Sharpes 1863 Unaltered: found this in center breach

[Gmix]

 

[Gmix]

I found this wadding (?) when I removed the center breach of a recently purchased I unaltered Sharpes 1863. Can anyone tell me what this might be?

 

[Jeff in Ohio]

Chewing tobacco

 

[Lanyard Puller]

Residue from linen wrapped cartridges. Clean it out.

 

[JOHN42768]

I knew Lee's missing orders would show up some day.

 

[bayonet]

I knew Lee's missing orders would show up some day.

 

[steamboater]

View attachment 444679

I think the Yank who was holding the weapon had his "Depends" explode when he saw that huge gray line a'comin a'runnin.

 

[Booner]

This is just a guess on my part since I've never owned a Sharps but didn't they have some type of a gasket in the breach block to prevent or reduce gas leakage/blowback? Maybe that's what this is, or what's left of that gasket material.

 

[Jeff in Ohio]

The gasket on the breach bock is a thin piece of metal that fits on the front edge of the block, and so Lanyard Puller wins this puzzle contest - i like my idea that it is part of plug of chaw tobacco, but i do believe it is from the cloth wrapping of the cartridges used in this percussion Sharps.

 

[Gmix]

Residue from linen wrapped cartridges. Clean it out.

this was my thought too. The Gun is unaltered and remnants of a linen cartridge would make sense. This gun was an attic find and based on its condition, the gun was likely never cleaned after its last use… which was a really long time ago. I plan to do a light clean up of the stock and metal but instead of cleaning the linen out of breach, I am going to try to keep it there and let it stay part of the history of the gun. The remnants of a linen cartridge seems unusual and will add to story of the gun when discussing with family and friends.
Thanks for input.

 

[Gmix]

Few more pictures of gun for those curious. (the Last is a picture of linen cartridge I found on www). Any guess on when gun was last cleaned? 20yr, 50yrs or maybe 100yrs?

 

[Story]

This gun was an attic find and based on its condition, the gun was likely never cleaned after its last use… which was a really long time ago.

While maintaining discretion, what do you know about the owners present and past of the house where it was found?

 

[Gmix]

While maintaining discretion, what do you know about the owners present and past of the house where it was found?

I know nothing but what i was told when purchasing the gun, that it was "found In attic". The guns present condition supports this story as it has not been shot or cared for in many decades. The linen remnants and its condition give it further credibility.

For those that have shot a Sharps 1863 before, is it normal to have remnants of the linen cartridge in the breach after firing??

 

[Old Soldier]

One of the problems with the Sharps was the differing lengths of production paper/linen cartridges. Short ones would not be cut by the 'knife edge' of the breechblock leading to incomplete combustion of the linen. However, the base was tissue, not linen. This looks like the residue from a number of 'short' cartridges - but left uncleaned and have dropped onto the breechblock when it was stored butt-down . The breechblock had to be cleaned regularly too - this one has not been looked after.

This problem was sorted by following Colt's example and wrapping it in a thin layer of "goldbeater's skin" (outer membrane of cow gut).

 

[7thWisconsin]

My experience with owning a Sharps is that the breechblock takes a lot of TLC to clean. It might take you 5 minutes to swab the bore and oil the exterior - and an hour to clean the breechblock properly.

 

[Mk VII]

Some sort of cleaning implement (hollow-drilled, threaded?) with cleaning cloth wrapped round it?

 

[Old Soldier]

More likely a kettle of boiling water and the handle of a teaspoon. This is black powder, after all.

 

[manfeltree]

I found this wadding (?) when I removed the center breach of a recently purchased I unaltered Sharpes 1863. Can anyone tell me what this might be?

I'm going out on a limb here. Whatever it is, it looks as if it was put there deliberately. I think it's an attempt to minimize gas leakage from under the Conant gas check plate. Due to poor breech block maintenance, this rifle probably leaked a lot when fired due to a frozen gas check plate. Today's NSSA shooters do something similar with their Italian repro Sharps only they use a high-temp silicone sealer. To me it looks like someone unbraided a frayed piece of rope, lubed the fibers and stuffed them in there. Or it could be flax tow. I shoot paper cartridges in my Shiloh New Model 1863 Sharps and very little of the cartridge material ends up retained in the breech block. Most all of the unburned material gets ejected from the bore with each shot.

 

[Old Soldier]

The pressure plate relies on gas pressure in the rear chamber to work, so this would have had the opposite effect AND show signs of burning. Another option may be - wait for it - muzzle-loading. If the cartridges were not available, or the breech block seized the carbine COULD still be loaded in the old way - from the muzzle using a ramrod, but that would still show burning.

More likely, if it was seized, or the person had no idea of how to work one of these 'old rifles', any attempt at cleaning the barrel would go no further than the gas seal - and would leave any cleaning material residue there. No, not recently, but at some time - using what cleaning material was available.

Another possibility is a barrel blocked with an oiled cloth plug (not unusual for stored weapons). Any inspection would show this and someone has tried to get it out by using a cleaning rod from the muzzle end - but forgot to open the breech first. They would have succeeded after the breech was opened - with difficulty - and the rifle not stripped further. It may be that the plug just disintegrated over time and fell down the barrel of a butt-down racked weapon!

 

[JimW]

It took me a while to figure out a way to remove the part, and below is how I did so. If there is a better way, please share!

The one in my carbine is broken, and looks like it was long ago.

I don't plan to fire mine, but did order the reproduction replacement part from S&S in case I wish to in the future. It was very close to being a "drop in". but would need just a tiny bit of fitting on the edge where it meets the breech block.