If you attended Gordon’s historical firearms presentation last week at the Writers Cantina, you heard him talk about the Sharps rifle. The main section of this episode, originally aired in July of 2016, elaborates even further. Made extra popular by the wonderful film “Quigley Down Under”, starring Tom Selleck, it’s just a great, iconic firearm.
Note: in this episode Gordon mentions photos of shooting the Halls carbine at night. We found every pic from that event except the night shoot stuff, sadly. Instead here’s a good video demonstrating the carbine including some slo-mo at the end showing the flash all around the breech.
A marvel of 19th century ballistic engineering, any of the various incarnations of the Sharps rifle is a treasure. This week we talk about the history and development of the brainchild of Christian Sharps.
Show notes and links:
Roth Steyr 1907 at a Run-n-Gun Steel Match (Forgotten Weapons)
Classic Single Shot Rifles - YouTube (Hickock45)
Lyman Sharps Model of 1878 Chapter 2 (Hickock45)
Quigley Down Under (1990)
1st United States Sharpshooters (Berdan's)
Billy Dixon Billy Dixon's impossible shot at the Second Battle of Adobe Walls
The Sharps Rifle