Is there any difference in the basic accuracy of these actions? Triggers? etc. I am seriously considering buying either a Little Sharps or a Ballard (probably in .38-55) and really don't know much about single shots. Any KNOWLEDGEABLE help or advice would be appreciated.

the ballard is potentially more accurate due to a lighter, centrally located hammer and quicker lock time. the sharps is the stronger of the two. hope this helps.

First Question what do you want it for ? Hunting ? Target ? Both ? 40/65 is a better Caliber for all sports , I have a ballard 45/70 it cams the cartridges in tight , I have a Shilo Sharps 40/90 I had to make a hollow end mill to take cuts around the rims of all my brass to make them fit the chamber , I have Bell brass and the Australian brass ,both needed end mill cutting to fit the sharps , as for accuracy flip a coin . 40/65 is made from 45/70 brass, RCBS has the forming dies for making the .050 decrease in size , Brass is very easy to aquire and cheap . You can buy an action from Cody wyoming for the ballard or a finished rifle , You can also look at www.gunbroker.com for you dream rifle .I love both of mine but the Ballard is the least problamatic , My favorite for everything is 40/65 Rem/Roll/Blk 34" barrel I have gain twist rifling , and shoot 420 grain Lyman .408 wheel weight bullets , I got it at a gun show it was a 7mm from Mexico military style . best rifle I think I have for black powder target or whatever ?

Thanks for the info.

Perhaps my initial post was a bit misleading, unintentionally. I own quite a few single shots, including, but not limited to at least 2 rolling blocks, one in .30-30, and one in .45-70, one C. Sharps in .45-70, quite a few Brownings, EABs, and some others I've probably left out (don't own any in .40 caliber tho, gotta fix that hole one of these days ). BUT, I don't shoot them all that much due to personal time contraints, nor do I have any real knowledge about their inner workings. With the exception of the EABs and some of the Brownings, they're all to heavy for convenient carry. I like the EABs but haven't really shot them as much as I should have and with the exception of one in .30-30 are in kind of weird cartridges for hunting, specifically .357 magnum (the pistol round) and 6mmPPC.

At any rate, the guns in question are mostly for hunting and personal range work AND BECAUSE I WANT THEM LOL, not real (in the sense of competitive) target work. Its been my experience, backed up by my reading that most of the .30 caliber BP type rounds seem to shoot better than most, if not all, of the .40s at what I call reasonable hunting ranges for this type of cartride, 200m and under. Perhaps this is recoil related but it certainly seems to hold up in my shooting experience as well as the better groups I've seen or heard of being shot. The 40s seem to be popular because they have the "uumph" (technical term) to knock over silhouettes at the longer ranges while not having quite the recoil of the heavier .45s.

At any rate, I like the .38-55, find it entirely adequate for hogs and local whitetails, and like the way it shoots. I've got a Marlin CB in .38-55 which is quite accurate and was a leading player in my version of a hog killing OK corral (9 dead wild hogs in about 10 seconds). I am looking at the "repro" Ballard or the Little Sharps for a fun hunting, target gun which may not clear up the fog caused by my much shorter initial post, but is as close as my foggy writing can get to decribe my intended uses. I've "looked" at (on the net) several Little Sharps currently available that are adequately tricked out but in the wrong cartridge. However, I'm patient and don't want to pay "full boat" retail by ordering from Dakota as well as I can evaluate the wood much better after it is finished.

I'd consider a Miller, but since, dressed in about the same style, they seem to cost about twice as much as either of the above, I will probably not buy one of them.

Well Gato if a deal is what your looking for ? Try Here www.gunbroker.com good luck !

Concho:

Thanks, but I peruse all the gun auction sites fairly regularly. There is no little Sharps listed on gunbroker at this time. There is one Ballard in .38-55 but it has a very plain stock. Since I'm a wood nut, the stock figure is very important to me.

Gunsamerica has a nice L. Sharps but it is in .218 Bee. Champlin has another, but again, wrong caliber. Dakota has one listed in .38-55 with a good Turkish stock, but it is about $1000 higher than I'd like to be in the rifle. When you buy as many as I do, you learn patience. Or at least you try to learn patience.

I don't expect a steal, just a deal.

Personally, I wouldn't buy a Little Sharps in any caliber. I guess I just don't see the point in such a mutant.

The Ballard is a fine rifle, but I presume you will be shooting smokeless and that being the case, the Winchester highwall in .38-55 is really a better choice. You can't break the sear if you drop the block with the hammer cocked. It comes up cocked when you raise the block, and it carries very very nicely in a very light weight package (say a 30" #2 barrel).

If you are going to shoot black powder cartridges however, get a Ballard Pacific and never look back.

Brent

Brent My highwall only comes up half cocked , Not full cocked Uberti Highwall

quote:

Originally posted by concho:
Brent My highwall only comes up half cocked , Not full cocked Uberti Highwall

I was refering to a real highwall.

Brent

That kind of money I would just as soon buy a MEAHCEM higwall and go from there.

Meachams are fine rifles, though I prefer the Ballard Highwall much more. If you do your homework, you can end up with an original rebarreled to whatever for a good bit less (though still not cheap).

Brent

Check out C. Sharps Arms' 1885 Hi Wall. I have one in 38-55 and it's a fine rifle.

Leo L. Does your Not Real as Brent informed me !1885 Highwall full cock when closing lever ? or like my not real Uberti only half cock ?

hey Concho,
I got a Meacham HiWall with gorgeous wood in 45-120 ( 3 1/4" case) coming from a friend to try and sell for him, interested? A R-E-A-L HiWall!!



Rich

Does your meacham Fullcock on closing ?

quote:

Originally posted by concho:
Leo L. Does your Not Real as Brent informed me !1885 Highwall full cock when closing lever ? or like my not real Uberti only half cock ?

The C. Sharps 1885 fully cocks on closing.

Thank You Now I know mine is JUNK !

The C. Sharps is supposed to be a true duplicate of the original late model Winchester hi-wall. I have a .40-65 on order for my wife.

Dave

concho- you exagerate. No one said it was junk. It's just not a real highwall. If you like it to come up on half cock more power to ya.

Brent

PS. Surprisingly no one mentions that Sharps did make a few halfcockers. They were some version of the Winder I believe. No, that doesn't make a Uberti a real highwall either.

http://www.shilohsharps.com in Big Timber,MT turn on your sound for the sound track from Quigley Down Under and http://www.ballardrifles.com made in Cody,WY

quote:

Personally, I wouldn't buy a Little Sharps in any caliber.

Come on, Brent, just say why; we all know you're holding out for an 1875 model Lil' Sharps.

Thanks for the Shilo Show ! I have a shilo Long Range Express 40/90 What a rifle ! and a Ballard Pacific Original ! 45/70 A pet for the safe !

quote:

Originally posted by asdf:
Come on, Brent, just say why; we all know you're holding out for an 1875 model Lil' Sharps.

Oh that hurt!!!

I have a "new" orginal Ballard Pacific that I think will become my #1 hunting rifle.

Brent, I still have a strong Ballard itch, one which has been getting worse ever since I handled one almost two years ago. Steve Earle, the fellow who's doing the Wesson reproductions, is thinking about doing a Ballard with a one piece breech, in steel. It should be stronger than the split breech. I don't know if I can hold out that long, though; the reproductions from WY are mighty fine.

asdf, we shall continue to stray a bit, but why in the world do you want a stronger breech block? The Ballard is strong enough as it is. So stronger is not better, it is just stronger. Second, if Ballards have a weak point, it's in the corners of the mortice in the receiver where they might crack if abused. Not the block itself.

Third, if you do this, I don't know how you would ever make the triggers work, and triggers are one of the two strong points of the Ballard #5.

Fourth, and last for now, if you bust a part, you better hope Steve is still in business, to get it remade. Ballard Rifle's interchangable parts will be around a long time (I think).

Brent

So we stray...

Your points are all valid. As for the triggers, I believe the early Ballards, while not split, were open on the side, but only in the trigger area. Perhaps Earle's would be similar, but with EDM I believe one could indeed make the breech of one piece. I don't see why fitting the trigger would be troublesome with this arrangement.

With very careful machining, I can believe the split breech would be strong enough. There would need to be enough metal up near the firing pin and just below that to resist any tendency to bow in with higher pressure cartridges. If the mortise cracks at the rear corners, this tendency can be relieved some by radiusing properly, which Earle does on his Wessons.

It would be nice if the Ballard could be stepped up a notch to the .30-30 class cartridges. Not everyone wants to shoot at BP pressures. De Hass devotes an entire chapter to thoughts on beefing up the Ballard action, so there are plenty of people interested in this. Come to think of it, I thought de Hass mentioned the link between the lever and the breech tended to wear with hotter loads, so this may need to be beefed up as well. I'll note that Ballard has dropped the 50 caliber cartridges from their chamberings for the Ballard. Were these proving to be too much for the action?

It's mostly moot for me, I admit. A .38-55 would be plenty for my needs.