WTS Pedersoli chamber sleeve tool.

[gemmer]

For .54 cal percussion. $50.00 shipping incl.

[Michael T.]

Could you post pictures? Curious,I just bought a Pedersoli Sharps Rifle and own another manufacturer Sharps Carbine wondering what it is used for.

[gemmer]

Could you post pictures? Curious,I just bought a Pedersoli Sharps Rifle and own another manufacturer Sharps Carbine wondering what it is used for.

I'm tech. challenged when it comes to pics, but there's a pic of it on Pedersoli's website under accessories.
It's used to grip and partially pull out the chamber sleeve so you can clean and lube it.

[johnefelts]

Do you stil have it?

[R Filbert]

I got 1 of those if someone needs it my sharps is a marciano and cant be removed-Least I cant see where it comes out-What do you guys think?

[johnefelts]

I need one for my pedersoli

[gemmer]

Do you stil have it?

Yes. Im firing off a PM to you.

Duane

[Dominic Infante, 8359V]

Dixie Gun Works has the Pedersoli chamber sleeve removal tool for $14.95. It is made of brass. I have several which I fashioned out of rubber which work just as well and only cost about a dollar. At your local hardware store describe a rubber cylinder which is around 3/4 of an inch in height with various diameters. I think I used the 5/8 inch diameter. The center has metal threads which accept a screw that expands the rubber cylinder when tightened. There is a collar on the top edge which should be shaved off so the entire cylinder fits snugly into the chamber sleeve. Simply insert, tighten, put in a rod, and tap on it to loosen the sleeve. I have found that regular cleaning and lubing the sleeve greatly facilitates smooth operation of the Sharps carbine and rifle.

[Fauch125]

Does the chamber sleeve in an original Sharps come out as part of cleaning and maintenance, or were they fixed in place?
Thanks for your reply,
Jon Faucher

[Dominic Infante, 8359V]

I do not have an original. I was told though that the sleeves for the originals were fixed in place by a seating tool that the armorer drove in from the muzzle end so that the sleeve was snug against the gas check plate. When wear resulted in the fit becoming a bit loose, the armorer repeated the procedure if the wear was not greatly uneven. So, the original chamber sleeves must have been pretty tight fitting in order for a forced fit to work.

[Dominic Infante, 8359V]

I do not have an original. I was told though that the sleeves for the originals were fixed in place by a seating tool that the armorer drove in from the muzzle end so that the sleeve was snug against the gas check plate. When wear resulted in the fit becoming a bit loose, the armorer repeated the procedure if the wear was not greatly uneven. So, the original chamber sleeves must have been pretty tight fitting in order for a forced fit to work.

[John Holland]

Dominic -

After some discussion off the BB I will stand corrected! It seems that the original chamber sleeves weren't supposed to move during firing. No wonder the soldiers in the field didn't have the problems we do today....they had less moving parts and a factory fit that didn't leak nearly as much as our reproductions do.

I have seen one original Sharps 3 band rifle that still had a moveable chamber sleeve. It was the only unfired example of a Sharps Rifle I have ever seen! I only wish I'd had the ability to buy it at the time. (Now I wonder why the sleeve was easily removeable?)

For some reason Pedersoli has made the chamber sleeves in their Sharps Rifles too long to remove without taking the barrel out of the receiver. I say that from personal experience that myself and two friends and I had with three Pedersoli Berdan Sharps we all had at the same time.

My thanks to Jon Faucher who was kind enough to share his personal research he had done with me. And another thank you to Charlie Hahn for giving us the benefit of his personal experience.

JDH

[Dominic Infante, 8359V]

John:

Perhaps what my friend described to me was an ad hoc fix devised by an armorer in the field to cope with sticking breechblocks. Surely at least some soldiers shooting the original Sharps carbines and rifles encountered the breechblock freezing problem. Since the guys shooting at you would not wait for you to get your block moving again, this must have provided real incentive to find a fix. This is pure speculation however for I would like to find more references to weapons in the writings of Civil War soldiers. Actually, I have found surprisingly few references to ones' weapons in the hundreds of Civil War memoirs that I have read over the past 40 or so years. Usually, when weapons are mentioned the observations are mostly favorable.

I think the Pedersoli design of a captive chamber sleeve in the 1859 military rifle is a design flaw. I believe the sleeve needs to be removed completely, cleaned, and lubed after 60 or 70 shots. With my carbine I do this before every skirmish and basicallly never have a problem. I have not had a chance yet to test my Pedersoli rifle but I recently had a machinist take two spare chamber sleeves and create a sleeve which is exactly the same length as the original, in two pieces with a male-female connection in the center. Therefore, I can remove completely the chamber sleeve from my Sharps 1859 rifle. The gas check plate should be shimmed so that it lightly touches the end of the chamber sleeve when the loading lever is raised. I would be surprised if this does not work. If it does not, I will see the machinist and have him make another two piece sleeve, but fitted with an O-ring. However, the O-ring behind the gas check plate described by Southeron, Sr, on this BB some time ago might be a better alternative.

[Charlie Hahn]

The originals has a light press fit. When I machine them out of old guns the paper thin sleeve I get in the end usually has very little crud between the sleeve and breech. When I get one that is frozen in the newer guns the area for the free fit is loaded with fowling and corrosion. Most of the new guns have about .002 inch free fit. There are issues as some have a long sleeve and they can't be taken out for cleaning unless you pull the barrel. So.....the tool you all are looking at might be useless on a long sleeve gun, and marginal on one that has a sleeve you can remove. If we shot a ten shot event, and had time to field clean the sleeve and block, the world would be good. Facts are we shoot a weekend.....maybe 60 to 100 shots. This is enough to dry the the area between the breech and the sleeve and it is all but impossible to get them apart with out some soaking and cussing.

Charlie Hahn

[Ron/The Old Reb]

I always coat the chamber sleeve in my Sharps with Anti-Seize when I clean it. I can shoot all the Individuals and the Team matches, and when I clean the gun afterward the sleeve will pull right out. All I use to get it out with is a small screw driver that I bent a 45 degree angle on the end.

[johnefelts]

Charlie,I have a new pedersoli .54 sporting,I have only two rounds down the barrel and can not get the chamber sleeve to move,is it really that important to accuracy and funtionality or do I really need to get that thing moving?

[Charlie Hahn]

The breech design leaks. If the sleeve is frozen it is not the end of the world, but when clean, I think you will find a gap between .002 and .006 inch between the breech block and end of the barrel. It may be equal all around, but I doubt it. The gas seal plate on the breech block is supposed to move forward to close this during firing. If you have the new design block, it may have the smaller hole, (3/8 inch) and be straight with wave washers behind it. This design jams quicker the the original which has an opening of about .6 inch with a tapered back side which was to increase the surface area for the gun gases to push the plate. In any case, unless you seal this shot to shot and comfort are not going to be as good as they should be. The other issue is that the CLEAN gun gases we have COULD have particulate in them and COUL wedge behind the gas check plate and jam it tight up against the barrel, usually about 3 to 5 shots.

Just be sure to wear a glove and a shirt you don't care about and put a string on your hat.

Charlie Hahn

[johnefelts]

Charlie,could you fix this?

[Charlie Hahn]

Yes I can, PM sent

Charlie