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Bigslug
Senior MemberPosts: 9,705 Senior Member
Old School Standards (Sharps)

Spent yesterday at Dad's helping him clean up a new acquisition - an 1863 Sharps paper cartridge carbine that we're trying to figure out if it's a "weird" variant, converted rifle, or some press-of-war Frankengun oddity. A fair amount of patina and a probably battlefield repair of the stock, but what I really marveled at was this:

Even under duress of the Great Calamity, they expended more effort on the finish of the INSIDE of the lockwork than most manufacturers are giving to the OUTSIDE of their guns today.
If you look REALLY close at the bottom of the part resting beneath the color-cased bit with the three screws, you'll see a semi-circular hairline. That's actually two parts - the sear interfacing with the tumbler which has the cock and half-cock notches (should have taken more pics with it cocked). Probably not even correct to call it a hairline, as you couldn't get a hair in between the two.
If you've got an old Colt, S&W, Winchester, or similar beast from WWI or before, and the outside of it is absolutely beat to hell, do yourself a favor and educate yourself on how to tear into the parts that were more protected from the ravages of time. Odds are you're going to see something that will make you smile, shake your head at what we've lost, and maybe even send pictures to the current managers of the company with a letter say "Seriously, what HAPPENED to you guys?"

Even under duress of the Great Calamity, they expended more effort on the finish of the INSIDE of the lockwork than most manufacturers are giving to the OUTSIDE of their guns today.
If you look REALLY close at the bottom of the part resting beneath the color-cased bit with the three screws, you'll see a semi-circular hairline. That's actually two parts - the sear interfacing with the tumbler which has the cock and half-cock notches (should have taken more pics with it cocked). Probably not even correct to call it a hairline, as you couldn't get a hair in between the two.
If you've got an old Colt, S&W, Winchester, or similar beast from WWI or before, and the outside of it is absolutely beat to hell, do yourself a favor and educate yourself on how to tear into the parts that were more protected from the ravages of time. Odds are you're going to see something that will make you smile, shake your head at what we've lost, and maybe even send pictures to the current managers of the company with a letter say "Seriously, what HAPPENED to you guys?"
WWJMBD?
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
Replies
Check out a hand wraped wire coil cartridge.....
When I was cleaning and doing minor repairs on the rifles my wife inherited from her late father I learned how precise parts were put together.
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee