Congrats on the retirement. I have a buddy there in WA that works for Boeing also. He's 54. Just ran the Boston Marathon. I wonder how long before he will retire.

Even if you never wander off on the paper patch trail that 7 degree lead works very well with greasers.

Congratulations, Enjoy that rifle Sportsdad!

In my book the finest rifle makers in the United States.

If we ever do a tour through their factory, it's going to be an expensive day.

Have a 45-90 that I'm just getting started with. Need to pour some heavier slugs and get on with stretching it out a bit.

Sportsdad, it sounds nice and I have 2 just about like it so I know they work ,please pay the extra 50-75 bucks for the "hand select wood option" and tell them what kind of figure or grain you want in your wood. Without doing this you might not get what you want in wood. Not badmouthing Shiloh but when you order a gun YOU should get everything you want . PS Ranch is right on getting the 7 degree leade up frt. And change the rear to a LR Buffalo Soule sight so you have enuf range and windage to 1000 yds. MB

The silhouette shooting I'll be doing will be all under 800 yards.
I've hit plenty of ringers at 1000 with a trapdoor and Buffington sights....soooo...

They called today and confirmed some details on the order. I had them add the 7 deg lead-in on the chamber.
Thanks guys!

Congradulations on your retirement. I am sure anyone who survived 39 years in a Corporate environment deserves it..:)

As a long time Shiloh owner( since the late 1980's) I have the following advice.

Ditch the glass bedded forend. It's not needed given Shiloh's stock fitting and will do NOTHING to make the rifle shoot better. That 1" thick octagon barrel is as stout as a truck axle...The forend really has no effect ot on it.

Instead put that $$ toward the pewter forend tip. It's beautifully done on the Shilohs and is really a feature unique to Sharps rifles.

You will thank me later.

Congrats on your retirement, I like your style! For my 50th birthday I bought myself a C. Sharps Arms '74 in, what else? The "Big Fifty" (.50 2 1/2").

Thanks for the Congratulations. Half that time was union, the other half salary. (I've had 7 careers, Machinist, Tool Maker, Tool Designer, NC Programmer, NC Machinist, Engineering application analyst, and IT project manager all at the same company.)
Regarding the pewter forend tip, that's something of an opinion. I think it looks hideous but then again, I collect and shoot old wooden rifles and I like traditional wooden schnabbles.
Regarding glass bedding, do you have any data to back up the 'no effect' on bedding the barrel or just word of mouth. That's something I did considering canning but I've not found any data to prove that it doesn't work.

I've had a traditional straight stocked Schnabel forend rifle on my mind as of late too, that's the way the original Buffalo rifles looked. I only have one like that, a shotgun [Thank God] butted 50-90 Sharps.

The pewter foreend tip was standard on Hartford sporting rifles, and optional after the move to Bridgeport .

I have always like the looks of the pewter forend myself. I bought a used Saddle Rifle with the Schnabel tip and have been thinking about having Shiloh changing it out for the pewter one. I called yesterday and just for the standard grade wood without the AA finish it would be almost $500 o I think I will leave it as is. Since I am not too far away from retirement I might need to order up myself a "Retirement Gift" too. I have always wanted a .40-90 SBN anyway!

Get it with a heavy barrel.

I missed seeing you ordered custom bedding of the forearm. I have to agree with jk, it isn't necessary and for the reasons he stated. On my two Shiloh's and the other one I had the forearm to receiver inletting was.....perfect. The forearm is screwed directly to the barrel with two screws and I don't believe it's going anywhere or going to move around or develop looseness. However, as with about everything to do with rifles, that's my opinion. Given what the rifle is, a retirement present, it should be as you want it built with what you like.

Very cool. What is the build time on these currently?

Some where around 16 months, but if a person keeps watch on the Shiloh web site, about once a month or so they usually put a 1/2 dozen or so up , usually a bit more bling than the standard rifles, but if a person wants one you got to be quick cuz they don't last long.

SWEET, I have a C-Sharps 50-90 too, it's a 30" barreled eleven pound bruiser a man can carry and hunt with, 750 gr greasers at 1365 fps is a hellacious load, just put one through 9ft of bedded Bull Eland at 60 yards in Africa, smoked a big old blue black Sable Bull at 99 yards too.

Have been racking my brain ever since to come up with ANY smokeless fired cartridge shooting an expanding soft point bullet that would have penetrated that far, I keep drawing zeros.

gunner, I believe you will continue to draw 0's. 750 grs. at 1365 fps? Methinks your adjective, "hellacious" not descriptive enough.!! I've not gone anywhere NEAR that big though my 45-90 with a 480 gr. NEI bullet at about 1200 fps has never been concerned with 4 ft. of whitetail.

You're a better man than I Gunner!! My .50 is what C. Sharps calls a "hunters carbine", 26" round tapered barrel, carbine butt (ouch). It weighs 3 pounds less than yours, it carries well but rears back some when I shoot it! After the first range session I ordered a lace on pad, which makes it a bit more tolerable. My load is a 515 gr flat point at about the same speed as yours, but I don't think I could handle 750 grs in my rifle!

LOL, Sharps45-90, without me sidetracking Sportsdads thread too much, I would NOT shoot a match with that rifle, for hunting it is a stone cold killer, fully agreed on your 480 grain 45-90 combo too, I put a 416 gr Lyman flat nosed greaser completely through a 5pt WT buck at 105 yards lengthways, and a 400 gr flat nosed paper patch three quarters lengthways through a rattled in 7 pt buck last year from my dinky 40-65 Sharps.

These rifles are for sure hide, meat and bone plows.

Damn, three pounds off plus a curved butt, no Thanks here either, mine does at least have a good flat shotgun butt, bet that 515 will get it all done regardless.

The 750 gr flat nosed greaser from a custom Brooks mould expanded to .775" in the Eland bull and still weighs 743 grains, how's that for expansion, weight retention and penetration ? ;]

I have an original conversion gun rebarreled to 50 2.5" with a 1 in 36 twist so it's for 450 to 550 gr bullets and it shoots them ok. I shoot my Shiloh/ C.Sharps 50-3 .25" a lot more than the old gun it weighs 10 lbs 3 oz. It will kill on both ends if one isn't careful with it.

I have two similar Shiloh Sharps rifles, both are a number 1. One is 45/70, the other 50/70. I shoot smokeless in both. So far the 45 has killed two antelope and a big elk. The 50 has taken one pig.
They are terrific rifles.

They are fine rifles, beyond any shadow of doubt. gunner, I use that same Lyman 40 cal. bullet in my Shiloh #1 Sporter in 40-70SS...with like results. It's loaded over 61 grs. of original batch GOEX Ctg....which I am almost out of!!!!!!!

Hide, meat and bone plows....I like that!!! Yes they are!!! The #1 Sporter mentioned is also superbly accurate with that same bullet out to 600 yards. Mak, uhhh, sportsdad, is going to end up in a love affair with his.

The mere mention of a 50-140 Sharps has me seeing a gallon jug of liquid Advil in the back of my mind! ;]

Good shooting Dale, have you ever considered running Holy Black in those rifles?

Yup, and they aint making anymore of it, maybe you can get by with OE FG, yessir, they will penetrate to next week, and Sportsdad don't know what he's in for yet.

When you run out of Cartridge, grab up a can of OE 1 1/2 and prime those cases with rp 9 1/2 primers.

A 24HCF BPCR Buffalo hunt with all you Sharps shooters would be a epic!

Would love that!

Dang right, maybe Ranch13, Kurt or someone in the know can put it together, I'M IN!

Lets start a potential list of attendees.

Ranch
Kurt
Sharpsguy
EvilTwin
FlyboyFlem
Jorge
pacecars
TMitch
Sportsdad
gunner


Feel free to add, problem may be finding a place big enough to handle that many kills.

guner, Ranch, it's on the list to try. As with Swiss I've never heard a bad thing about it. I don't have enough original batch GOEX Ctg. to make it through 2 matches if I still shot competitively. I know what sportsdad thinks of that fine Trapdoor he has. You're right, he's in for a real treat.

We need a buffalo wrangler!

3 freezers full of beef, I don't think I'll be buff hunting any time soon.

LOL, I've got two full of deer, elk, wild pig, beef, with very little bison left, can buy another freezer, I have the space ;]

Freezers is cheap.

Damn right, with extra plug ins and bare concrete a plenty!

I would love to be able to get a hold of a 50-140, I think it would be a fun gun to play with and of course hunt with. A strong action like the Shiloh Sharps or a strong double rifle would just be cool. It may be a thumb'er on both ends but it's just so neat to see what old cartridges like the 45-70 and 50-140 are capable out doing in the right guns and with the right powder.

You sir are a man's man! I might do one or two rounds a day out of something like that.

Not really, but after a box and 1/2 there are other things that seem more important at the moment. Mine weighs 10#3 oz with 500-570 gr ppb's and 140+ grs of fg it will get tiring recoil wise. A heavy or bull barrel would help with recoil reduction a lot. If one's rifle has a tight 1-22 or 1-26 twist it's made for 600-700+ gr bullets then they get real tiresome. The 1-36 twist mine has limits you to about 570 grs bullet weight without stability problems. A Buffalo Arms prone model recoil shield and learn to roll with it are the keys.... I've shot 1 buffalo ,2 deer and 2 antelope with it. It pokes a 50 cal hole through them and they bleed to death like most shot animals. Elmer Keith reviewed the the 3 1/4 " 50 back in the June 1940 issue of the American Rifleman, the one he shot had a overbored barrel with a 1 -30 twist it would not handle the 700 gr ppb's consistently either. I remember him saying that he'd run up to 170 gr of Fg bp in it. Of course he was using the old UMC balloon head hulls in it and fireformed brass with a shallow seated 700 gr ppb. I figured what hell, if you compress the 165 gr charge in 3 lifts of 55 ea maybe it would fit in modern brass. More is not all ways better and somethings don't need to be done twice or even a first time. I don't recommend that to anyone or using smokeless in the big cases. I think having a Shiloh chambered in a cartridge you can comfortably shoot all day long is the right way to go and one in 45-2.1" is a good start on that. MB

And, I was about to tell everyone what a HOSS you are.

Now, this...



DF

Well damn, all I do is take Extra Strength Tylenol 1/2 hr up front before shooting. I am 64 and still alive, been shooting that 3.25" since 1991, just like anything else learn to use it right if you don't, you will pay. Sometimes I wished I lived in hog country just to see what kinda body count that gun could stack up. MB

Congrats, 39 years is enough. I also worked 39 years for a very large corporation. Been retired for seven years.
I have a shiloh number 1 in 45/70 and another in 50/70. Great guns. Both half round and half octagon. Both high end wood. Pewter tip on the 45 and old on the 50.
I have shot gun butt plates on both. Think they’re better, recoil wise.
I unfortunately do not shoot either of them very often, though I have killed two buffalo, one elk and two antelope with the 45, and a large pig with the 50.

HELL of a pic ET!

A '74 Sharps has shocked the hell out of me, and the few others that were watching too.

LOL, a big double rifle in 500 or 577 nitro for 6-8 rounds standing from sticks is one thing, 60-80 plus rounds of 50-140 from a bench shooting a match would be quite another i'll bet.

Gunner ,I shot that at the Quigley match 3 years in a row.Those targets are shot over cross sticks sitting except for the offhand bucket. You keep your torso upright, gun well shouldered and roll with the recoil. I ran 38 rds one day getting my zeros at 6 different yardages, that was enough for me. MB

DAMN, I imagine so, IIRC Kurt71 shot his 50-90 in matches well into his 70's, also iirc, he fired 700+ grain bullets in excess of 1300 fps, that a hell of a booting too, my own 50-90 hunting rifle firing 750gr grease groove bullets at 1365 fps is quite enough, and that's checking zero and few times a year and hunting, nevermind shooting it in matches , it IS a hell of a hammer and sent one of those 750gr greasers 8 or 9 feet into a bedded Eland bull in Africa last year.