Pedersoli 54 caliber Sharps Calvary Carbine has arrived!

[Dog1]

Just landed! I'm stoked to start making some periodish correct linen cartridges. I have the Eras Gone Richmond Laboratories bullet mold that I'm going to use for my first batch of cartridges. I'm going to get the other mold that has the ringtail or what some people call the Christmas tree bullet later on. Down in the garage I have a sheet of linen that has been sized with wallpaper sizer that is drying. I'm going to try first some goex and then I'm going to try the Shooters World black powder substitute.

 

[BigRed]

Just landed! I'm stoked to start making some periodish correct linen cartridges. I have the Eras Gone Richmond Laboratories bullet mold that I'm going to use for my first batch of cartridges. I'm going to get the other mold that has the ringtail or what some people call the Christmas tree bullet later on. Down in the garage I have a sheet of linen that has been sized with wallpaper sizer that is drying. I'm going to try first some goex and then I'm going to try the Shooters World black powder substitute.

View attachment 339780

AWESOME!!!!!
TOTALY AWESOME!!!!

 

[NHT3]

Range report will be looked forward to! Video would be a ++++

 

[Dog1]

Range report will be looked forward to! Video would be a ++++

That will be the plan once I get building the cartridges down pat.

 

[Michigan Slim]

That would be my new deer rifle for a season.

 

[Dog1]

I have spent the evening looking it over it is so well made and fitted so precise. I have a Chiappa 45-70 version of this and while it's a nice gun and it's very accurate, it's fit is not nearly as polished as this is. The wood is nicer on this, the case hardening looks extremely well done just everything about it is a couple of ticks above the Chiappa.




It has this very unique floating gas seal plate. As you can see by the picture it goes around the flash port and is sealed by a o-ring. It is supposed to keep the gas from venting out between the block and the breach. I guess we'll see how well it does if it doesn't do very well then I may reach out to Charlie Hahn and have him do one of his Sharps breech block conversions on it.

 

[Dog1]

Well today I decided to try my hand at some cartridges with my first batch of linen. I'm not sure if it might be too thick or not, I just got in some thinner linen cloth that I have already used the wallpaper sizer on. So I'll wait for it to dry and then see how it goes.

So first you need to find the depth of your chamber. To do that you get a half inch dowel rod and you glue a bullet to the end of it. You take a pair of dial calipers and you measure the skirt on the bullet where the linen cartridge will be attached to, then you take some adhesive aluminum tape and wrap it around the dowel until it matches the diameter of the skirt of the bullet. Once you have that done you insert it into the chamber and you draw a line where the end of the chamber is near the falling block.



As you can see here my overall length is 1.60. You measure it from the first driving band right above the skirt down to the line that you draw. Now it's time to make the cartridge body. So what I did is I laid out a section of my size linen on my bench and then I marked from the top of the skirt near the driving band and at where I drew the line on the aluminum tape showing My overall length. I did the same on the other side of the linen sheet and then I cut the appropriate size strips. Then I made one that was a template and that is the one that I will use to make all the other cartridge bodies.
Once you have your template made you can start cutting out your squares. Once you have your squares cut then it's time to start making the bodies. Making one at a time take your glue stick and liberally coat one end from corner to corner about a little over a quarter of the way back from the edge you want to be able to tack it good.


Next you line it up with the skirt on the bullet and make sure the lines with the line that you drew on the dowel. Tightly wrapping it around the best you can until the glue strip is in contact with the linen hold it in place for about 30 seconds. Then you can withdraw it and stick it somewhere where it can stand up and dry. I found that a 45-70 case block for reloading works perfect.





Now after about 20 minutes of my first one drying I can test fit one of my Richmond Laboratories bullets.


Looks like it's going to work now I let them dry completely overnight and then I can come down and create the base that will either be tracing paper or white tissue paper that you use when wrapping gifts. Haven't decided yet. May try both and see what happens. After I make the bases I will make up one or two dummy rounds to see how they fit. If everything goes according to plan then I can start putting powder, my Cream of Wheat filler to take away the air gap between the base of the bullet and the powder, then put a little lube on the bullet and hopefully start sending them down range

 

[Dog1]

I got ahead of myself and decided to go ahead and test one of my dummy rounds. The cartridge oal is spot on

 

[Dog1]

Well there's been some trial and error with the experimental cases. I wanted to make sure they actually ignited. Out of the six that I made only one ignited and there was a lag between the percussion going off and the cartridge going off.

Going to try some nitrite coated bases to see if that might help. I have three different type of musket caps- CCI, RWS and Schuetzen.

Right now I'm flummoxed.

 

[Alamo]

… take your glue stick and …

Your’e using a period correct glue stick made out of boiled deer hooves, right?

Seriously, this is pretty cool, keep posting progress reports and good luck.

 

[Dog1]

Yes...excavated at Gettysburg

 

[Dog1]

So apparently part of the issues with ignition with this carbine is that the percussion nipple is oddly shaped and doesn't really fit any of the known percussion caps. So I had to order one that is more suitable.

 

[Dingleberry]

Beautiful rifle man! Oughta be a thumper.

 

[Reale1741]

I've wanted to get one of these, but they always seem to be just out of my price range. Years ago I found an original Confederate made Sharps bullet mold, the only one known to exist. It still casts a PERFECT bullet!

As for being period correct, you'd need drafting linen. That is what the original sharps cartridges are made with. It's paper thin. Unfortunately they haven't made it in probably close to 75 years, so it's very hard to find unless you come across some old blueprints. I have a small stockpile of it I've found at different estate sales.

Here are some pictures of the mold I have. I see you're in Clark County too. If you want a few to try, I'd be happy to give you some.

 

[Slow Hand]

Very cool! Pedersoli makes a qua gun for sure. Looking for to hearing more about it.

 

[Creedmoor]

What pushed you to use Shooters World black powder substitute, over easy light real black powder?

 

[Dog1]

I've wanted to get one of these, but they always seem to be just out of my price range. Years ago I found an original Confederate made Sharps bullet mold, the only one known to exist. It still casts a PERFECT bullet!

As for being period correct, you'd need drafting linen. That is what the original sharps cartridges are made with. It's paper thin. Unfortunately they haven't made it in probably close to 75 years, so it's very hard to find unless you come across some old blueprints. I have a small stockpile of it I've found at different estate sales.

Here are some pictures of the mold I have. I see you're in Clark County too. If you want a few to try, I'd be happy to give you some.

Dafting linen... I didn't know that's what it was called. Thank you very much, as for that bullet mode you are lucky I would love to have found that! And I just might take you up on your offer of some bullets.

And what diameter do they cast at? That is also interesting that they have a rounded base it's not flat.

I have decided to try combustible paper cartridges to see if that works out better.

 

[Reale1741]

Dafting linen... I didn't know that's what it was called. Thank you very much, as for that bullet mode you are lucky I would love to have found that! And I just might take you up on your offer of some bullets.

And what diameter do they cast at? That is also interesting that they have a rounded base it's not flat.

I have decided to try combustible paper cartridges to see if that works out better.

This variant of Sharps bullet is called the "Rocker Base" Sharps, and they've only been found in camps associated with Texas and Arkansas troops. They're incredibly rare. I have a couple theories as to why they have that base. One is that it makes them so much easier to put in the cartridge. My other theory is that it was for aerodynamics. Basically equivalent to today's boat tail bullets. They cast out to be right at about .536, give or take a thou.

 

[Dog1]

I can see your theory about the curved base. Easy to load into a cartridge and the aerodynamics. That is very interesting that it was associated with Texas and Arkansas troops.
I do like how the demarcation line between the driving band and the skirt is a little more pronounced as well as the lube ring is deeper.

Thank you so much for the information that is really awesome and such a great piece of history. Which I love history.

I do believe I'm going to hit you up for a couple of your samples just to see how they shoot. I'll get in touch with you here as soon as I make sure the gun actually goes bang. Unless I need to send it off to either Charlie Hahn or Larry Flees

 

[Dog1]

Well little update. I am 0 for 6 on getting any of my paper cartridges to ignite. There is enough flame to punch a hole through the curler paper base but not enough to ignite the powder. I have reached out and consulted a man that is highly thought of in the North/South Skirmish Association, Charlie Hahn.

There are several issues with this version of the Pedersoli Sharps carbine, dating back to the 70s when a man named Garrett contracted out to Pedersoli to build his version of the Sharps carbine. His version had the sliding chamber in it- the original did not and he designed it to have the floating plate in front of the breach block. In addition to that the breech block face and the plate is not true to the face of the receiver. It either leans forward at the top, or it leans forward at the bottom and it's not true to the face of the breach.

In addition to those errors, the clean out screw that holds the brass breach block plug in place is too short. It is not flush with the flash channel that runs through the brass plug so the flame of the percussion cap bottoms out and loses its impetus when it impacts the short area of the cleanout screw.

Charlie gave me some tips on getting the breach block plate to set true and he is sending me one of his longer cleanout screws. That is going to be an interim fix until I decide to send it to him and have him fix the things that should be right to begin with like not having the sliding chamber sleeve. Not exactly what I wanted to hear after spending what I spent on this. But I'm now determined to make it work