Scopes on Sharps rifles ?

[Old Savage]

When did scopes begin to appear on Sharps rifles. Were they used before that?

[jnyork]

A little history that might be of interest: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescopic_sights#History

Excellent old article by Townsend Whelen: http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/20 ... helen.html

[Malamute]

Some of the sniper rifles used in the Civil War were scoped, both muzzle loading and breech loading. In "Firearms of the American West", it was mentioned that a particular hunter in Colorado in the 1860's I believe, had a scope on his rifle. The other guys in the hunting party made fun of it at first, but after shooting it and hunting with it, most had scopes by the next year.

A few buffalo hunters had scope sights on Sharps rifles, but they weren't common.

[Don McDowell]

Ned Roberts speaks highly of the Malcolm scopes in the Creedmoor matches. There were even scopes that used fixed mounts but the lenses were changed out for each distance on the target range.
There are several accounts of buffalo hunters having Groove ,Fruends and others install scopes on their buffalo rifles.

[Cimarron]

The book "Reloading Tools, Sights and Telescopes for Single Shot Rifles" by Gerald O. Kelver has a chapter devoted to the telescopic sight. William Malcolm, L. M. Mogg, J. W. Sidle and Milton P. Pierce all produced telescopic sights for use by Union forces in the Civil War.

[kimwcook]

The current copies of ole timey scopes; Leatherwoods and MVA's look historically appropriate and cool if you ask me. If I had an extra $1,000 plus lying around I'd have me an MVA on my Shiloh.

[Old Savage]

looks like scopes predated levers.

[Don McDowell]

The current copies of ole timey scopes; Leatherwoods and MVA's look historically appropriate and cool if you ask me. If I had an extra $1,000 plus lying around I'd have me an MVA on my Shiloh.

I put together one of the short leatherwood in the DZ unertl mounts, like the combo that Buffalo Arms sells, and have it mounted on ol Buttugly, but have not been able to do any shooting with it yet.

[Malamute]

looks like scopes predated levers.

Yeah, but you'd never know it from some of the comments that come up when some mentions scoping their levers.

[M. M. Wright]

I remember Mike Venturino saying that more Sharps went out the door wearing scopes than those those that didn't. I sure would like to put one on my Sharps clone.

[Old Savage]

Mal, I think they just tend to think scopes are mostly a modern thing - not at the time of the levers thought to be most traditional.

[jnyork]

Old Savage, I think you would really enjoy this book, very educational and well worth the money: http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?qwork ... ng*buyused

[Cimarron]

I put one on my Shiloh back in the mid '80's. It is one of the cheepies from Navy Arms. 4X, 3/4" brass with a 3" extension to give me proper eye relief for my 30" barrel Shiloh. Chuck Pingry made me a set (it was the 10th set he made) of Malcolm style mounts for it. The front mount adjusts for windage and the rear for elevation. All this was pretty cheep back in the mid '80's. I think I gave less than a hundred bucks for the scope and maybe a little over a hundred for the mounts. But then I only gave $510 for the #3 Shiloh which I orderd from them with heavy barrel and german silver nose cap.

[Ben_Rumson]

Here's a free online read about Buff hunting and other adventures with scoped Sharps' and Rolling Blocks..told in the first person http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resourc ... uffalo.htm

A sample...
One adventure I had early in my running years will always remain in my memory. It could have been my closest shave. It was a trick by the plains Indians, and I'll tell you about it This time I was with McRae's outfit, and it was twilight, and I was bored with campfire talk, and decided I'd take a walk over the hill to the east. Our horses were grazing unhobbled in a little hollow a couple of hundred yards away: we aimed to close-herd them without any staking, as we had come far that day and they were tired.

I was just returning to camp when I thought I saw some low moving objects topping a hill rise beyond the horses. I had Mac's rifle along with a good 'scope, 10-power. I crawled to another hilltop, took a look through the 'scope. I made out two objects. The first was half a dozen bucks, crawling like snakes to a vantage point that would command our camp. The other was three bucks busily engaged in lashing a big quantity of grass and dry brush on the back of a miserable pony, just the other side of the hill, out of sight of our camp. At the time I didn't understand the pony business; but I knew that the crawling bucks were up to no good. I crawled down the hill, hotfooted it to camp, told McRae what I'd seen.

He was hep to the whole game.

"That's a fire pony," he explained. "They're going to set fire to the pony's load, when it's dark enough, and drive it into our horse herd and stampede the whole bunch;

[marlinman93]

I have a number of old singleshot rifles with original old scopes. I personally love the old guns and old scopes, but some of the repros are nice scopes too, and very faithful copies. The Zettler Bros. Ballard (3rd pic down) has a Stevens scope sitting in a pair of HMPope mounts; one of only 50 pairs that Harry Pope built and sold.

[model55]

Don't you just hate getting drool out of the keyboard?

[Malamute]

Here's an early 94 carbine with a scope.

[RIHMFIRE]

I have a number of old singleshot rifles with original old scopes. I personally love the old guns and old scopes, but some of the repros are nice scopes too, and very faithful copies. The Zettler Bros. Ballard (3rd pic down) has a Stevens scope sitting in a pair of HMPope mounts; one of only 50 pairs that Harry Pope built and sold.

those are awesome...

[marlinman93]

Here's an early 94 carbine with a scope.

malamute, do you know the maker on your scope? That's very cool!

[piller]

I wish I could remember where it was, but I remember seeing pictures of sharpshooters from the Civil War with scoped Sharps rifles. All I remember is that they were the agressors. (Union to those above the Mason-Dixon line)

[Don McDowell]

Not everything that looks like a scope was a scope, some where just tube sights.

[Malamute]

Here's an early 94 carbine with a scope.

malamute, do you know the maker on your scope? That's very cool!

JW Sidle, Philidaelphia.

It isn't mine, it turned up on another forum, the guy was asking about its value for a friend. It also has a shotgun butt. He got a lot of good advice, like it wasnt original (and what fool would scope a pre-war carbine, blah blah blah,...), so was worth dirt, and the buttstock was obviosly wrong, etc.

The Museum did free checks at the summer Cody Winchester show, so I had them run that gun. The butttock is original. Shotgun butt with hard rubber butt plate. The info on sights wasnt clear, the lady said sometimes the info simply isnt very clear or complete. In other words, she couldnt say if the scope or sights were factory or not. I have the paper somewhere, it technically isnt a factory letter, but has the basic information that a letter does. The gun has the scope, a 3 leaf express sight and ivory bead front. No telling what was on it from the factory. Cool gun tho. I wasnt in a position to buy it. I don't know what he did with it. I can find out if you're interested. I have more pics also. The gun was made in 1900, serial is 918XX.

[marlinman93]

Here's an early 94 carbine with a scope.

malamute, do you know the maker on your scope? That's very cool!

JW Sidle, Philidaelphia.

It isn't mine, it turned up on another forum, the guy was asking about its value for a friend. It also has a shotgun butt. He got a lot of good advice, like it wasnt original (and what fool would scope a pre-war carbine, blah blah blah,...), so was worth dirt, and the buttstock was obviosly wrong, etc.

The Museum did free checks at the summer Cody Winchester show, so I had them run that gun. The butttock is original. Shotgun butt with hard rubber butt plate. The info on sights wasnt clear, the lady said sometimes the info simply isnt very clear or complete. In other words, she couldnt say if the scope or sights were factory or not. I have the paper somewhere, it technically isnt a factory letter, but has the basic information that a letter does. The gun has the scope, a 3 leaf express sight and ivory bead front. No telling what was on it from the factory. Cool gun tho. I wasnt in a position to buy it. I don't know what he did with it. I can find out if you're interested. I have more pics also. The gun was made in 1900, serial is 918XX.

Thanks for the details Malamute! I was guessing it was a Sidle, but just guessing. Always amuses me what "experts" will say is correct without any knowledge of what a factory letter says. Had one stop me at an auction once after I bought a 1876 Win. with 26" barrel and set trigger, to tell me I'd purchased a chopped barrel gun. I know he was bidding against me, and was upset he lost, so he had to tell me the bad news.
When I got my yellow sheet from Cody it said the gun was indeed a 30" barrel originally, and was pulled from the warehouse, rebarreld as a 26" and shipped to a customer. I saw the guy at our local gun show a few months later and told him what the letter stated. He was not a happy camper, but I sure was.