New C. Sharps 45-70

[Eric Johanen]

Yesterday, after a very nice morning on the sporting clays course, I swung by my local gun shop to pick up some shot and what do I see but a long barreled single shot in the rack. This demands a closer look! New C. Sharps 74, 34 inch standard octagon barrel, pistol grip, shotgun butt, nice wood and metal finish, checkered steel butt plate, C. Sharps spirit level globe front and long range C. Sharps veneer rear. 45-70 caliber. Hang tag price is.......999.99! Slight twinge of guilt as I quickly produced my credit card. Someone made a very big error pricing this one. I asked if that was the price and received a yes. I figured, If not me, someone else would get a steal of a price on this rifle. I replaced the C. Sharps rear with a spare MVA mid-range as they are marked differently on the scale and I think I'll have less of a problem keeping elevation settings using sights I am familiar with. I'll get some range time later this week to try it out. Suspect it will shoot just as good as it look's! Blind squirrels and acorns comes to mind!!

[Don McDowell]

That is the deal of the Century.

[Mike]

Where did you say that shop was???

[Gussy]

They have any more??

[Cody Smith]

They are probably short an employee as well....lol
Congrats on finding the deal!

[Eric Johanen]

                Don, Maybe the last century as well! Mike, I think I'll keep it a secret. Gussy, no and I looked! Cody, possible and I did ask and confirmed the price. Had it out yesterday and did some preliminary sight in with a few loads loaded with the Lyman Postell and 25.5 grains of AA 5744. (Did not want to burn up my Black powder loads just for an initial sight in), It will shoot but I ran into a slight problem...I replaced the C. Sharps rear with a MVA and used the C. Sharps base screws. Noticed the sight was a bit loose. Screws are not interchangeable as the height of the screw heads is just a bit different. Once home I located the MVA base screws and all is now well. Some say "it did not happen without pictures". Here are a few.

[Mike]

Eric, You should turn your camera over.... Good looking!! Shoot sharp, Mike

[Eric Johanen]

Naw Mike, just stand on your head and they look right! I corrected the rotation in my saved files but it still posted upside down. I don't know why it does this at times. I'm a real trog, when it comes to all things computer! Loading ammo for it today and will get it on the range again later this week. With the money saved....I think I'll have my gunmaker checker the grip and forend for more positive grip when shooting. I'll give him a pattern or two from Sellers book to choose from. Now to size, prime and load that ammo!!

[Gunlaker]

Upside-down? Maybe it's an Australian C. Sharps :-). When you get an image that looks right in some software, and not in others, it's because the person who wrote the software isn't properly paying attention to some of the information in the image header.

It's surprisingly common sadly. In the "old days" of digital cameras :-) this wasn't a problem because you generally would notice if you were holding 'em upside-down, but with these phones who knows which way is up :-)

Chris.

[Eric Johanen]

Considering the elevation necessary working with the C. Sharps spirit level front and since it required 19 points more elevation at 200 yards than my MVA front, I do not want to have to set the elevation too high on the MVA rear. I decided to order a Mid-range front from Distant Thunder and another set of inserts with a thicker annulus, both lollypop and center wire at .020. While the MVA inserts are very nice, the annulus is too thin for my ageing eyes. .050 annulus works well under all light conditions and I can actually see it. I went with the Mid-range as that is the distance I envision using this rifle ( My 45-90 gets out for the Creedmoor competitions). I'll install the new front when it arrives and get to serious targeting. Now back to the 44-77 and Lucrezia my 50-90. Winter project will be to have my gun smith checker the grip and forend on this rifle.