Howdy
A bunch of years ago I was in the market for a Sharps. The Shiloh was really out of my price range, so I started looking at the Pedersolis. At first, I too wanted the Quigley model with fancy checkering, pewter forend cap, and all the other extras. But after examining a bunch I decided that the fancy stuff was not as well executed as it should be. The checkering I examined on a few did not meet properly, and the pewter end cap was pinned on, rather than the way it should be, cast in place on the stock. And the pin was not well finished, it looked like an eyesore. So I scaled back my expectations and started looking for a bit more of a plain jane model, rather than pay for fancy features I would be annoyed with every time I looked at them.
I decided to get the Pedersoli Silhouette model. It was on sale at Dixie Gun Works at the time for $800. It had every thing I wanted; double set triggers, plain stock with a pistol grip, and a shotgun style butt plate, chambered for 45-70.
This model is on sale again at Dixie right now, but the price has gone up a bit.
http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?cPath=22_92_184&products_id=2576
A couple of things to consider. First off, go for a 45-70. Forget the fancy calibers like 45-110 and 45-120, at least for your first Sharps. If you are shooting Smokeless, the 45-70 will do everything that a 45-110 pr 45-120 will do, because you can stuff all the Smokeless into a 45-70 that you will ever need. If you are planning to shoot Black Powder, there is more information and more components available for 45-70 than for any other cartridge.
The second thing to think about is the buttstock. The crescent style bullstocks look great, but unless you know how to shoot one, hiking it out further off the shoulder than most modern shooters are used to, the recoil will hurt like the dickens as the points of the crescent dig into the meat of your shoulder. I shoot crescent shaped buttstocks all the time in CAS with 44-40, but it is a lot different with a heavy recoiling rifle. Think carefully about what kind of buttstock you want.
