Sharps Rifle serial number question??

[RaiderANV]

Does anyone have anything on serial number 41604? I was offered it at a cheap price as it was said to be a ?battlefield pick up years after the war by a relative? and it looks like it. They don?t know where it was picked up or by which relative as they claim several dozen served in the CSA. Missing it?s forearm and action is frozen shut after laying wherever for a decade outside.

[plymouthairrifle]

Sorry it is not listed in the Springfield Research database.

[RaiderANV]

☹️

Anything close to it?

[Carolina Reb]

Pat, there is a new Sharps book out by Roy Marcot that may shed some light on your rifle. That is an early one. It's awfully close to the Navy contract. Is it 52 or 56 caliber? When I get home I'll check my Sharps books.

[RaiderANV]

No way to check going down the road now but a Maynard case will fit in the barrel with a wee tad left so it would have to be .56??

[Eggman]

Sorry if this is a little off the focus here PJ, but weren't most of the Sharps battlefield pickups found with the breech frozen shut same as this one? It's my understanding that during combat actions the tendency of the breechblock on the Sharps to freeze up caused many of the troopers to toss them into the brush and continue fighting with a stick instead.

[RaiderANV]

I?ve heard the same story but haven?t seen any facts. Turns out this one is loaded still but until I get back to Texas to x-Ray it I won?t know what?s in it. They knew they did that and knew how to fix it not not sure they would have tossed their Sharps away unless?? they saw a Maynard they could grab up. 😬

[RaiderANV]

Pat, there is a new Sharps book out by Roy Marcot that may shed some light on your rifle. That is an early one. It's awfully close to the Navy contract. Is it 52 or 56 caliber? When I get home I'll check my Sharps books.

just notice your competitor number is one before mine.

[Eggman]

Turns out this one is loaded still but until I get back to Texas to x-Ray it I won?t know what?s in it.

Yeah the old misfire picadillo; the other face of the Sharps conundrum.

[Carolina Reb]

Pat,
We must have been standing in line together. I signed up at a National, don't remember which one, it was a while ago.

Sharps are picky beasts, but that can be fixed. I got pretty good at it reenacting in the 4th Va.Cav. At every event there were a few that refused to go off or were jammed shut. Off they went to the Ordnance Officer, which was me. Luckily, I still remember how to do it. The Sharps I shot last weekend behaved beautifully, and it has the original breech.