It belongs to my 72 year old boss. The gun was his grandfathers, probably handed down from his father. It will be going into a museum recreation of his great grandfathers 1881 office. The history of the gun has been lost and I would like to know the date of manufacture. That way I may be able to trace it's history.
It is a 1863 Sharps Carbine converted to metallic cartridge. S/N 73269
I found on the Shiloh board that:
"Sellers list the New Model 1863 Carbine as having numbers 71,235 through 99,999 and thereafter starting with # C,1 through C, 49528, period of production 1863 to 1865."
Which would make yours an early one, probably 1863.
After the War, a lot were converted to .50-70 like yours, starting in 1867 or 1868.
If the barrel diameter was small enough, it was left as was with the 6-groove Sharps rifling, if it was oversize it was lined with the three groove Springfield pattern rifling.
Which is yours? Uh, his?
Looks like a three groove reline to take the .515" .50-70 bullet.
They left anything up to .525" with the original barrel which was pretty sloppy. A friend of mine has one of those and it is about a "minute of Injun" rifle.
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