1, but in firearms vernacular, it has forever been called simply “rolling block.” Its mode of function is completely different than a falling block. Remington’s big single shot was officially named the No. Remington & Sons had a design for an action with a rolling-block mode of operation on the drawing boards even before the Civil War ended in 1865. When the new Sharps rifle appeared in 1871, another company had been making big-bore single shots since 1867. Today it wouldn’t be legal for deer hunting in many states. 44 Henry Rimfire wasn’t even a good revolver cartridge. Of course, mechanical repeaters were on the scene at this time the Winchester Model 1866 was five years old, but its. Such shenanigans sound awkward to modern riflemen, but at that date it was one of three basic methods for rifle actions to handle big, powerful cartridges. Therefore, Sharps shooters needed to be experienced with their rifles in order to be competent with them. If worked too smartly, the lever could be bent. If the lever was worked smartly, it not only extracted the cartridge case but also ejected it clear of the rifle. Pushing the lever manually against the spring then caused the extractor to pull the spent cartridge case from the chamber. Before the loaded rifle could be fired, the large, exposed hammer on the action’s right side had to be manually pulled to full-cock position.Īfter firing, the trigger guard/lever was lowered, but when it hit the bottom of its free travel, a spring stopped it. Raising the trigger guard/ lever brought the breechblock up, encompassing the loaded cartridge with steel. Loading was accomplished by pulling the breechblock down with the trigger guard, exposing the chamber so a metallic cartridge could be inserted. They knew that a Sharps rifle was a big-bore single shot of falling block operation. Rifle buyers of the 1870s really didn’t need a model number. Then when the company was reorganized in 1874, Sharps bestowed that year as its model number to the confusion of thousands of single-shot admirers thereafter. Besides, it took someone well versed with the model to differentiate it from the prior Model 1869. It had no name and didn’t need one, because it was the only rifle being made by the company. In 1871 the then-named Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company introduced a brand-new model. Its recoil could get punishing during long strings.What became the most iconic among American single-shot rifles arrived with the new decade. This fellow is evidently a hunter, although his Sharps might be a little on the light side for a professional bison hunter. With all the above understood, there were three single shots in the 1870s that were head and shoulders above the others, both in regard to their use and their historical importance. Toward the end of the decade, some rifles existed that today are more known by their designers than their manufacturers – Borchardt and Hepburn come instantly to mind. Some were made in such meager numbers as to be rarities even among knowledgeable shooters in the twenty-first century, like the Whitney Phoenix and a large assortment of Maynards and Ballards. It is also true that those same rifles are so admired now in the twenty-first century that all are being reproduced and used for hunting and competition.Ī myriad of single-shot rifles was on the market in the 1870s. Be that as it may, and no matter how those proceedings are viewed, the truth of the matter is that tough men wielding single-shot rifles made it happen. Today we do not laud Indians being confined to reservations nor the near extermination of the bison. This Sharps Rifle Company Model 1878 “Borchardt” was a hammerless single shot that did not find favor with many shooters of the era.
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