cabelas quigley sharps......

[U.S. soldier]

sup? im new to this forum (and these type of weapons period...) so anyhow, im currently in iraq and now have the funds to put me in the market for a sharps rifle... i will be buying it when im on R&R so i cannot go and check them out for myself... so heres the deal, ive always been a sharps fan, saw them on movies, like the looks, and a big 45-70 guy.... im thinking i want the cabelas quigley sharps... i like the full octagonal barrel, the color case harding and all that good stuff. the price is right around 1700 i believe. what kind of accuracy can i expect?? does it come with a tang sight?? is it totally ridicules to think that i will be able to take it hunting and be able to make a shot.... say 400 yards (assuming i have the proficiency of course) or is this rifle an over rated... paying for the name type of deal? will it hold up to a life time worth of shooting? any insight would be helpful...  P.S. it is also manufactured by pedersoli, thoughts on that???

[Ranch 13]

 Contact Shiloh and see if they have anything on the rack ready to roll, go to C Sharps web site and look at the avialable list.
 For not alot more money you can have a true Sharps rifle , made right here in the USA.
 
 The Pedersoli rifles are fine as far as workmanship, accuracy etc, go, they do have a few quirks, but nothing major.
 You can and should expect 2 moa and under at any distance you choose to shoot, once you get a good load using good black powder and excellent bullets using good lube. Check with Sageoutfitters.com for some of the finest competition ready bullets, and Montana Bullet Works, for an excellent selection of varied styles before rampagin around buying molds.
  I don't believe those rifles come with anything other than the barrel sights, while that will suffice for alot of fun shooting, its' going to run you another 600 or so for quality sights.
 One thing to keep in mind those "Quigley" rifles are to heavy to make weight should you ever decide to partake in the NRA sanctioned bpcr sillouette matches.

[bear tooth billy]

First and foremost, THANKS for your service to our country and welcome to BROW. I bought a cabela's
Sharps a few years years ago, I liked it and still have it although I upgraded the pedersoli sights to
MVA. Then I really got the bug and ordered a Shiloh. We shoot out to 1000 yds accurately, these guns ARE
capable of that when you get a load perfected, although hunting ranges would probably be 200 yds max
 with a range finder. Remember these heavy bullets go slow in a rainbow and sight settings are a necessity
With the increased price of the Italian imports you can now probably get an am. made gun for nearly the
same price. William Goodman in Mont has Sharps on hand (my Shilo took 14 months to get)
WWW.shiloh-ballard.com  Good shooting


                   BTB

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[U.S. soldier]

thanks for the replies, 600 for a good sight? HOLY BEEP! but i guess you get what you pay for, in theory..... bear tooth, did your cabelas sharps have a place to mount a tang sight??? did the rifle scream QUALITY when you got it or is it just another nice rifle??? also, i now that these weapons are primarily blackpowder, but due to my current occupation, i will not have time to reload .... so how does these rifles perform with smokeless  loads???

[Lash Batson]

thanks for the replies, 600 for a good sight? HOLY BEEP! but i guess you get what you pay for, in theory..... bear tooth, did your cabelas sharps have a place to mount a tang sight??? did the rifle scream QUALITY when you got it or is it just another nice rifle??? also, i now that these weapons are primarily blackpowder, but due to my current occupation, i will not have time to reload .... so how does these rifles perform with smokeless  loads???

Hey USS -

I'm not much of an expert, too am new to Sharps, just got one last week and had my first outing this weekend. Because of the weather I didn't get to shoot as much as I wanted, but did manage to put some lead on paper.

I don't reload either, and the only ammo i could find locally was Black Hills smokeless 45-70 pushing a 405Gr lead bullet.

Below is a scan of my best target, from 100 yards off sandbags using the stock Pedersoli tang sight. I'm sure I can do better with practice, and some fine tuning of the front sight (was not thrilled with the insert in the globe) and need to lighten up the front trigger as well.

Keep your head down over there.


— Lash Batson

[Ranch 13]

 Soldier, as far as I know all of Pedersoli's 74's are drilled and tapped for the tang sights.
 Factory ammo will work all right, but will likely not give you the extreme accuracy the gun is capable of, as those Italian rifles pretty much need a .460 diameter bullet to do their best work.
 Quality on the things is ok, but they just don't stand up and say looky here at me the way one of the Big Timber guns do.

 I should appologize for not thanking you for your service earlier. I am a proud dad of a senior chief petty officer USN, and must confess that I get a big lump in my throat when I think of the good work all you fine people are doing for the rest of us.

[bear tooth billy]

These guns were designed for black powder and from what I've seen it works better. I beleive all
 the pedersolis are tapped for tang sights. Prices; a MVA buffalo rear sight will set you back $480
and a front sight about a $100, sounds like an awful lot of money but if you put on $300 sights
and you start shooting over about 300 yds, then you go buy the good ones, did I mention I have
the $300 ones in a drawer. As for the quality, the Ped. is a nice rifle, the Shiloh is beautiful, the wood
just melts into the metal. Hope this helps, just something about hitting that gong from 1/2 mile
with open sights and 1870's technology

[Grogan]

thanks for the replies, 600 for a good sight? HOLY BEEP! but i guess you get what you pay for, in theory...

so how does these rifles perform with smokeless  loads???

Have you ever checked out the price of the Optics  on your Gov't. issued M4?!! 

Be they Aimpoints, Trijicons, or Designated Marksman's Rifle scopes they're UP There! 

For the price of a Trijicon ACOG you could put on TWO sets of the fancy BPCR sights!

(We won't get started on Night Vision  )

On the Smokeyless vs. BP, let's just say that with many typical Centerfire cartridges (your M4 would be an example) the Extreme Spread in velocity in firing several rounds, a variance of 50 fps would be considered "Good".  With BP an ES of 15 fps wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary.  I'll let you figure that one out yourself.

[James Hunt]

Soldier: I own one Pedersoli and two Shiloh's. The Pedersoli is nice. It shoots well enough for hunting and a few guy's reportedly use them in competition. The Lawrence sight on the Pedersoli is rather limiting unless you have very young eyes. But....

Listen to the guy's above. For just a few more bucks, very few since you are considering the Quigley, you could get a Shiloh (or C. Sharps). They are that much better, they are worth the money. There is no comparison between my Pedersoli and either of my Shiloh's either in appearance, wood to metal fit, case colors, or the buttery smooth drop of the breech block on both Shilohs, not to mention how they shoot. Plus the standard buckhorn sights on the Shiloh's (factory installed on originals by the late 1870's over the Lawrence) will get you out past 200 yards no problem (they are excellent hunting sights) before you go spending $400 - $600 on vernier stuff.

The Pedersoli is nice. The Shiloh's are awesome!!!! BUY THE SHILOH!!!!!!! By the way order from Bill Goodman, my heavy barrel Hartford got to me in 6 months.

[U.S. soldier]

thanks for all the info... looks like ill start looking into the other brands... and as for the M-4 acogs.... you can get one for around 1200 lol but since you put it like that 300-600 sounds a bit less painful LOL

[Ranch 13]

 Soldier you might want to take a look at CSharps web site, more specifically take a gander at the 75 model. For about the price of the Quigley at Cabela's , you can have that 75 with deluxe vernier sights, and spirit level globe front. Those 75's are without a doubt probably the best buy in bpcr rifles at the moment.

[James Hunt]

Ranch 13: Ahhh, but everyone's first Sharps should hold the warmth, the charm, the unparalleled beauty, the historicity - not to mention the heavier hammer drop - of the model 74. The 75 is but a poor stepchild that never got off the ground.

Soldier: another advantage of Shiloh is that you can virtually custom make your gun to appear like almost any historical 74 you may be interested in or to fit your shooting desires. Something the Italians won't do for you. Plus if you want anything else done to your gun (I sent one back for a pewter fore end tip - was back within 2 months) they will do it, and in the unlikely event you something is wrong or you have questions - you can literally call up the folks that made it and they will give you unbelievable service. If you are considering a Big Timber rifle you should go to both websites, but particularly the message forum on Shiloh and ask other shooters or you can speak to the owner himself if you have questions. Again use Bill Goodman, it will not cost you one dime more and it will speed up delivery of your rifle (varies with what you order but I got mine in 6 months).

[Angel_Eyes]

Only ever had one Sharpes Rifle and that was the Pedersoli No 3 Sporter. A decent tang sight is a must and a globe foresight will help no end.
I did find that my black powder loads were more accurate and forgiving than nitro at longer distances and yes, 600yards is very possible once you find the sweet load that suits the rifle. ( And there will be one!)

One point that gets under my skin is:- why do you guy's refer to the dealers name instead of the manufacturer, eg, Cabelas Sharpes instead of Pedersoli Sharpes, what the hell does a distributor have to do with it???
I can understand if you were saying that a certain outlet had a better deal for the same product!! It's very confusing for us poor Brit's who don't have access to all these dealers.

My only advice is to learn the gun's quirks before inflicting yourself on the indigenous wildlife, have fun!

UKshooter

[James Hunt]

UKshooter -

You said: "One point that gets under my skin is:- why do you guy's refer to the dealers name instead of the manufacturer, eg, Cabelas Sharpes instead of Pedersoli Sharpes, what the hell does a distributor have to do with it???"

Because these large distributors such as Cabelas (which is a large retail chain over here), Dixie, Cimmaron, Tayler's, Navy Arms, etc contract with the Italians for large lots of rifles and as such may specify content and quality. It is helpful to know who is providing the rifle when trying to determine exactly what it is you are getting. There can be subtle differences in both what you get, the quality associated with them and how well they will get fixed if they don't work.

FYI: We often refer to a Big Timber rifle which is either a C.Sharps or a Shiloh. A Farmingdale rifle is a early Shiloh (before they moved to MT).

[Ranch 13]

Just to add to James post, the big boys, Cabela's , Dixie etal, all those pedersoli rifles they sell, are marked CABELA'S, or Dixie Gun Works, Cimmarron, etc right on the barrel. The pedersoli , made in italy part is all in small letters not readily noticable.
 

[Angel_Eyes]

So what you are saying is that these people are building their reputation on the back of someone else's expertise?
That would be like taking a Jaguar and putting a Ford badge on it

UKshooter

[Ranch 13]

No its more like they're keeping pedersoli in business by hocking their second rate product, but paying them extra to have the company brand stamped on it.

 I don't think anybody would ever defoul a Ford with jaguar crud.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Howdy Gents 


       I don't know what all the WHO RAW is about Pedersoli, I own one and think it's just fine and so do a lot of pards, and I also think the CSharp and the Shiloh and several other rifles are dang nice, so what is the problem, seems like some have a need to run down weapons that they don't own personally, you pards did the same number on the IAB, and the Army Sport, Personally I'm grateful that the Italians are making the high quality firearms that they are, we would all be in a mess if they didn't, or the most of us would just have to do without, or just wait a few years to get what we want, I've just got a Pedersoli Business Rifle, and couldn't be happier, these rifles are tact drivers and are used by many, mine is just a meat and potato rifle but it's built well, so I guess what I'm saying be happy for me and others that are happy with there Italian rifles, we are for you and who knows maybe someday some of us will own a CSharp or a Shiloh too.... , and maybe you will own a Pedersoli or IAB, or Army Sport and we'll all be happy. 


                                      tEN wOLVES 

[Delmonico]

Thank you 5 Wolves, the rules on this forum is if you don't like what somebody owns, fine, but no nasty about it or posts will be deleted, this is with out warning or explination, I've done it in the past.

I own a Pedersoli, shoots as good as any other one I've been around, regardless of brands.  Bought it in 1995, was about 65% less than the C and Shilo and at that time both told me 3-5 years for one of theirs, I called both, acted like I bothered them calling.  Nuff said, if I have the money to buy one from them in the future I might, but I expect a friendlier voice at the other end.   

[Ranch 13]

 TEn Wolves , back in the day when you could get 2 Pedersoli's for the price of 1 Shiloh, or C Sharps, they were in some ways the better buy. Now if you go back and take a look you'll soon see that you can get 1 pedersoli, for nearly the same price , and sometimes just a tad more than one of the Big Timber rifles.  Then we could talk about resale value, but I fear that would be a lost cause.
 I have a Sharps rifle sold by Taylors , as interpetted by Armi. Probably the worst 800$ I ever spent.