I was leaning towards the High Wall since I liked the way the walls protected the hammer and made it look a bit more streamlined, and because they were still in production until 1918, they were capable of smokeless cartridges and might've been more ideal than a long-out-of-production Sharps rifle for a turn-of-the-century shooter's big-bore rifle.
Email to C Sharps asking if the High Wall and/or R-H actions could handle a .450 or .470NE came back with "High wall in 450 probably work just fine". So I guess that's a plan!
Now that is pretty.
thats beautiful work right there.
Hi Quarter Horse. This has actually turned from a conversion to a up-from-scratch build using a C Sharps or MVA action now. Converting would present a problem with the rim thicknesses that I'm not sure could be rectified, and if C Sharps can do me a full rifle, it may not be much difference in cost anyway.
Beautiful!!
I know this is an old thread, but I just thought if anybody is looking for info on what has been discussed here, I might be a little help. I have built five guns based on C. Sharps action's, I would not try this with imports or any investment casting American actions because the C. Sharps actions are made from a solid chunk of heat treated 8620 chrome moly steel, they are VERY strong and can handle just about any of the big British elephant cartridges and more. The calibers I built on were 338/348 Improved, 26 Krag Improved, 338 Lapua, 500/416 Nitro Express and a 416 Chey-Tac, the Chey-Tac being the largest and most powerful of the bunch. I've shot hundreds of rounds thru these guns with no harm to the actions. Another tidbit, the Sharps extractor CAN be made to work with a rimless cartridge, but you have to be careful when loading the round in, but they eject just fine.
I took the 416 CT (408 necked up to 416) out of service for a while because it was just getting too expensive to shoot anymore, I re-barreled it to the 26 Krag and it's still a work in progress. I've had the 338 Lap for about seven years now and shoot it often, although it too is getting a bit expensive to shoot. My 500/416 Nitro Express was going to be mostly a black powder/ cast lead project but after initial range testing, it shows promise to be a really good jacketed and cast bullet shooter, will do more testing this summer for it. I also have a BAT action bench gun that I chambered three barrels for, in 26 Nosler, 416 CT and 51-Short Gibbs (my own designed wildcat). I like building stuff you can't buy over the counter. My creations are not for any kind of competition but just for fun mostly. I do like to varmint hunt, and living in Idaho, it gives me plenty of long-range shooting practice. You should see the looks on kids' faces when I drag out a 40 pound "varmint" rifle!! LOL!
As a matter of fact, I just got handed a Rolling Block project by a good friend of mine. He wants me to see if a 50-90 Sharps will work in it, if so, to continue. I remember some years ago an article I read about a similar project done by some guys that worked at RCBS, they were attemping to chamber either a 45-120 or a 50-140 and found that the cartridge was too long so they cut the case down to 2 7/8" before it would fit, the problem, they found was getting the longer case to clear over the hammer and block. I came up with a test for a problem like this some years back when the question of the idea might not work, was to machine up a short "mock-up" barrel out of a piece of aluminum or plastic (UHMW works very well) camber it and cut needed extractor clearance in it, this way I'm not risking a $500 dollar barrel against the possibility it might not work.
Haha perhaps so! Think I'll actually see if the seller would be open to a trade for the Pedersoli trapdoor I have. If not a full swap, might at least lighten the load on my wallet a bit. The roller even comes with several rounds of smokeless-for-black ammo and reloading dies, so that's even more of a plus.
My buddy & his wife (who has the Rem RB) has done 2 African hunts in the past 4 years, the last was for the "little lady" she got a Nyala with a 40-70 400g CL black powder round in a Sharps Borchardt. Your 450 BPE should be no problem. How about a Winchester 405 in a M-95? "Teddy" was enamored with this set-up.
99% of game I'm interested in should be more than okay, between it and my Lee-Speed. The only one I question is, I believe, an eland. That may require some careful load-tweaking to get legally-sufficient energy.
Or just have your guide get you close enough. Ross Seifried hunted these animals with a 500 Linebaugh 485g CLGC in a 5.5" Ruger Bisley, 1200 fps. I think he even took an elephant with this set-up.
After checking, the BPE should come in right at the legal limit, but I would not expect a safari company to quibble too much over such a small difference in ft/lb when it's a hefty .458-calibre chunk of metal being sent downrange. It certainly surpasses the minimum calibre requirement.
