Home Forums Hunting & Shooting BPCR 45-70 vs 45-90, -100, -110, ets

Those slugs looked purty good. Do they start easily by fingers into the case??

Yessir, I used the pope tool on the brass to prep, havent sized any at all, and the hulls fit the chamber nice and snug, will powder, compress powder, wad, grease cookie, then wad again, insert bullet by hand with a right hand downward twist, then put a slight taper on the case, just enough to keep it from falling outta the case while its riding in my belt

Gunner

edit: spelling

All the "Mystique" of the 44-90 considered, the .45-100 would be the WISER choice, as in MOLDS available, and a whisker more practicality.

It IS the Creedmoor cartridge, and .200" of case length becomes moot, when cases are all starting to look like Panatellas.

That Said,....I Sure am listening to the clean burn, low foul, low SD, and just all around EFFICIENCY that you bottleneck owner - ops are getting.

I reckon those bottle necks are genning up more PRESSURE, and hence, fouling less.

Semper Coonass.

GTC

I already got the original creedmoor cartridge, so it's only natural to go after the second one (44-90). The sharps effort to go seperate from Remington (2.6 st case) was the 3rd creedmoor cartridge.
Besides ever tom dick an harry in the country can shoot a 45-xxxxxx, but not many are shooting the real buff and match cartridges..
Couple of years ago at Alliance in some rather typical crappy wind conditions there were only 2 guns that ran the 1k target, a 50-90, and a 44-90.....

Dang, You Gents got me thinkin' and thats never a good thing.......so what is the ultimate all game/target chambering for a '74 Sharps rifle?

Gunner

Pick one any one. ... they've about all had their day. Alot of the old dead guys swore by the 40-90 bottleneck, others thought the 44's were the be all end all, and still yet there were champions of all the 45 cartridges.

Come to think of it, it's still pretty much that way...

You may be right,

......... I drove my pickup by a 44-90 a coupla' days ago, all of the dirt fell off it, the exhaust note smoothed out, the quality of the radio speakers improved, and it's been getting better mileage, since.

I think a coupla' dents have popped out , too.

GTC

Sure could be, those bottlenecks are magical boogers.

My Tennis Elbow eased up a bit, too.

I better tool up for .44

gtc

Gunner, buy it and shoot it as is.At 13 lbs it won't be that bad, mine only weighs 10. You get a Buffalo Arms prone model recoil shield and take Tylenol Extra Strength 30 minutes up front before you go to shooting. 10-30 rds per session does seem plenty though. There used to be alot of them, until some shot them and couldn't deal with them. They all got rebarreled too whiner cartridges everybody has.If it's a Shiloh its old enough to have a 1 in 36" twist so stay in the under 600 gr range. Good luck Magnum Man

Heh!! If ANYONE here buys and shoots a 50/140 lemme know so's I can buy stocks in the powder companies. Yer gonna make me RICH!! THAT cartridge could be fairly easily brought into the range of the Brit African rounds. The CLASSIC buffler killers were 44/77,44/90,50/90 and the 45/110. The 40/90's seem to have had their users mostly in Montana. From what I have been able to find, the weren't overall as popular as the Big 45 because they lacked knockdown and required several shots to put down the shaggies. Those old boys wuz tightassed on expenses and wouldn't want to use the lead and powder unnecessarily.

ET has studied the old writings as much as anybody. Do you have a copy of Getting a Stand? Very entertaining and although not a technical treatise on the loading and shooting of Sharps rifles, certainly a must-have as to understanding the mindset of those involved in the great hunt.

You've probably been to Wannenmacher's. The number of Sharps rifles for sale there is outstanding. Seems as if I'm seeing more and more Shiloh's for sale. I guess it's just them finally getting out there in quantities and/or maybe some of the guys that bought them are dying off and the guns are coming up for sale. For many years you never saw one for sale in regular gun shop/show circles.

Yes, ET and i have discussed several writings on the Sharps rifles, and last Sunday, he advised me of all the great offerings in the Buffalo Arms catalog.

I will most likely sit tight for now, my 45-120 has been very accurate with the 540 gn GG bullets, if I can develope a satisfactory PP load, it will have to be more than enough for the game fields, I run the 540 GG's at 1550 fps.

Got mired up and couldnt make Wannemacher's this spring, but you can bet what I'll be lookin' for this fall


Gunner

Final truth-There ain't any critters walkin' that these cannons won't kill. The big 45's are really devastating.

RAH-JAH that ET

Gunner

I received some PP bullets from Sharpsguy today that are supposed to be the cat's meow. Will load this weekend and report back!

+1 Jorge

Gunner

The 45 2 7/8 didn't come out till 77 it's doubtfull there were many of them shooting buffalo prior to 78.It's first intent was as a long range target gun.Also the 2 7/8 was loaded by the factory with a 283 gr express load.By the time the 2 7/8's fully made it to the west, most of the hiders had also turned to meat shooting, and thus the smaller calibers were used.
The 44's and the 50's accounted for more buffalo than any of the others.
Cruise thru the little county museums out here, and if they have a sharps it more likely to be a 40, 44 or a 50, with a few smatterings of 45's on display.
I attribute most of the 2 7/8's reputation to the same thing we see today.... If you follow most of the writings everybody uses a 300 magnum of some sort, but a reality check in most hunting camps will turn up way more 270's and 06's etc....
Also keep in mind when Sharps changed ownership and moved to Bridgeport, they would not barrel one in anything other than 45 except on special order, except for the midrange guns and those were 40.

The 45's hit their stride mostly on the Northern Herd hunts. Mine was used in Wyoming from '78-83. SOME I have seen sales invoices for in early '77 on the panhandle. The ammo supplied for hunters had a 500 gr PP over 100 grians. Buffler hunters loaded it up to 120 grains and 550.

Yes there were some 2 7/8's but they weren't many of them , the other chamberings were in greater numbers, mostly due to the longevity.
I think Sharps really dinked themselves when they dropped the other chamberings and only offered the 45 as standard.