Hello the board.....

[sharps4065]

Hi all

I've lurked in here for a while so I thought I should introduce myself.

I'm from over the pond in the UK and love shooting these ol' boomers. I started a Club 10 years ago, The Single Shot Black Powder Cartridge Rifle Club of Great Britain. A real mouth full so it's always shortened to the SSBPCRC, or the chicken shooters as some of the other guys at Bisley call us  Our web site is www.ssbpcrc.co.uk

I have 3 '74s. A Pedersoli Billy Dixon in 40/65 which I treat as my "serious" target rifle and use it in all comps out to 1000 yards. In fact used it in the last WHRLSA World Championships, 2006, in South Africa. My first rifle was a Pedersoli Quigley in 45 x 3.25". I used that for a number of year s until my teeth started to loosen.... It's now a fun gun with a full length Malcolm scope on it. My latest is a hybrid. It's one of Kirk's heavy bull barrels on an Armi Sport rear end in 50 x 2.5". The rifle weighs in at 20lbs which is very handy considering the recoil. Both the 40 and 50 have Lee Shaver LR sights on them.

Anyway, enough for now. I'm looking forward to chatting with you guys - and picking a few brains. Never to old or clever to learn something new.

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Clive

[J.D. Yellowhammer]

Howdy, Clive, and welcome to the board.    I checked out your website--some mighty nice looking rifles!

I'm sure your experience will make you a valuable contributor to the discussions here!

JD

[sharps4065]

Thankyou JD. Always glad to help where I can and I'm sure the advice will flow in both directions 

Clive

[James Hunt]

Welcome to this side of the water. That whole issue in 1776 has died down a bit, and we seem to be on speaking terms pretty well now. I have heard of your club and checked out your website before, I think we have mutual friends in Malpaso and Boot.

There are two holey grails in what we do, Adobe Walls and Bisley you are fortunate to live close to Bisley. Can you believe I drove within 80 miles of Adobe Walls last year and did not stop to pay homage? If I ever make it to the UK I would never let that happen with Bisley.

Regards, Jim

[Delmonico]

Welcome, sorry about the misunderstanding about the tea.

[sharps4065]

Welcome, sorry about the misunderstanding about the tea.

Best move you guys ever made....... 

[sharps4065]

Thankyou Jim

Yes, Boot and Malpaso, definitely 2 of the good guys.....

I intended to go to Adobe Walls a couple of years ago but got no further than Dodge unfortunately. After the Buffalo hunt we went on we had no time. But I'm coming over next year to visit with Lee, Kirk and Mike, maybe Steve Garbe too and Adobe Walls is definitley on the itinery for this trip. Going to be a lot of driving!

If you're ever over here let me know and I'll introduce you to the pleasures of Bisley.

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Clive

[James Hunt]

Wow Clive, you know all of the big names! And Steve Garbe!?! I of course call him Mr. Garbe  ! It sounds like you are starting at Big Timber, then Cody and from there south. What a great trip.

Last spring I was returning from Arizona with my wife. The weather was pretty bleak, it was raining. I REALLY wanted to take that jog north to Adobe Walls. But it is roughly 80 miles out of the way. There is nothing there really except a plaque, but that is plenty for me. But I could see my wife going "you drove two hours out of the way for this?!?" As it was I had to cut a deal with her, she could go to the mall while I went to the Cowboy Hall of Fame. They need a big mall out there in the Texas panhandle.

Regards, Jim

[J.D. Yellowhammer]

Clive, if you have the opportunity & time, it would be great if you could post pics of your rifles. 

I've been down I-40 through the Panhandle a few times, never had the time to get up to Adobe Walls.  Here's some Billy Dixon trivia by Mike Venturino from a 2005 Guns magazine article (don't care whether it was 1200 or 1500, or 1000 for that matter. It's a great story and a hell of a shot at any of those ranges):

1,538 Yards? No

Even if Billy Dixon did shoot an Indian off a horse at long range it almost certainly was not at 1,538 yards. Billy Dixon himself never said so. On the third day, the story goes, after the battle a small group of horseback Indians exposed themselves on a distant butte, and Billy Dixon rested his borrowed Big .50 Sharps and dropped one of them. Supposedly, some years later Dixon related this story to his wife Olive K. Dixon who then included a single paragraph about it in her book The Life and Adventures of Billy Dixon, published after his death in 1913. In the first edition (1914) of that book the distance is said to be 1,200 yards. According to Adobe Walls; the History and Archeology of the 1874 Trading Post by T. Lindsay Baker and Billy R. Harrison, a Texas surveyor measured the range in 1924 and determined it was 1,028 yards. The second edition of Olive K. Dixon's book published in 1928 changed the range to 1,538 yards.

Besides, the documentation about the Adobe Walls battle mentions several impressive shots made on groups of Indians at extreme range by several of the white participants. It is strange that just one shot has been singled out above all others. If you go to Adobe Walls today equipped with a rangefinder you will quickly see that none of the distant buttes are 1,538 yards away. One is about 600 yards, and the other is about 1,200 yards.

(another quote:)

Exact Indian casualties were not and never will be known but the most informed estimates amount to between one and two dozen dead and an undetermined number of wounded. Billy Dixon, one of the first whites to see the oncoming charge of the feathered warriors that dawn of June 27, 1874, said it was a sight he would never forget and was glad he had experienced it. Later many of the Indian participants said that fighting buffalo hunters was a bad business and didn't seem all that nostalgic about it when reviewing the day's events in later life.

[sharps4065]

Sorry Jim, wasn't name dropping.......  We hooked up with Steve and shared a breakfast with him and his Lady at the Irma Hotel in Cody. He spent most of the time extolling the virtues of Schutzen which, I'm afraid, doesn't blow my skirt up. He's a great guy and enjoyed the day with him (helped me select a hat). We spent another fantastic day with Mike, a gentle giant, his armoury is absolutely amazing. He sat on his "throne" draped with a buffalo hide (the seat not him....) and watched as we drooled over his collection. Then he showed us around his range - what a set up! And Kirk, what can I say, one in a million, he showed us around the factory, in fact I watched my 50 barrel, being rifled. Then he took us along the valley to his range for some fun on the long range steels. Lee and I are great mates, shot with him a number of times here at Bisley and with him and Mon at the Big Woody in Dodge. All in all there are some damn fine guys in this game. It'll be good to see them all again.

That's the problem I'm going to have with my Lady. SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) has as much interest in shooting and the Old West as I have in needlepoint. It's going to be a good few months of gentle persuasion. But I'll get here there!

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Clive

[sharps4065]

Hi JD

Oddly enough I've never photographed my rifles with the exception of my '76. And that was only done to post on The Shootists to show the difference in Uberti Winchesters before and after removing that horrible orange gunk they insist on putting on their wood. The fore end of my '76 had suffered damage on the range and with that poly finish on I couldn't steam the dents out. I'm so pleased with the finish (and the grain that now shows) that I'm currently working on my '73. Anyway, I will take some pics of my Sharps and post them. Perhaps a "Show & Tell" thread might be of interest for all of us.

1500 yards or a 1000, I have serious doubts that it was a repeatable shot. But then we all need an element of luck when pulling that trigger no matter how good you are. Unfortunately I've never tried beyond 1200 yards as that is the furthest you can get at Bisley. There are longer ranges in the UK but they are Military and very hard to get range bookings. And if you do you're being deafened by the 50 BMGs going off beside you 

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Clive

[Delmonico]

Best move you guys ever made....... 

Kicking my ancestors out of England in the 1630's might have been a good move on your side of the pond also.

[sharps4065]

I'm sure we've all got some unsavoury ancestors rattling around in the cupboard...... 

[Delmonico]

I'm sure we've all got some unsavoury ancestors rattling around in the cupboard...... 

Yeah, some of mine moved to Nova Scotia after Wasington won.

[Stillwater]

I'm sure we've all got some unsavoury ancestors rattling around in the cupboard...... 

My Beckwith relatives came here around 1630, at the request of the King.

I think it was right after the King said to them, "get the Hell out of my kingdom."

Bill

[J.D. Yellowhammer]

That's funny.  My ancestor emigrated to the Norfolk area of Virginia in the 1630's.  He was Irish, but he came over with a bunch of English Puritans (who had been forced to leave).  Wonder if all our ancestors came over in the same boat? 

[sharps4065]

Wish mine had!

[Delmonico]

That's funny.  My ancestor emigrated to the Norfolk area of Virginia in the 1630's.  He was Irish, but he came over with a bunch of English Puritans (who had been forced to leave).  Wonder if all our ancestors came over in the same boat? 

Well I'm desended from Joh Carman who came to Plymouth Colony in 1631, not sure the boat name off hand.  Nope, not on the Mayflower, he was smater than that, half them folks starved to death.  He waited till they had it figgered out better.  The Nebrasky relatives arrived in the early 1860's, not tottally sure but it was a bit "drafty" back east.  Checked the registar for Newbrassly Voulenteers, nobody with a familar last name is on the rolls, that's what leads me to conclude that they moved to avoid the CW draft.

[Stillwater]

That is an excellent web site...
I like th informative way it is laid out... Keep up the good work...

Bill, whose forbearers left Old Blighty in 1630...