Original Sharps Question

[milsurpshooter]

I've been reading the other threads pertaining to the design of the Sharps chamber sleeve and breech block gas check plate (hope my terminology is correct) and it's still muddy for me. To clarify, for an original firearm, would the following be true?
1. The chamber sleeve can be moved for adjustment but did not move during each firing sequence.
2. The breech block gas check plate flexed/bowed forward rather than slid/moved forward in order to affect a pressure seal.
Thanks for the clarrification,
- milsurpshooter

[Bruce Cobb 1723V]

Both parts move fractions of an inch. The plate forward to seal the sleeve while the sleeve slides backward on firing to seal on the plate. The two parts become one. The chamber is actually the sleeve. This is how I understand it.

[Curt]

Hallo!

IIRC, and it has been awhile...

Hezekiah Conant's 1856 patent for a gas seal utilized a flat "washer" type flexible or floating ring initially made of platinum then steel in the breech block face.

Sharps in their 1859/1864 pamphlets said:

"Relieve the lever key from pressure by throwing down the lever guard, and then take out the key, which is replaced with the guard in the same position. Remove the slide, and dissolve the hard substance with water if any has collected in its cavity, taking care not to use any metallic tool in the operation, by which the slide or gas ring might be injured. The bore is easily washed, or cleaned with a wet brush, after which wipe it dry and oil it and the slide with sperm oil, tallow, or other pure oil free from salt and acids."

I am not recalling a sliding/moving modern "Italian style" chamber sleeve in original Sharps?

Curt

[Greg Ogdan 110th OVI]

Curt, you are correct, there was no chamber sleeve. The pressure plate in the breech block simply was moved forward by the expanding gasses to "seal" the breech. BTW, ever fired one of those after dark? "Seal" is a relative term.

[geezmo]

Go back and reread the entire thread entitled "Sharps Carbine 1859/1863". There was a "chamber sleeve", it was called in the original Sharps literature a "bouching". In that thread, Charlie Hahn replied that he removed a bucket of them. He said they were a press fit. They were not intended to move during firing. They were intended to be an adjustment. As stated in Frank Sellers book, there was a bouching clamp and rod that required a tapping or force to move it. The Conant gas check or plate, on the front of the breechblock, was all that moved. Don't know about the models before the 1859 or the recent imports.

Barry