Hello

[Mike]

AZ, And, just to increase any misunderstanding you might have, let me try to explain something about your rifle. Lyman calls it their Model 1878 because the Lyman company goes back to 1878. However, your rifle is really an offshoot, almost a copy of, the Sharps Model of 1877. The Model '77 Sharps was developed as a target rifle, made with a lighter action than the '74s because NRA and International rules dictated that the rifles for long range shooting, Creedmoor shooting if you like, could not weigh more than 10 pounds. Lightening the actions meant the rifles could have heavier barrels. Your Lyman is a good rifle, I field tested one when they were introduced and found it to be quite nice. And, to continue, you don't want to refer to that as a Model 1878 Sharps because that was the Sharps-Borchardt, an entirely different model. There, you just got a lot of information that you didn't ask for... Here's hopin' that's okay. Shoot sharp, Mike

[JReed]

Where abouts in AZ? We are moving to the Yuma area this summer.

[GavenAZ]

When I went to pick the rifle up from my local shop, the gentleman that was handling the 4473 was shaking his head and laughing to himself about that. "No such thing as a 78' " He was nice enough to explain what Lyman did with the name change because of the added peep sight.

I was shooting cap and ball next to a guy at the range shooting a sharps a few years ago that was using a blow tube. I asked the RO what he was doing and he explained about softening up the fouling and laughed saying not to try that with mine.
Guess he had a picture of me sticking the muzzle in my mouth.

I'm in the Tucson area. I'm a little bias in the way of location. I'm always looking to see what has good camping and shooting ranges. with that , Yuma is a fine place to live. It's darn hot though. You might want to wait until a cooler time of the year to move.