a friend of mine has an original 1863 Sharps Carbine with factory conversion of 1867 to 50-70
( has 6 groove barrel ) he is complaining of the cartridge getting stuck in the chamber. I suggested he try a different bullet. he is using a .535 dia. and he has to turn the end to fit the brass case. I read several different sites that they should be using a 525 dia. bullet. just seems like the pressures would be higher trying to stuff the larger dia. down the bore.
any helpful info on this so i can convience him to not ruin this old antique rifle ?

He would do well to slug the barrel. The 50-70 Springfield used a 450gr .515" bullet. My 1868 Trapdoor does very well with the Lee 450gr bullet as it casts right at .515. The Lyman version of the same bullet casts at .412" and won't hit the backstop at 50yds. It shoots just fine out of a new Shiloh though. Use soft lead, with a proper charge of black powder and a firm crimp to help the bullet bump up to fill the rifling.

Jerry Liles

By "cartridge getting stuck in the chamber" I assume you mean just the bullet gets stuck? Agree, he needs to slug the bore and make sure the seating depth (OAL) is correct. If he is actually trying to get a full 70g of black powder in a modern, "non-baloon" head case, it may just be too long. Also, the case mouth should be expanded to the actual correct (determined by slugging) bullet dia. Otherwise, seating a soft lead bullet in the tight case neck will swedge it down and it won't shoot worth a damn. Thanks for being careful with a classic old antique and good luck!

actually, we did that. the slug measured .535. but there is no way you will get that dia. to fit into the case mouth. i have read that if the barrels were not changed out ( 6 groove ) that the accuracy was out the window. but that is what they did in 1866. is turning the bullet base down reccomended ? i would not think so, but strangers things are out there !

Turning down the bullet base does not make sense to me. Why not expand the case mouth to fit the bullet? If you can "turn" down a bullet base (with a lathe?) surely you can make yourself a larger expander plug on the same machine. Without a chamber cast you won't really know for sure but if a case mouth expanded to .525" ID will chamber ok (neck ID expanded to the .525" OD bullet diameter) it should shoot fine IF the bullet type and OAL is correct for the chamber. A soft lead bullet (for a single shot rifle) should NOT be seated tightly in the case like a modern jacketed bullet. Hope I'm not missing something or telling you stuff you already know.

Jon

thanks for the info. not sure how to cast the chamber. I just guessed from the research that the conversions that were NOT rebarreled were not meant to be tack drivers. not sure how he was "turning" the bullet base. he wants me to "sleeve" the chamber. i have serious doubts and do not really want to "sleeve" anything on this great old pc.I want to hang it on my wall but he won't sell it !!