http://www.terrywieland.com/Creedmoor.htm

By John Amber's rifle inspired Terry Wieland was.
That's a little Yoda-speak.
I just saw Star Wars VIII, 40 years on!
No broomhandle Mausers made to look like rayguns in the latest episode.
But inspire it did me to think of the reverse:
The more modern Ruger No.1 trimmed up like the older Sharps 1874 Creedmoor-style rifle.
No techno-fiction/science-fantasy there.



I got a Rolling Block in 40-65 Winchester,
so I am ready to take the 30" barrel off of a Pedersoli Sharps 1874 also in 40-65.
Hopefully it can be made to fit on the Ruger No.1 action and get chambered for 40-90 Sharps Necked.
It won't have a Gemmer-style ramrod, due to the Ruger No.1 forearm hanger.
But the donor Sharps is destined to be re-barreled to 20 Gauge 3.5", aka the 62-240 Sharps Straight 3.5".






The Ruger No.1 in 40-90 Sharps BN will serve to teach me paper-patching, which I might also apply to the "real," exposed-hammer, BPCR rifle in 40-65 WCF.
Both will have .408"-groove/.400"-bore/1:16" twist barrels.
Hopefully twist is not too fast for paper-patched slugs.
A "slick" of soft lead, .392" diameter. and 400-grains +/- will be needed for paper-patching.
I have been reading the book.

Rip ...

You can't go wrong with this kind of thinking and experimentation. So, do it.
Now, I have done the paper patched bullet thing, and you will quickly grow tired of it as it is tedious and does not produce any better results than grease groove bullets, but, again, you have to do it to know that.
Controlling fouling on bottleneck BP cartridges is not easy. I have done everything from grease wads, blow tubes, which work; now I use duplex loads to avoid drama. Illegal in NRA competition though.
I understand the attraction and am definitely not trying to dissuade you from anything.
As for switching barrels, the Ruger threads are one inch 16 TPI and Sharps are 1.125 square, ten TPI (same as 1917 enfield). So, no problem there.
Anyway, I like these kinds of projects.

Good project and a load of fun!
I shoot paper patched bullets in my 450/400 3” Ruger No.1, with smokeless so far but a stout black powder load would work just as well I would think although my patched bullets finish out at .410”

That’s the one second from the left.

Very pretty.
Another bit of history which everyone already knows; most paper patched bullets of the BP era were Bore diameter. Chambers had no throat or leade, (like the reamer in the above picture) and the bullets were seated very shallowly in the cases, and extended far into the rifling. They usually contained compressed black powder, a card wad, and a grease wad. I have disassembled original cartridges to see. The black powder ignition impulse bumped the bullets up to groove diameter.
This method will not work with that modern propellent that makes no smoke. Hence the bullets are made groove diameter and made to act like copper jacketed or grease groove lead, bullets.

Yes, that is why my patched bullet is .410”
Works great with smokeless loads but the fouling from using black would very likely cause chambering difficulty with a bullet that big.
Also, there seem to be some very notable differences in how the Americans loaded vs how the British loaded their black powder cartridges.
In America, it was common practice to load as much powder as could be compressed into the case and seat the bullet way out while the British tended to seat the bullets deeper into the case neck and if there was more powder capacity needed, they would just increase the volume of the case and make a different version.
Also, as far as I know, they didn’t use lube cookies in their loads - the original British cartridges I have dismantled have had a solid wad column between powder and bullet but greased felt wads were common then too so I suppose that the sportsman could just use whatever worked for them in the conditions they were hunting.
It is all very fascinating and enjoyable.

Use a duplex load and you will not have any fouling problems at all because there won't be any. Up to ten percent of the BP charge, I use 5744. No fouling.
British loads didn't use any form of fouling control because they weren't shooting hundreds of rounds at bison at one sitting.

That mak s sense.
I’ve never tried a duplex load. It’s something I should do.

You should; I talked about this somewhere before here, but I started out successful BPCR shooting in 1990; now, I had been shooting them a couple of decades before that, but getting uniform accuracy was elusive. Until I started using soft lead bullets, and a blow tube. Accuracy dramatically improved, but the blow tube was a nuisance. I also used a grease wad and experimented with all recipes of those. Then, I got lazy and started duplex loading with 5744 and 4759 (not legal in some matches). Wow, another re-discovery. That's all I use now and your bore will look perfectly clean after each shot. Don't go over ten percent smokeless, Lyman did tests and showed that pressures start going up way over BP pressures at some point.

Thanks for the replies. y'all.
My bore diameter is .400", groove .408".
I was planning to patch a .392" bullet up to .400" and use the duplex (BP and AA-5744) technique that dpcd taught me for the .50-70 Govt. "Little Bighorn" loads.
Worked well there.
If I used smokeless, I would just forget the paper patch and use grease-groove bullets at .409" diameter.

Rip ...

RIP, look forward to seeing your finished rifle perform!

RIP: Any updates on this project?

Bill,

Thanks for the interest.
My Gunsmith was injured, hurt a finger pretty bad while heaving boulders in a creek on his farm.
Soon as he has rehabilitated the hand ...

We have the parts lined out, and he is working on a very special project for me ahead of this one.
It is the "62-240 Sharps Straight 3.5-Inch."
Yep, 20 gauge 3.5" on a Sharps 1874 Pedersoli.

It will have some special engineering involved.
No decorative Hartford Collar on the barrel.
But there will be a functional "Falls of Rough Collar" on the Verney-Carron rifled 20g barrel to mate it to the Pedersoli action.

The stub of the Pedersoli 40-65 WCF barrel will be the basis for the Falls of Rough Collar on the 62-240 Sharps Straight.
It is to be a short sleeve threaded on the inside to accept the VC barrel threads,
threaded on the outside to go into the Pedersoli action.
Or it could be made from any big-enough barrel stub.
Final call is to the Gunsmith.

That will leave at least 28" of tapered octagon .408-grooved barrel for the Ruger No.1 in 40-90 Sharps BN.

It has been complicated by the Gunsmith's injury.
Godspeed in his healing and recovery of full use of that hand.
Some magicians require two hands to do the magic.

Rip ...

Rip: Now that's one fascinating project! Have you been channeling Sir Samuel Baker or something? Did you get the Verney Carron barrel from Ken Buch?
Now we have TWO swell projects cooking. Hope you smith's hand heals ahead of schedule.

Action and wood for the 62-240, barrel for 40-90:



VC barrel came from Ed Hubel:



To Sir Samuel "Quigley" Baker then:



Rip ...

Progress is slow, but I am working on it.
One of these days the Gunsmith will be too.
I might be paper-patching by then.








Rip ...