By Mike Venturino "How Far Will A Sharps Shoot"


Just how far will a Sharps rifle throw a bullet? Most people will not believe it when told, so let me give you some background.

Back in November 1992, Dennis Bardon, Shiloh Rifle Manufacturing's custom gunsmith, and Wolfgang Droege, former shiloh owner, and I accompanied Kirk Bryan, one of the Shiloh's present owners, to the government proving grounds at Yuma, Ariz. Shiloh had been approched by a group of froensic scientists that was going to have aseminar there. For this meeting, the scientists were going to have acess to some newly declassified radar devices that would actually track a single bullet in flight.
What the scientists specifically wanted was a .50-90 rifle because one of them had writtenin their newsletter that Billy Dixoncould not have made his famous 1,538 yard shot in 1874. That particular scientist had calculated that a Sharps couls not push . .50 caliber bullet that far.
the first load triedconsisted of a 675-grain .50 caliber bullet propelled by 90 grains of FFg. using Yuma's own gun cradle,which had been converted from a russian T-72 tank gun carrier,the Shiloh Model 1874 was elebvated to 35 degrees and a roundtouched off.I was inside, looking at the computer screens over the scientists shoulders.When the data were read they started muttering, "it couldn't be" it just couldn't be!"
You see they couldn't accept that a blackpowder-powered bulletthat left the muzzle at 1,216 feet per second (fps), could have landed 3600 yards away!
Several fellows muttered"something must not be working right. Shoot another one."
This time the bullet weighed just 650 grains (still over 90 grains of FFg)and left the muzzle at 1,301 fps. Again, with the muzzle elevatedto 35 degrees, the bullet landed 3,245 yards down range. the scientist who wrote that Billy Dixon ballistically could not have made a 1,538 yard shot got very red in the face.
From there on out, it was all fun. we elevated the muzzle to 45 degrees and fired another of the loads with 650 grain bullets. Muzzle velocity was 1,275fps. the bullet impacted out at 3,190 yards, but the amazing part was that it went 4000fps(typo?)high and was in the air a full 30 seconds.
One scientist had a laptop computer along, and after a bit of tapping on it said, "Elevate your muzzle to about 4.5 degrees and you'll get a Billy Dixon shot." We did and the bulletlanded at 1,517 yards. Wetried one light bullet loadin the .50-90.
It carried a 450-grain bullet over 100 grains of FFg. again elevated to 35 degrees, and point of impact that time was 2,585 yards. Certainly, the bullet weight does make a difference.
Next, we turned to a .45-110 loaded with 550-grain bulletsover 100 grains of FFg. Muzzlevelocity was 1,322 fps, and impact was 3,575 yardsdown range. This was with 35 degree muzzle elevation. Then we dropped the elevation to 5 degrees and fired another round.This time muzzle velocity was 1,361 fps and the bullet traveled 1,430 yards.
The last rifle we tested was a shiloh chambered for 45-70 Sharps Straight. bullet weight was 403 grains, and powder charge of 60 grains of FFg. The bullet left the muzzle at 1,333 fps, and with the muzzle elevatedto 5 degrees it hit the ground at 1,155 yards.
Keep in mind, you potentialSharps shooters, none of this is just hearsay. It was done by scientists under controlled conditions. So, when someone asks you how far a Sharps will shoot, you can safely say, "A long, long way,"




Bors