Sharps 1863 carbine help
- Thread starter tylerstg
- Start date
WOW ! A nice & rare rifle - worth considerable ka-ching.
SN C19156 would have been one of the latest Sharps New Model 1863 built as a .52cal breechloader using paper cartridges.
AFAIK after 100,000 were built a "C" prefix was used in the SN - so SN C19156 represents the 119,156th New Model built.
The Sharps carbine was the most significantly utilized carbine of the Civil War, it was a single shot percussion breechloader using paper cartridge and and revolutionized hand weaponry at the time.
As manufactured by Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Co., Hartford, Connecticut, serial numbers for the "New Model 1863" generally run 75,000 to 140,000, some overlap with other models.
The Model 1863, reflected only minor improvements over the Model 1859, mostly elimination of the patchbox. Standard features include an iron buttplate, iron loading lever serves as a trigger guard, one iron band, percussion nipple was designed to utilize a tape primer system that did not work very well and was usually disabled, but conventional cap served effectively, hinged Sharps sight, saddle bar and riding ring on left side, rifling with six lands and grooves
The "E.A.W." is a Civil War era Inspector's mark.
.
SN C19156 would have been one of the latest Sharps New Model 1863 built as a .52cal breechloader using paper cartridges.
AFAIK after 100,000 were built a "C" prefix was used in the SN - so SN C19156 represents the 119,156th New Model built.
The Sharps carbine was the most significantly utilized carbine of the Civil War, it was a single shot percussion breechloader using paper cartridge and and revolutionized hand weaponry at the time.
As manufactured by Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Co., Hartford, Connecticut, serial numbers for the "New Model 1863" generally run 75,000 to 140,000, some overlap with other models.
The Model 1863, reflected only minor improvements over the Model 1859, mostly elimination of the patchbox. Standard features include an iron buttplate, iron loading lever serves as a trigger guard, one iron band, percussion nipple was designed to utilize a tape primer system that did not work very well and was usually disabled, but conventional cap served effectively, hinged Sharps sight, saddle bar and riding ring on left side, rifling with six lands and grooves
The "E.A.W." is a Civil War era Inspector's mark.
.
Last edited:
E.A.W. was E. A. Williams, a Springfield Armory sub-inspector.
While a few early Sharps rifles were made (at government request) for the Maynard tape primer, the priming mechanisms of most Sharps rifles and carbines, including the one seen here, was the Lawrence primer system, which was not a tape primer. It used pellet primers that consisted of two thin copper cups, one fitting into the other, with the priming compound between them. Inside the mechanism there is a plunger or feed arm with one end having a lug that fits into grooves in the inside of the hammer. When the hammer fell, it moved the feed arm forward, shoving a primer pellet out the front and into the path of the hammer. When things worked right, the free-flying pellet was crossing the nipple just as the hammer fell and crushed it.
It seems like something we would later associate with Rube Goldberg, but it did work most of the time. (I have seen one work, using dummy primers.) But the thing was complex and needed to be kept clean, plus the primers were often unavailable, so ordinary musket caps were usually used.
The primers came in tubes containing 20 0r 30 primers, packed in flat sleeves or tin containers holding up to 50 tubes. In spite of problems, there was enough use that the Ordnance Department purchased some 2.5 million of the primer pellets through the war. An original tube of primers will cost well over a hundred dollars today.
Jim
While a few early Sharps rifles were made (at government request) for the Maynard tape primer, the priming mechanisms of most Sharps rifles and carbines, including the one seen here, was the Lawrence primer system, which was not a tape primer. It used pellet primers that consisted of two thin copper cups, one fitting into the other, with the priming compound between them. Inside the mechanism there is a plunger or feed arm with one end having a lug that fits into grooves in the inside of the hammer. When the hammer fell, it moved the feed arm forward, shoving a primer pellet out the front and into the path of the hammer. When things worked right, the free-flying pellet was crossing the nipple just as the hammer fell and crushed it.
It seems like something we would later associate with Rube Goldberg, but it did work most of the time. (I have seen one work, using dummy primers.) But the thing was complex and needed to be kept clean, plus the primers were often unavailable, so ordinary musket caps were usually used.
The primers came in tubes containing 20 0r 30 primers, packed in flat sleeves or tin containers holding up to 50 tubes. In spite of problems, there was enough use that the Ordnance Department purchased some 2.5 million of the primer pellets through the war. An original tube of primers will cost well over a hundred dollars today.
Jim
. Jim Watson
New member
Are you in the USA?
It is not a "firearm" under US federal laws.
Some states may restrict it but no more than any other rifle at most.
It is not a "firearm" under US federal laws.
Some states may restrict it but no more than any other rifle at most.
"I love it when this site becomes 'Antiques Roadshow.' "
Makes up for the times when you have to tell someone that his "genuine Revolutionary War pistol owned by George Washington" is a piece of mid-east tourist crap with a lock all cast in one piece and is worth a little bit less than the $25,000 he paid for it.
Jim
Makes up for the times when you have to tell someone that his "genuine Revolutionary War pistol owned by George Washington" is a piece of mid-east tourist crap with a lock all cast in one piece and is worth a little bit less than the $25,000 he paid for it.
Jim
FWIW, on pp 240 of The Standard Catalog of Civil War Firearms by John F. Graf, inspector "H.G.S." is listed as "unknown", with the mark found also on early Starr Carbines - which suggests to me that "H.G.S." was a Gov't arsenal inspector or sub-inspector.
http://books.google.com/books?id=GX...=sharps rifle inspectors mark: h.g.s.&f=false
.
http://books.google.com/books?id=GX...=sharps rifle inspectors mark: h.g.s.&f=false
.
highpower3006
New member
Your 1863 Sharps carbine is a significant piece of American history. With the arsenal inspectors stamp on it and near certainty of it having been used in the War Of Northern Aggression (as the Southerners called it) it has quite a bit of value. Don't let the lack of finish fool you, antique guns are judged differently than modern firearms are, and yours is in very good to excellent condition.
Don't let someone talk you out of it for less than 5-6K. That's right, it's worth that much. If it was mine I would keep it and cherish the memory of the relative or friend that thought enough of you to leave such a special piece of history.
Don't let someone talk you out of it for less than 5-6K. That's right, it's worth that much. If it was mine I would keep it and cherish the memory of the relative or friend that thought enough of you to leave such a special piece of history.