Im ready to join! Got my first single shot less than a year ago. It was a mixed parts 50-70 trapdoor that was pretty much of a mutt, but solid as the year 1866. Since it was so ugly when I got it, it only cost me $325. and since it was such a mutt, there was no destroying history when I cleaned it up a little. Didn't know what shootin' was till I pulled the trigger on that Big Bore. Brought a friend to the range with me to try it out, and after he saw me put 5 rounds through it he said, "No thanks." Guess he don't like recoil. Anyway, I sold it for more than I paid for it and bought an H&R Officer's Model for $400. Stripped the wood and rubbed it with BLO which looked a heck of a lot better than that shiny plastic coat they had on the stock. Somebody had messed up the blue on the barrel beyond help, so I stripped off the rest of the blue and polished it and left it in the white. I might eventually give it an old time Springfield Armory rust blue, but for now I kind of like it in the white. Everybody that reads about it says it's historically incorrect and not as the originals were finished. Their right, but everybody that sees it says it looks great. I get the same 2 reactions about having put a real nice dyed horse hair sling on it. Not correct says the naysayers; looks real nice and practicle to boot says the cowboys. Some people try to make me feel stupid by saying, "Well, it's your rifle. Guess you can do what you want with it." To them I says, "Thanks for your permission." Now if it was an original Officer's Model, I think I would respect history and leave it original. But since H&R made it in the 1970's knowing I would someday own it, I think the H&R boys would give me their blessing and tell me to enjoy it. And yeah. I drilled into the lockshaft so I was able to seet the set screw deeper to prevent it from rotating and flying open when I shoot it. I may be dumb enough to make changes I like that aren't original, but I aint stupid enough to ignore a potential safty problem. Especially when the fix is so simple to make it safe. You would have thought H&R would have thought about that when they engineered the gun. They could have still saved their money by doing their 2 piece lock, and still made it safe with about another .50 cents worth of machining.
Anyway, with availablity of ammo and components always a concern, it seemed like the 45-70 was going to be easier to feed than the 50-70. Which brings me to the topic at hand. Having a pretty nice trapdoor rifle did nothing to answer my need to have a Sharps. I had always wanted one, and seeing the new True Grit renewed my desire. But unless I win the lottery, around $500. will probably be my upper limit for spending when I get the urge, no, the need, for a new rifle. Anyway, I recently joined a local collectors club which happened to have a small show a couple of weeks ago. And at the show I saw what I needed. It was a Sharps rifle with a heavy 28" octogon barrel and a really nice set of tang sights, in 45-70. It said Armi S. Marco on the barrel, and it really looked pretty nice. Not new, but close. They guy said he wanted $675. for it. I didn't have the money, but I wanted the gun. At home I did inventory of some things I had planned on selling and figured by getting off my butt and selling my unwanted rifles, I could swing it. At the next club meeting I tracked the guy down and he remembered me. We talked about the sharps, and he said $675., or $550. without the tang sight. Since my eventual plan was to put a leatherwood Malcolm scope on it, giving up the tang sight for a $125. discount seemed the way to go. Met him the next day and the rifle is mine. Took off the wood and rubbed it with boiled linseed oil, and to me it looks about 1000 times better. I'm sure the original Sharps rifles weren't finished with that shiny plastic coating the Italians use to make all the wood on their guns look bad. Touched up the screwheads with a little cold blue and it looks downright elegant. I've stripped it down to look at the insides. There are some rough spots, but all of the bearing surfaces are pretty smooth, and the action is as smooth as anything I've handled. The trigger had a slight first stage, than broke pretty clean at I would guess was about 4 or 5 pounds. I've certainly felt lots of triggers a lot worse than that. The metal to metal and wood to metal fit was certainly on par with anything I would expect to find in that price range. Anybody taken a close look at American made guns lately? To the people who are going to compare the fit and finish of this rifle to a hand made Sharps from one of the American companies, I can only say you need to open your eyes and be fair. From what I've seen, dollar for dollar, a lot of the Italian guns give you a lot more value than the American guns comming off the line. For example, although I think the Pietta revolvers arent top of the line as far as fit and finish go, I would certianly say that the Uberti single actions give the genuine Colt a pretty good run for the money. And even the Pietta's are pretty good when you take their price into consideration. So yeah, a Shiloh Sharps for $2500. is nicer than an IAB Sharps for $700. And a Corvette is nicer than a PT Cruiser. But not everybody can afford a Corvette, and my PT Cruiser starts up and gets me where I want to go. It starts when I turn the key, is reasonably comfortably, and best of all, I could afford to own it. Just like I can afford to own an IAB Sharps rifle. And from what I am reading, there are more than a few people who can place lead just as well with the IAB as they can with the Shiloh. So do I own a Shiloh Sharps? No. Do I own a Sharps rifle that I can hold and enjoy? You bet I do. And when I do get to the range, I bet it shoots as well as a Shiloh Sharps would shoot in my hands. Now le me get back to watching True Grit while I hold my long range rifle and pretend to be a Texas Ranger. And see if you can put a price on that.
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