Let me pick your brain

[Smith & Wesson Man]

I guess I have a two part question

1) I picked up a 58cal huntsman the other day and I picked it up from a small gunshop. It came with everything. The owner passed away and the family didn't want any of the firearms. I posted recently about making bullets for these, and the former owner had this gun sighted in with hornady 58cal sabots. I know because he had some in the bag, plus two speedloaders had two of them in the case. He was also using 110gr of blackpowder. I thought they wouldn't shoot well because of the twist? Also on the gun the trigger guard is brass and brass wrapped around the front barrel. None of my fathers 58's are like this. Did they come like this, or do you think the guy had some work done on this?

2) Same day I stopped at another gunshop and they had a H&R Model 155. On the barrel is says Shikari model 155 in 45-70 government. The barrel is 24''. The strange thing is that it has a ramrod underneath it. Do you think something was done to this long gun? Was this once a muzzleloader? I guess if anyone could tell me more about this model I would appriecate it! Thanks everyone!

 

[Gaucho Gringo]

According to one of my older gun blue books it shows the model you described as having the ramrod stock from the factory on the 45-70. I think the ramrod was more for decoration than anything else, although if it had a threaded end it could be used as a cleaning rod. BTW how much were they asking for it?

 

[Smith & Wesson Man]

They were asking $200 for it. It was in good shape, and I decided to pick it up. It was something different, and I thought why not? I thought reloading 45-70 would be easier than reloading a non-straight wall case. thanks for looking