shot the 1859 sharps carbine today

I have never seen a muzzle loader like that, or a muzzle loading cartridge. What is moose milk ?

Beautiful gun by the way.
 
Good video. I love the cartridges - and a fun gun to shoot! Forty some years ago I had the opportunity to shoot an original and it was a real thrill.

Just to clarify though - the Sharps is not a "muzzle loader" - it is a black powder cartridge breech loader that utilizes percussion caps for the ignition of the cartridge rather than a primer in the casing - it pads from the breech and not the muzzle.

A very hnice historic firearm for sure! Enjoy! :)
 
Actually its designed for paper cartridges, the brass ones are a modern invention. I shoot mine with loose powder.
 
My "moose milk" is a 1/4 ballistol/water mixture I liberally wipe down the action of the rifle with after about every 10 shots. By number 11 the action gets a little stiff. Dang thing is scary accurate, we were shooting offhand and STILL hitting a 16" gong pretty consistently past 200+ yrds.:D
I've got to post a video about that.

Hawg, any problems with some powder falling between the receiver and the stock? I read online, (I know, I know) about some guys having it blow up on them after years of shooting due to powder building up over time in the small crevice?

Of course I am a skeptic when it comes to what you read online, hence, the formation of my Youtube channel. :D
 
The originals were designed to use a primer, not a percussion cap. Primers were issued in tubes and inserted into a primer magazine that went down vertically in front of the hammer. When the hammer fell, cams on its inner surface activated a stud that kicked out the top primer so it passed over the nipple just as the hammer hit it. The system is rather amazing to watch, but probably not a lot of fun with original primers, which are now around $200 for a tube.

Unfortunately, the priming mechanism often fouled up and the fallback was to use musket caps, as is done on the repros.

The original cartridge was paper or linen; it was seated in the chamber and as the breechblock rose, a sharp edge sliced off the rear of the cartridge, exposing the powder to the primer flame. In most originals today, that edge has been eroded and rounded off so it won't cut cleanly.

But when the guns were new, they were pretty advanced for the time and allowed a good rate of fire, though they could not compete with the contemporary Spencer, which used metallic rimfire cartridges.

Jim
 
Hawg, any problems with some powder falling between the receiver and the stock? I read online, (I know, I know) about some guys having it blow up on them after years of shooting due to powder building up over time in the small crevice?
Click to expand...

Nope haven't noticed any; I've had the forearm off a couple of times and didn't see anything there but I've only had it a year or so.
 
sharps

Actually the sharps originally used bulk powder. And still can today.
But back in the day they had a paper, linen and a tinfoil cartridge.
As I understand it the foil came from England.

They also had a rubber cartridge that looked like the brass ones today.
When the soldier drew his powder and shot and cap charge drom the wagon
he could reload the rubber cartridges by his tent (I.E.) with no tools needed.
Just pour in the powder and press the slug in.

The Smith Carbine was designed the same way eith just a slightly different designed case.

Can you imagine getting hit by a 400 + grain slug? It's going to leave a mark!!
 
I had not heard of the use of rubber cartridges in the Sharps, and I think it unlikely as there would have been no easy way of extracting the fired cartridge from the chamber. The linen and paper cartridges were made to burn up, but I am also unaware of use of foil cartridges in the Sharps, though they were common in revolvers.

In fact, the Army had problems with paper cartridges for the Sharps, since the paper tended to become soaked with the grease from the bullet lubricant and not cut cleanly, jamming the breech block or causing a misfire. Government "laboratories" were ordered to cease use of paper for Sharps cartridges and use only linen; the Sharps company, of course, never used anything but linen.

Jim
 
I never heard of rubber cartridges for the Sharp's either. The new ones aren't left in the chamber, just an easy way to load loose powder. IIRC the Smith used rubber cartridges. The original disk primers worked fine in trials but in the field was a different story. Most soldiers used caps.
 
Never heard about the rubber cartridges either, fascinating. I used both brass and aluminum "cases" and dunked them in a water/dawn mixture immediately after firing. Interestingly enough, the aluminum ones turned black after I wet tumbled them with ss media and a sqiurt of dawn.:o
 
cartridge

I have the brass ones for my Sharps and Smith.
They hold about half the powder as bulk or paper.
But theoretically they cause higher pressures to build
this equalling the velocity of bulk.
Don't have a chrono to prove though
Noticed though.
You have to use them first in a clean barrel / chamber.
If your do bulk or paper first, the fouling will prevent loading
the brass ones. At least it does in mine.
Also noticed my custom Smith mould from Moose moulds is about
3 thousandths too long. So will likely do some case mods when (if)
I ever get time.
 
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