Sharps Reliability Mods?

[Spunk Puppy]

Guys I am considering different carbines and keep coming back to the Sharps. Looking to get a repro 1859 Sharps cavalry carbine from Pedersoli. Now I hear the percussion sharps foul quickly and in live fire (I do not reenact, I'm a shooter) you can only get on average 5-10 shots before the breech block becomes seized from fouling and the gun stops working.

I've read of people who retrofit the seals with O-ring devices and so on. My question is, are these mods at all visible and do they detract from the historical look, feel, and function? I'd love a quick rundown of these mods and other tips and tricks to keep a Sharps running. These issues are putting me off from buying one but hopefully they can be resolved. Thanks all!

-Dillon

 

[poorjack]

I shoot North South Skirmish competition, see the sticky in this sub forum. I have two IAB 1863 Sharps. Both have had the O ring mod, throat and leade cut, recrowned and target sights added. Both will run 70+ shots. There are two guys in the NSSA who do Sharps mods- Charlie Hahn and Larry Flees. They take slightly different approaches to this but both do top notch work. You will definitely need to know your bore size and cast your own boolits that accept Charlie's tubes. Beats the snot out of rolling them.

Stay away from CCI reenactor caps. They are weak and can lead to erratic ignition and poor accuracy. My load- 46gr 3f Old Eynsford, RWS caps, 50/50 beeswax/lard lube, 470gr Christmas tree boolit, Charlie's tubes. The results- one called flyer

 

[poorjack]

The only thing that is not historically accurate visually are the sights but the casual observer won't notice. The other mod you will need is a trigger job.ost repops have awful trigger pulls and a Sharps lock can be tricky.

 

[Spunk Puppy]

Thanks, friends! Do the Flees or Hahn mods affect the historical looks or functions of the gun?

 

[poorjack]

Thanks, friends! Do the Flees or Hahn mods affect the historical looks or functions of the gun?

The target sights I had put on mine are a bit different from the originals and if you plan on shooting it much, I'd recommend target sights. The originals are hard to use and regulated about 18in high. That's not a defect, but true to how the originals were set up.

Neither the Hahn or Flees mod will allow you to use the "paper cutter" method of loading, but that's not a very safe way of shooting the gun anyway. Visually, it's hard to tell if either has been done, you have to remove the breech block from the reciever to tell.