Thread: My oldest cartridge rifle 1859 ( picture heavy )

I spent a couple of days recently finally restoring this rifle to full function

Started with a genuine Sharps Civil War Carbine
Model 1859 which started life as a capping breech loader using paper cartridges and percussion caps
Then has the 1863 self contained cartridge conversion to 50-70
One of the first 1900 converted as it has the spring firing pin retractor

Then at some stage it was bored out and made into a a smooth bore line thrower
Which is how I got it
In very good condition because I guess line throwers hardly ever get used

It's taken me a while to gather all the parts to get it back into service and last week I finally found the time to kick it all off

Being an ambitious project I decided I needed to keep it all in a bin. Anticipating the usual problems and hold ups

Everything stripped and barrel / receiver getting penetrating oil and heat / cold treatment



Barrel and receiver apart after about 160 years together



First major task is to bore out the stub and part off in the middle of the barrel band location



So that when I re barrel / liner the stub the join will be under the barrel band