#Sharps

During the latter years of the American Civil War and Indian Wars, the technological revolution in cartridge firearms played out in the battlefields of America.  Single-shot metallic cartridge firearms represented a massive increase in firepower and efficiency over loose powder.  Shortly thereafter, repeating metallic cartridge firearms gave the individual even more volume of fire.

As I get older and the world changes in so many ways, one thing that thankfully always feels the same to me is Christmas and the holiday season in general. Whether it is decorating the tree or chatting with my family, there is always something that makes me think back to when I was younger and Santa was a thing. I remember the top three things on my list as a kid; a Daisy Red Ryder bb gun, a plasma ball, and a paintball gun. Santa only felt like a Red Ryder was good enough so that is what I ended up with and as beat to crap, as it is, I still have it and cherish it as much as the day I opened it up.

Broadsword Group, LLC, the owners of Sharps Rifle Company (makers of the Relia-Bolt and .25-45 Sharps upper receivers for the AR-15), has been ordered to pay nearly three quarters of a million dollars to one of its founding members, Michael H. Blank, by the US District Court of Eastern Missouri. The case began when Blank alleged that Sharps Rifle Company owed him stake in the company and that they had walked away with intellectual property (IP) that he owned. Most significantly, perhaps, is the ruling on allegations of fraud against both Broadsword Group’s President and their CEO:

While many firearm companies in the last year are having layoffs, consolidation or talk of bankruptcy, Sharps Rifle Company looks to expand. They recently dropped a press release statement through “The Shooting Wire” on July 12th detailing their excited expansion.

Variety is the spice of life.  In the firearm industry, there is a hell of a lot of variety when it comes to cartridge selection, particularly out of the nowadays ubiquitous AR15 platform.  One of the newer cartridge choices for medium game hunting out of the AR15 is the .25-45 Sharps. For in-depth analysis on the .25-45 Sharps cartridge, including the the providence of it’s rather unconventional nomenclature, Nathaniel F. has written two articles on the subject that can be found found here and here.  Sharps Rifle Company was nice enough to send us one of their uppers chambered in this caliber for testing, along with some of their 87gr loads with Speer Hot-Cor SP bullets.

On the heels of the 7.62x40mm WT, we are now going to take a look at another former wildcat based on the 5.56mm case, the .25-45 Sharps, a round I’ve discussed before. This .25 caliber round existed for years as the .25-223, a niche quarterbore caliber used mostly for predator hunting and similar rounds like John Wooters’ .25-222 Copperhead and Wayne Blackwell’s .25×47 have existed since the 1960s. However, the .25-45 Sharps is the first time the .25 caliber bore and the .222 Remington case family (in this case, .223 Remington) have been united in a factory offering, and one of the first .25 caliber rounds to be marketed to law enforcement and the tactical world, in addition to hunters. That makes it a candidate for this series, so let’s take a look at some ballistics:

This is one of those posts I’ve been meaning to get to for a while, but haven’t really felt the urge to write.

Lyman Products is selling a reproduction of the 1877 model Sharps rifle mated with the Lyman tang sight to create a gun they call the 1878 Sharps rifle. This specific tang sight was introduced in 1878, hence the gun’s name. The guns are made to Lyman specifications by Pedersoli.

Davide Perdersoli & C. had a great many firearms on display at the recent SHOT Show. Among them were the modern reproductions of the 1874 Sharps chambered in .22 LR. The guns have beautiful wood stocks and a a black burnished finish.

Michael H. Blank, formerly of the Broadsword Group, LLC and Sharps Rifle company has formally filed suit against his former employer. Mr. Blank contends that he is owed a 10% royalty based on a verbal contract between Broadsword and himself for IP he brought to the company. Mr. Blank designed the 25-45 Sharps cartridge and alluded to be the designer of the Relia-Bolt.

Sharps Rifle Company had a small, but significant booth. They were there primarily to focus on two products: the relia-bolt and their new cartridge, the Sharps .25-45

Ah the Sharps rifle, my nemesis. I say this because every time I am at the range shooting for distance, there seems to be an older guy or two shooting cast lead ammo through a Sharps using tang sights and black powder loads who make me look like a complete noobie. That being said, to me the Sharps is the most beautiful single shot breech loader to ever grace our planet.