Pedersoli Sharps Little Betsy 357 Mag Single Shot Falling Block

C

COSteve

New member
Looks to me like a lot of fun to shoot. 7lbs 3oz as shown and ready to go with Creedmoor tang and globe front sights, walnut stock, lightly floral engraved receiver, and target triggers. I already handload 158grn 357mag ammo for my Rossis and use my 24" rifle with it's tang and globe sights setup to shoot out to 300yds. With that tall, adjustable Creedmoor, this might be the ticket for 400yds. Yep, think of 400yds with a pistol bullet!!

Anyone got one? How well is it made? How smooth is the action, the triggers? Overall quality?

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I have a charles daley little sharps in 44-40 and have killed deer with it using a 200gr cast bullet with unique, it sure is a joy to carry and kills well with a standing broadside double lung shots at under 100 yards. I have never recovered a bullet,all have been complete pass thru,s.
 
Great rifle you have there. I have been contemplating getting one in 22lr or 22 magnum. Already have one in 45/70. Four hundred yards is very doable with the .357. Man you are going to love shooting this. Just remember to have cock before lowering bolt so you won't shear off the firing pin. Congratulations.
 
To be clear, I don't own one of these. As I said, I already have 2ea 357mag Rossis, a 20" carbine and a 24" rifle set up with a tang and globe sight set that I already shoot at 300yds.

Rather I am looking for 1st hand impressions of the 357mag model above before I decide to get one as it costs 4 times what my Rossi rifle cost me in 2009.
 
I wish I would have bought one of the Rossi's when they were available. By the time I had heard of them they were gone. They were about as close to a Rook & Rabbit rifle I have seen.

I like the Pedersoli but couldn't justify the expense of buying it. But if you want to buy it fine by me.:D:D:D
 
ratshooter said:
I wish I would have bought one of the Rossi's when they were available. By the time I had heard of them they were gone. They were about as close to a Rook & Rabbit rifle I have seen.
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Have faith and a bit of patience. Rossi is now finally making them again, however, slowly right now as they have shipped less than 200 total of both the 20", rd bbl, stainless steel M92s in 357mag and 44mag to the states this year. (Per Rossi CS a few days ago.)

They state that the 'learning curve' for the newer employees is steeper than they had hoped and that they expect to expand back into the full lineup next year as they get production experience back in the workforce.

Just to be mean, here are a couple of teasers for you while you're waiting. Both my Rossis are 357mag and both were purchased NIB in 2009. After slicking them up with an action job using Steve's Gunz video and parts, they have been solid shooters.

My first, was my 24" octagon barreled, casehardened, receiver rifle. I set it up for 300yd steel shooting with a Marbles tang with target aperture and Lymon Globe front sight just to see if I could hit anything with my 158grn full power 357mag handloads. The stock was a bit dull so I applied a coat of WATCO Danish Walnut to it right over the stock finish and it looks much better with rich colors and depth in the finish.

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I couldn't just have one so a couple months later I decided to get a 20" round barre carbine. Besides adding new Marbles semi-buckhorn, and 1/16" brass bead sights and a saddle ring (1894 version), I applied a coat of WATCO as well as some leather 'just because'.

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Yes, they are as much fun to shoot as they are to look at. They are my favorite range shooters and out in the woods 'just walking' I pack my Uberti SA Cavalry model 357mag pistol with my carbine and plink to my heart's content.

Best of all, my general plinking handloads using plated 158grn bullets, cost me less than I can buy the cheapest 22mag ammo for on the web!! (Yep, Ammograb shows the cheapest 22mag at 14¢ per rd + shipping and I load my 357mag for 13.7¢ per rd right here in my basement.)

And, I can load up from slow, 90grn, mouse fart level loads all the way up to 158grn or 180grn hunting loads suitable for medium sized game at ranges up to about 100yds. Try that with a 22 mag!!

Patience, patience, patience. You're Rossi is coming for you . . . . . . soon, real soon. :)
 
The rifles are expensive and depending who you get if from there is a difference in how smooth the actions are. Pedersoli makes great rifles and I compared a couple of lever actions one from Pedersoli and the other from Chiappa, both beautiful rifles but I could feel and see why the Pedersoli was a little more expensive, worth it in my opinion. Any way have you considered switching the rear sight to a creedmore sight on your 24" barrel rifle? It will definitely be a lot less expensive than the knew rifle, but I would never try to talk anyone out of buying a knew rifle.
 
NoSecondBest said:
I can see a reamer going in there and making a nice 357 max out of that gun.
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While a 357 Maximum would be doable, the rifle is only proof tested by the Italian Gov't to 46,800psi (Per Pedersoli's manual) and the SAAMI Max pressure of the 357 Maximum is 48,000psi which means that one shouldn't shoot full power 357 Maximum loads from the platform. I wouldn't feel safe chambering it for a rd that routinely far exceeds it proof test maximum, let alone it's design maximum.
 
ms6852 said:
... have you considered switching the rear sight to a creedmore sight on your 24" barrel rifle?
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I found a single Creedmoor type sight that folds rearward (so it dosen't interfere with the hammer) that appears to work on a '92 Winchester but it shows only a 300yd range of adjustment for $188 plus shipping at Taylor's.

As my current Marbles Tang sight works at 300yds already, I'm not gaining anything with it except a bit more precision and repeatability as it has a scale. However, I do have a call into Taylor's CS as I have a couple questions and it's certainly a possibility if it will give me more range out to 400 or so yds. From the looks of it compared to the travel on the Pedersoli, I don't think it will get me there.

Besides . . . . . if I had the Pedersoli, I'd have a new toy. :rolleyes: A dedicated target rifle and my 1st ever single shot. ;) Besides, it looks cool. :D
 
COSteve,
Here's one bit of info about tang sights, etc. The most important feature/attribute for a tang sight to have is fit tolerances between the stem and the base, and backlash. Less expensive (I won't call them cheap) sights aren't at their best at distance if they have any play side to side and/or have backlash in the adjustments. You kind of get what you pay for. If you're seriously interested in shooting out beyond 300 yards you should check into something like an MVA sight, a Lee Shaver sight. They will make a big difference in how well your gun performs at distance.
 
NoSecondBest, yep I understand what you mean. The backlash on my Marbles tang sight isn't the greatest so I'm hampered by it even at 300yds. Locked down, it still isn't as tight as I'd like.

However, the issue I've discovered with mounting even an MVA #130 version (which has a base made for a Rossi) is that the sight either folds forward like it does which will interfere with the hammer unless the sight is up all the time or one like Uberti's D03 which folds to the rear but the top of the sight is so long that when folded down will impact on the buttstock, damaging the wood.

Taken together, those to competing issues seem to make adding a Creedmoor/Vernier type sight to my Rossi a non-starter. I'm still deciding if I want or need a dedicated single shot target rifle though. One big issue I have is where would I put it. My racks are full, everything is already full.

That said, it sure looks cool and the 'want' factor is growing. :eek:
 
That is something worth saving up for, IMO.

If practical, setting it up for .357 maximum and using magnums for range time that would be a magnificent thing.
 
However, the issue I've discovered with mounting even an MVA #130 version (which has a base made for a Rossi) is that the sight either folds forward like it does which will interfere with the hammer unless the sight is up all the time or one like Uberti's D03 which folds to the rear but the top of the sight is so long that when folded down will impact on the buttstock, damaging the wood.
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Not on a Sharps type design. The hammer is on the side of the gun.
 
Since the OP himself brought it up--here's my Rossi 92 16" 44mag carbine. It is the all-around most fun to shoot gun I have. I know the cammo wrap is a bit of a travesty--but I wanted to reduce the flash of the SS a bit--this is a working gun and has covered many miles of rough terrain in all kinds of weather with me--and dropped the only deer I've tagged so far. It was one of the worst manufactured guns I've ever bought--but once I cured it of it's ills I fell in love with it.

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I spent years jumping around with different sights and scopes and never found anything I was really happy with--til I tried the marble's bullseye ghost ring sight and Williams fire sight together. With my poor eyesight they are the only irons that I can still use successfully.

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Forgive the thread detour Steve.;)
 

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COSteve said:
However, the issue I've discovered with mounting even an MVA #130 version (which has a base made for a Rossi) is that the sight either folds forward like it does which will interfere with the hammer unless the sight is up all the time or one like Uberti's D03 which folds to the rear but the top of the sight is so long that when folded down will impact on the buttstock, damaging the wood.
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NoSecondBest said:
Not on a Sharps type design. The hammer is on the side of the gun.
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Note I quoted ms6852's comment from his post #10 on changing the tang sight on my 24" Rossi rather than buying a new rifle. The MVA #130 sight is for a Rossi or Winchester, not a Sharps type rifle. So I wasn't talking about the Sharps and because a '92 has the hammer in the middle, a forward folding sight that long would in fact, interfere with the hammer.
 
stagpanther said:
I spent years jumping around with different sights and scopes and never found anything I was really happy with--til I tried the marble's bullseye ghost ring sight and Williams fire sight together. With my poor eyesight they are the only irons that I can still use successfully.
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The problem with that sight setup for me is that with the aperture way down the barrel you lose both advantages of a small aperture peep sight. 1st, the sight radius is much shorter exaggerating any angular displacement and 2nd, the aperture must be large to see the front sight through it, eliminating any benefit of a Depth of Field increase.

My eyes aren't great either but the tiny aperture so close to your eye increases the Depth of Field so much that I can clearly see the front sight and the target, even if it's 300yds away. Google Depth of Field and then you'll understand what I mean. It's why with a pin hole camera, everything is in focus.
 
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