A great rifle from C. Sharps Arms became mine in a rather quick way, even though it sat on the “ready rack” for about eight months before I had them put my name on it.

- Mike Nesbitt

The rifle is a standard Hartford Model; however, it does have the added option of a 32-inch, No.1 heavyweight barrel. It is chambered for the .44-70 cartridge, which we could call a black powder “wildcat” because cases are simply formed by taper-necking down standard .45-70 brass to accept .446 inch diameter bullets. That appealed to me because I expected it to offer some good shooting along with lighter recoil than the .44-77 or the bigger .44-90.

With the rifle, I got some custom Redding reloading dies (marked “.44-70 C.S.S.” meaning .44-70 C. Sharps Straight) as well as new front and rear sights. Before leaving the shop, I used their loading bench and hastily prepared 25 rounds of shiny new .44-70 ammo. Those loads used some 400 and 450-grain bullets loaded over 60.0 grains of Olde Eynsford 2F. That gave me just a few rounds to try in the new rifle on the firing line at the Matthew Quigley Buffalo Rifle Match, where I was going to arrive the next day.

Toward the end of the day but still a full hour ahead of the evening’s cease-fire, Allen Cunniff and I went back to the firing line with the new .44-70 and the 25 rounds, just to give the gun a good try. My cross sticks were set at the shooting line for the “diamond” gong which is a rather small, square-shaped target turned 45-degrees which gives it the diamond shape. That target is 405 yards away from the firing line so I guessed at an elevation, set the sights and fired, only to see the bullet strike about 30 feet low. My guess was just a little off!

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This story is from the Winter 2019 edition of The Black Powder Cartridge News.

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