re-barrel 1874 sharps

[leapfrog]

I am going to put a new barrel on a 1874 sharps, I have been told the barrel would need to be indexed and the headspace set.
Exactly what is involved in indexing? I thought the extractor would indicate the index position.
I also thought the falling block would determine the headspace.
Help me before I blow things (and myself) up.
TIA

 

[Jim Watson]

Thing is, everything has to come out right at the same time.
The breechblock and receiver are already there, nothing you can do with them. The extractor location is fixed in the action, not much to do about that.

So a new barrel has to screw in and stop with its shoulder against the front of the receiver, its rear face within headspace allowance of the breechblock, with the extractor cut aligned under the extractor, and with the flats of the octagon square with the action.

A gunsmith working from a blank will get one thing right at a time. Probably get the barrel to turn up first, then breechblock clearance, then chamber and rim recess/headspace, then cut for the extractor.

Chance of a finished barrel doing that? I dunno.

Heck, I know a guy who took the barrel off one of the cheaper Sharps to deepen the chamber - he just HAD to have a .45-90 - and when he screwed it back in discovered that the factory had not kept everything in time like they should have.

 

[rcmodel]

+1 to everything Jim said.

It is very unlikely a new barrel will even have the extractor notch cut in it, as it would be in the wrong place if it did.

Assuming an octagon barrel, the shoulder would have to be cut in a lathe until the barrel tightens up with the top barrel flat in the right place.

Then the rear of the barrel shank cut for a tight breach-block fit.

Then the chamber cut with a chamber reamer to proper headspace.

Then the extractor location marked, the barrel removed, and the slot for it cut.

Then sight dovetails cut in the barrel with a milling machine.

Then probably hot or rust blued.

After all that, the barrel would be re-installed on the action, and the barrel flat & extractor cut would index properly with the receiver.

It is not a bench vice & pipe-wrench DIY job by any means.

rc

 

[Clemson]

You might consider putting a liner in it rather than rebarreling.

Clemson

 

[Pokyman]

I have rebarreled about 15 1874 Sharps rifles. Mostly American made, but a few Italians. I would hope that this experience should allow me to speak from experience.
I am not sure if you are going to attempt this project yourself or have a gunsmith do it.
If you are going to do the job yourself, I recommend not attempting unless you have experience rebarreling other firearms. Even some gunsmiths do an admirable job of screwing up a good single shot. If you are going to have a gunsmith do it, make sure that they have experience doing work on single shots. This is not as easy as screwing a barrel on a 98 Mauser.
Headspacing between the breech of the barrel and the face of the receiver is critical (they need to fit as close a possible) if you want a good shooter. Rebarreling the old time single shots requires machining experience and lot of patients. Unless you have both, I recommend you let someone else who has both do the job.