While I have been looking at a Sharps, I came across this Italian maker of arms.

From what I have been able to glean, this mob build nicer, lighter, cheaper rifles than Pedersoli.

Furthermore, Pedersoli are ars..Ah ahem. Unpleasant to deal with and don't bother answering e-mail.

http://www.iabarms.com

Check them out.

I have only seen one at the range and the owner couldn't get the f/thing to shoot. We did a bit of measuring and bore inspections and found that IAB have funny bore sizes.

For example 45/70 has a bore of 451 (pistol barrel)not 458. This makes shooting regular cast bullets a bit tight and I have been told that you need to size them to 452 at least. Then regular 45/70 sizing dies don't size down enough to hold a projectile so you have to use a 45LC sizer to bring the neck down.

Sunshine Coast Gunsmiths has a wrecked one in the shop and he said it is a piece of shit! I examined this one and thought the wood / metal fit & finish was a bit poor even compared to Pedersoli's.

In the cheaper than Pedersoli line, Armi San Marco or Uberti are much better options.

Both these guns were about 10 years old so they may have sparked up their act a bit. The yanks on BPCR forum say much the same.