Sharps 'business rifles" ?

Marshal Deadwood · March 25, 2010, 07:51:12 PM

Nothing about calibres,,,I just need to know what the most common round barrel length was on the Business Rifles produced by Sharps. 28",,30" ? other ?

THank youi

MD

Ranch 13 · March 25, 2010, 10:08:21 PM

28 inches is the only business rifle length.

Marshal Deadwood · March 25, 2010, 10:22:59 PM

Ranch,

The M1874 Business Rifle was made between August 1876 and September 1880 to fill the demand for a rifle cheaper than the M1874 Sporting Rifle.

To keep costs down, almost no variations were offered on the BR. Out of the 1,604 made all at Bridgeport, 100 had 26 inch and 30 barrels, and 10 octagon barrels were made. The rest were round 28 inch barrels.

A friend sent me this from Sellers book tonite,,,and I feel this is probably correct. However, the rb 28" would be far the most common business rifle.

A 10plus lb hunting rifle,,outta shoot excellent, hold good. Just pondering things here.

MD

Short Knife Johnson · March 25, 2010, 10:47:24 PM

My reproduction copy of the Sharps Rifle Company 1879 and 1880 has the Model 1874 "Business Rifle" listed specifically as

.45 Cal. or .40 cal, 28" round barrel, 2 1/10 Straight, 70 grains, Double triggers, 10 1/2 pounds in weight for the low low price of $35 (1879) then $26(1880).

Other configurations are listed as Sporting or Saddle rifles.

The Model 1878 Borchardts in "Business Rifle" configuration are .40 calibre, 28" octagon barrel, 2 1/2" chamber (.40-70), single trigger, $26. There is an option to have the chamber run out to .40 2 5/8" bottleneck (.40-90) for an extra $1. Double set triggers were $4.00 more yet. Listed as about a 10 pound rifle.

Ranch 13 · March 25, 2010, 11:17:34 PM

Short Knife has it. ALL the sharps catalogs list the business rifle as 28 inch round barrel. Doesn't matter if it's the 74 or the Borchardt. The cartridge most listed in the 45 2.1, altho for 1$ more you could have the chamber lengthened. If they offered a second cartridge it was the 40-70 SS.
They only offered the 77 in target models.

Marshal Deadwood · March 25, 2010, 11:31:13 PM

You guys evidently know your Sharps. I have one more question. The military Carbine ,,,,, was all carbines 22" barrels ? Any exmples of longer than 22" on the carbines ?

Pondering the possiblity of a '74 rifle that would be a good deer rifle...and have to take barrel length (not too short) , hunter friendly weight oppose to recoil..etc,,all the 'hunting aspects' in making this decision.

The calibre would most likely be the good ol' 45-70.

I've even thought about the military rifle.

I perfer the round barrel on this one,,whatever model is chosen.

So,,,business rifle
military rifle
carbine

Just pondering and I do appreciate your thoughts

MD

Short Knife Johnson · March 27, 2010, 11:45:38 PM

Quote from: Marshal Deadwood on March 25, 2010, 11:31:13 PM
You guys evidently know your Sharps. I have one more question. The military Carbine ,,,,, was all carbines 22" barrels ? Any exmples of longer than 22" on the carbines ?

Would you believe yes. I have seen one example of a military carbine that is other than 22 inches. In the Cody Museum, there was an example I saw of a .52 calibre Model 1863 where it's barrel was much shorter. It looked to be about 11 or 12 inches! I have a picture of it, but it's on film, and my scanner don't not work too good

. I can try to scan it somewhere else and post it, but I'll see. If it wasn't factory done, then it was done well at an armoury or gunsmith somewhere. Poor thing looked almost comical. The length of the stock out distanced the length from the action to the muzzle.

I can't see any carbines being longer than 22 inches, but hey, anything is possible. I had envisioned some cav officer with some serious pull having his carbine chopped short for some reason or another.

Montana Slim · April 02, 2010, 03:52:17 PM

Pretty common for Indians to have barrels on their rifles or carbines shortened for ease of use (one-handed) on horseback. Another reason is to continue use of a weapon which has had damage on the barrel from dropping it, bulging or blowing the end off (bore obstructions). Easier/cheaper to shorten, than to have it rebarreled or buy another.

The round-barreled business rifle was commonly used due to its lighter weight & this is still a great reason to use one today....as long as your not planning extended shooting sessions with heavy loads.

Regards,
Slim

Short Knife Johnson · April 22, 2010, 03:27:14 PM

OK, I now have a picture of that .52 cal Sharps with the stumpy barrel. It is not a cut-down carbine, or shortened due to barrel bulge... I asked.

larryo_1 · August 13, 2010, 09:13:58 PM

I am new to this site as I spend most of my time around the 45-75 Winchester site but have to put my two bits in here. Ihad a Sharps Business rifle and now my cousin has it. Yes it has a 28" round barrel and is in 45-90 caliber. Its favorite load is 90 grains of ffg with a 550 grain pure lead paper patch bullet set on top. Accurate? you better believe it! We went over to Circle, MT in the fall of '83 deer hunting and I got a shot off at a deer that was a long ways away. According to the odometer on the Circle Chief of Police' pickup that deer was at 800 yards away. Yes those Business rifles can shoot. Lots of up and down but it takes a hurrycane to blow them off course of right and left.