Bottleneck Buck - 11/20/17
Sometimes, guns find you.
This Farmingdale Shiloh Sharps was ordered by a retired gunsmith in my area, represented as a .40-65. Upon receipt, he actually managed to chamber a .40-65 cartridge in the gun, and fired it. What resulted was a fat-bottomed case with a VERY long neck. Upon further examination, he realized this gun was actually chambered in .40-50 Sharps Bottleneck (the very smallest original Sharps cartridge).
Returning it to the gunshop handling the shipping, the gun was awaiting being sent back to the seller when I walked in. The gunshop proprietor, knowing my interests, allowed me to look at it. I asked him to call the (disappointed) purchaser, and in a short conversation, I bought the gun, saving all the trouble and expense of the rifle going back east.
Initial loads and groups were disappointing: some "groups" spanning the length and width of the 8x10 sheet of target paper. After much experimentation, and especially after trying a very long and very heavy 400g Snover-style bullet, all came together in dramatic and rapid fashion. The addition of MVA sights allows this gun to produce groups easily in the 1" neighborhood consistently. It is now what I call a "boring" gun, since it does exactly what it is told all the time.
My goal this year was to carry this unusual gun, and fill my Montana goat tag with a nice buck. I missed a good one on opening day (he was at 130-140yds, and I had only targeted this gun at 100: at least that is my excuse). Five more days of carrying the Sharps on each and every stalk, resulted in this nice buck. The shot was at 110yds. The 400g Snover-style projectile rocketed out of the muzzle at a blistering 1186fps, caught the buck perfectly behind the left shoulder, and exited in the forward section of the right shoulder (the exit can be seen just under the forearm of the Sharps, giving entire new meaning to the phrase, "eat right up to the hole"). The Pronghorn tried to depart with the rest of the herd but his extension cord pulled out of the wall at about 30 yards, and he went down hard with all four feet in the air.
And "That's how we do it in the West!"
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/gallery/80/full/57435.jpg
This Farmingdale Shiloh Sharps was ordered by a retired gunsmith in my area, represented as a .40-65. Upon receipt, he actually managed to chamber a .40-65 cartridge in the gun, and fired it. What resulted was a fat-bottomed case with a VERY long neck. Upon further examination, he realized this gun was actually chambered in .40-50 Sharps Bottleneck (the very smallest original Sharps cartridge).
Returning it to the gunshop handling the shipping, the gun was awaiting being sent back to the seller when I walked in. The gunshop proprietor, knowing my interests, allowed me to look at it. I asked him to call the (disappointed) purchaser, and in a short conversation, I bought the gun, saving all the trouble and expense of the rifle going back east.
Initial loads and groups were disappointing: some "groups" spanning the length and width of the 8x10 sheet of target paper. After much experimentation, and especially after trying a very long and very heavy 400g Snover-style bullet, all came together in dramatic and rapid fashion. The addition of MVA sights allows this gun to produce groups easily in the 1" neighborhood consistently. It is now what I call a "boring" gun, since it does exactly what it is told all the time.
My goal this year was to carry this unusual gun, and fill my Montana goat tag with a nice buck. I missed a good one on opening day (he was at 130-140yds, and I had only targeted this gun at 100: at least that is my excuse). Five more days of carrying the Sharps on each and every stalk, resulted in this nice buck. The shot was at 110yds. The 400g Snover-style projectile rocketed out of the muzzle at a blistering 1186fps, caught the buck perfectly behind the left shoulder, and exited in the forward section of the right shoulder (the exit can be seen just under the forearm of the Sharps, giving entire new meaning to the phrase, "eat right up to the hole"). The Pronghorn tried to depart with the rest of the herd but his extension cord pulled out of the wall at about 30 yards, and he went down hard with all four feet in the air.
And "That's how we do it in the West!"
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