Scoped Sharps 1874 Buffalo Rifle

This 1874 Sharps rifle is a great example of a been-there, done-that authentic western buffalo rifle. It was shipped from Sharps in 1879 with double set triggers, open sights, and a medium-weight .45 caliber barrel, but rebuilt by a Cheyenne gunsmith with a much heavier barrel in .40-100 caliber, and fitted with a Rice telescopic sight in a free-floating mount. While this was built just too late to have been used in the heyday of the slaughter of the wild buffalo, it is a fine example of the rifle configuration used by serious hunters and target shooters alike at that time.
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[@MrEvan312]

"Are you quite certain, Mr. Quigley... that you wouldn't like the bucket a bit closer?" "Quite certain."

[@lechetjudokenichi9565]

NICE REFRENCE.

[@philippefrater2000]

Awesome Movie! 🖖🏻🇫🇷😎🇫🇷😇🇫🇷🖖🏻 Yes, French love guns too! 😎

[@moistexistence3090]

Philippe FRATER it sucks how most European countries ban guns or make them hard to get and the only thing closest to them are airsoft or deactivated guns.

[@philippefrater2000]

Mayton C Well, you have to know something. I own several guns, it's really easy to buy guns in France. I have, 223 (Steyr AUG), 222 and 243 precision riffles and a SVD 7.62/54R. Not bad for a Frenchy no? (No taxe stamps to buy suppressors, no waiting time...😂)

[@moistexistence3090]

Philippe FRATER nice lucky you. Guns are a fun item and a good tool.

[@jeffreytan2948]

You can actually see Ian pause in disgust when he was retelling the slaughter of buffaloes during this period.

[@jamesgivens929]

Yes but good meat. I wish I lived then. Love to sport shoot.

[@mikemeyer5973]

James Givens you wished you lived then so you could help diminish the population for sport shooting lmao

[@DiahRhiaJones]

As if its any less horrific than what happens now on a far larger scale to tens of billions upon billions of animals every year. I mean how can any of you be disgusted by what you actively partake in? Sounds like you need to re-evaluate your behaviors to be more ethically consistent by going vegan.

[@DiahRhiaJones]

@Zippydsm Lee "Humans are omnivores its not natural to eat only plants" 1. "Humans are omnivores" is not an argument. 2. "its not natural to eat only plants" is also not only completely false and ignorant of human biology, the word "natural" is meaningless because both good and bad things can be described as "natural." Rape is natural. Does that make rape a good thing? Of course it doesnt. Whether or not something occurs in nature is irrelevant to morality.

[@DiahRhiaJones]

@Zippydsm Lee "Not at all because nature is the ultimate good" No idea what that means. You haven't responded to a word I've just said.

[@thijsvandervoort8261]

Unbelievable that you kill huge buffalos and not eat the mountain of meat it leaves behind. They look quite tasty too

[@baneofbanes]

Well if you’re one person killing dozens of animals you can’t really eat the meat of all of them.

[@Clay3613]

Bison > Beef

[@thetruthseeker5549]

This wasn't just a "European" behavior- there are numerous memoirs from the period mentioning Indians who made full use of modern firearms to bring down buffalo for sport, hides, or whatever else. One soldier of the montana column, 1876 campaign wrote of the fun watching crow Indians shoot up a herd they had come across. He wasn't being judgemental, just impressed at the spectacle.

[@vguyver2]

You can still eat the meat today if you want. Turner has an exclusive heard he owns and sells the meat. Also should be noted that when traveling on trains, passengers would shoot buffalo for sport. A single trip could leaves hundreds to over a thousand buffalo dead within a few hours.

[@thegreenman2030]

Nickofearth: This historically not true and there are plenty of 1st hand accounts from Native Americans themselves as well as archaeological evidence proving this. Thousands of buffalo would be forced off cliffs to their deaths by native tribes who only took the tongues and livers. What Ian explains in the video that the U.S. Army did warring enemy tribes did to one another as well. How many hides do you think one Indian tribe required? Or how many tools and utensils made from bone did one family or individual need? The myth of the American Indian always using everything and being respectful of the surrounding world has been accepted for truth mostly due to movies and media like Dances with wolves. If you require more information in an easy read check out American Buffalo by the author and Hunter Steve Rinella. Native Americans suffered from the same human condition the rest of us did having all the same emotions, to think otherwise is simply illogical.

[@Koefti]

The term "Scharfschütze" in german translates litterally to "sharpshooter". Both mean a very acurate shooter but the german term goes back in the ages where crossbows a new invention. If one takes to account that older german and english were way more similar one could also think that this might have influenced the word as well.

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

@Koefti The first Sharp's Rifle was patented in 1848, whereas the the first usage of "sharpshooter" in English was circa 1801. That's obviously in English - your German explanation is perfect. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpshooter

[@dr.ryttmastarecctm6595]

Another “borrowed” word from German to English.

[@HarryGoulding]

correct me if I am wrong, but "Schuetzen" means to protect/defend/guard and "Schiessen" means shoot. So a literal translation of Scharfschuetze would be "Sharpguard"

[@emanuelroth7960]

@@HarryGoulding That word has both meanings in German, including "to guard/protect". In the case of Scharfschuetze though it is definitely the meaning of shooter. It's a bit like the ever popular (sadly) term "assault rifle" or "Sturmgewehr" in German,..a term the NAZIs came up with for the STG44 rifle. A term that is sadly still being used by propagandists (at least the English translation is). Gewehr of course means rifle, but Sturm has a double meaning just as it has in English. It means storm,...which just as in English can mean the weather event in German too, but also as in to "storm" into or "assault" a room or building. Hence the German term Sturmgewehr has nothing to do with the weather event in this case, in this case it simply means assault rifle.

[@markkupio4472]

Skarpsķytte in Swedish.

[@thegoldencaulk2742]

Scoped rifles of this era are incredible. You would think that putting a scope on these old things would be pointless, but the accuracy possible might surprise you.

[@51WCDodge]

Scopes at this time were built for an individual. Fixed focus tuned to your eye sight. The whole subject is fasciniting by itself. Early optics such as the Gallilo sight had the advantage of gathering light for dawn and dusk shots.

[@Mrcaffinebean]

TheGoldenCaulk it’s really amazing how highly accurate guns got with the advent of rifling.

[@afretz1a4]

The glass is often less for accuracy, more to actually see the target. The issue of long range shooting at moving targets is identifying the target in the first place. 2x is a lot better than no magnification and better sights never hurt when trying to push a gun to its limits.

[@tillmannfischer]

+keith moore Sure, it was possible to get such shots off, the rifles back then certainly were capable of that. The question is, if you could make such shots *reliably*! And that’s where a scope comes in, because no matter how good you are, reliably making a 1 mile shot under less than optimal circumstances is basically impossible for even the best shooter. Whereas the same shooter would have less or even no trouble at all making the same shot under the same conditions with a scope. If we consider what the goal here was (to hunt buffaloes), distance plays an important role. Buffaloes are big animals, you don’t want to get to close to a live wild one, especially one that has been scared shitless by other buffaloes around it dying, noise, blood, and so on. You want to make your shots from a safe distance. And that’s only reliably feasible with a scope.

[@ZaleraArkanus666]

keith moore You've "heard stories." Do you really believe a bunch of people stood around and killed 200 buffalo? Do you realize how much ammo that would take? How many people it would take to carve up the carcass, move it, and store it? Half the meat would be wasted before they could collect everything.

[@dagnew9949]

As stated earlier one of the reasons why buffalo were killed was for their hides. That does not mean that buffalo coats were a fashion statement among the eastern elites. No, buffalo hides were made into flat leather industrial type belts. During the steam age ALL machinery from factory to farm used flat leather belts to transmit and moderate power to the machines. Even the most basic farm would have over 100 feet of industrial belting in use on it. A factory would have thousands of feet of industrial belting in use at any one time. Multiply those numbers by the tens of thousands of farms and factories we had all over the country and you can get an idea of the size of the market for such belting was. Buffalo hide made exceptionally strong and desireable leather for industrial belting, much stronger than what you would get from cattle. Also, unlike cattle, which are farmed and come at an expense, the buffalo were free roaming and thus free for the taking. The only cost associated with them was the cost of harvesting and prepping the hides for their journey to be processed into leather. So the near extinction of the buffalo did serve a purpose other than as an act of war. I would even dare to say that our Industrialization would have been significantly hampered without them. The use of flat belt drives in farming and industry would continue right up to and through World War Two. After the country became electrified in the 1930's-1940's (TVA, Rual Electrification Administration) Farming and Industry no longer had to depend upon lineshafts and flat belt drives for power transmission and moderation. Still the massive buffalo hunts were, and remain, a national tragedy.. It also underlines why the proper management of resources is so important. Heck the only reason we have clay pigeons today is because the passenger pigeon was shot to extinction, and like clay pigeons a vast amount of them were shot for 'sport'.

[@ScooterLee-mn8bn]

D Agnew also it was very fashionable in the NE to have coats made from buffalo.

[@jr.daniels7750]

Thank you for your knowledgeable and well thought out informative comment. Very beneficial to the entire conception of the era in retrospect.

[@handleyjackson5490]

As a kid, we used flat belts as late as the mid 1950's on our farm.

[@dcmccann11]

@Jenna Johnson So, where did the passenger pigeon go?

[@Jungleland33]

I heard once that live pigeons were shot as an Olympic sport.

[@erict3728]

Not many old rifles like these catch my attention, but the sharps rifles have always been an exception. Beautiful, well made guns and the simple, yet elegant and innovative actions make these extremely interesting for me

[@everettchris1]

A "History of optics" special would be awesome... How things evolved from these early optics (or even earlier ones?) through WW1 era sniper scopes, and through today...

[@bwhog]

I can't explain it but there's something about doing a presentation on a Sharps rifle while sitting in front of a rack full of Tommy guns that just brings a big 'ole smile to my face! :D

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

I'm happy you can make a living doing this, and just generally doing something you're obviously very passionate about. It's kinda inspiring to see that kind of story.

[@VanXHydrA]

It's a fine thing to see someone whom is truly passionate, and knowledgeable continuing this sort of research and preservation of knowledge! And that he is an awesome enough person to be a generally cool fellow as well.

[@matthewmudgett7413]

I wish I had learned the bit about buffalo hunting as an act of war in school. Can't really say I'm surprised that I didn't, though. This is why I constantly see comments under these videos that go something like "I don't even like guns but I love this channel". Every video is an informative dive into the history of the weapon that is its subject, and videos about guns with important historical context are always the best.

[@thegreenman2030]

Waring tribes used the same practice against one another long before western expansion . while a disgusting tactic it wasn't anything new. The introduction of the pony or horse to the Native Americans was the beginning of the end for the buffalo. It meant more men moving faster and traveling further for hunts. If your interested in the Americans plains buffalo as well as the history surrounding them check out the book American Buffalo by author and Hunter Steven Rinella. It's a great and easy read filled with unbiased factual history.

[@manbunnmcfanypakjustacoolg4965]

Or history about how events like the Creedmoor match he spoke of had sn affect on international politics.

[@comunistubula4424]

A few months ago I saw a video in which a guy explained how they used to make pemmican from the buffalos. Calorie heavy food which would last very well(1 to five years, but sometimes even more). So I was quite surprised when I heard people killed buffalos just for their hides and not for the meat.

[@dominicvucic8654]

I'm going to make sure it is taught when I get my degree if we are to move forward in ournsociety we must understand this countries past sins

[@matthewmudgett7413]

@@chickenfishhybrid44 K

[@AutismIsUnstoppable]

pass the whiskey.

[@sargesacker2599]

Pastor Whiskey.

[@0418182308lw]

Sarge Sacker25 pasta whiskey

[@tacosalad8876]

pastry whitsky

[@connorwald2016]

I got the reference!

[@SirSaladhead]

An old reference, but it checks out.

[@alexvogel610]

I'm looking at the simplicity of this scope, and mentally comparing it to the advancements of the WWI scopes like on the Lebel you recently featured, and comparing that to some of the modern scopes you've used in the Stoner project. Could you deep dive into scope technology, either here or on InRange TV? --what were the advancements that allowed for more durability, and better retention of zero? --what changed with glass that gave it better clarity, better light transmission, larger surface area? --how are things hardened? --what influenced the types of reticles used? I'm thinking of some of the deep dives you guys did with the Faxon people

[@VanXHydrA]

I would enjoy to see a video of Ian examining and describing the advances in scope technology from the dawn of thier use, through some fairly modern era as well! Good call, I was really intrigued by that loooooong tube as well!

[@draconus15]

This would be a cool series of vids

[@toomanyhobbies2011]

OMG guys. Go do some reading. Aluminum bodies, better glass composition and grinding techniques, and glass coating technologies.

[@jameshealy4594]

That is a really cool rifle! *Quigley intensifies* Does the .40-100 chambering indicate it's more likely to be a target rifle, since you mentioned it would penetrate significantly less than the heavier .40-90?

[@jameshealy4594]

Thanks mate. :)

[@bobfish6506]

The Stoned Videogame Nerd would the 40-100 be more lethal at close range to buffalo

[@damstachizz]

The .40-100 would have still had 1100ft-lb+, that's more than adequate for most game especially with a relatively large bullet

[@bobfish6506]

Laird Cummings do you think it could take out a elephant. I've always been interested in black powder cartridges that could take out a Elephant

[@GreenCanoeb]

By the time this rifle was made Shaps target rifles were chambered for the straight walled .45 cartridges with the .45-100 and .45-90 being specifically developed for target work. The .40-90 & 100 were popular during this late buffalo hunt era due to the flatter trajectory which made it easier to make long range hits on the northern herd buffalo that had learned to be a little more wary by the late 1870's.

[@Matthiasthehillbilly]

Favorite of John Marston

[@mynot2commoncents654]

I love the history you include with your firearm reviews. Thanks for putting forth the extra effort. Keep up the great work.

[@davidharris6581]

"It's always nice to have a fella with a big bore Sharps along, in case we get jumped by elephants or something!" Rooster Cogburn in True Grit.

[@PeteScalfano]

White feather

[@weddays354]

Do you seriously believe the buffalo were wiped out by white hunters? If so you have been misled and need to actually read "Debunking a Myth: The American Bison' by E.J Neiburger

[@joob4668]

He's been up there all morning, waiting for two idiots to line up....

[@crazyfvck]

+Jo Ob lol :)

[@funetkopio4274]

It is not an act of war, when it is done to the population as a whole, civilians included, but an act of genocide. I understand that you cannot say that in the video, but let's not forget the ugly truth of it..

[@rob_in_stowmarket_uk]

‘Deprive ‘The Indians’ of food… ‘, and virtually everything else they used/needed to exist, barring horses and water. Clothing, tools, covering for their homes etc.

[@jeffw5263]

The Army considered the buffalo herds a “moving supply depot” to the Plains Indians.

[@johngraesser4911]

Small correction, since elevation is done at the muzzle end of the scope, the more you raise it up the lower the bullet hits. It is the opposite of how a modern sight is adjusted. Imagine the scope remaining level, increase the angle up front and the muzzle drops.

[@alanhunyady2280]

Was wondering who was gonna mention that👍

[@davidcruz8667]

Man, what a beautiful rifle. Like the Sharps rifle used in "Quigley Down Under". Lots of memorable lines in that movie, with very good and historically accurate technical information. Quigley's parting line after winning the gunfight with the boss: "I said I never had much use for one... I never said I didn't know how to use it".

[@JnEricsonx]

I fucking love that line.

[@miketacos9034]

I was gonna say; if the scope wasn’t free-floating, this rifle would be single shot because you’d lose your eye after you fire.

[@craigthescott5074]

I can’t pay attention with all the beautiful Thompson’s in the background.

[@dwaneanderson8039]

Ian didn't mention another advantage of the floating scope; it won't hit you in the eye. I remember in the movie "Back To the Future 3," Doc held a rifle with this style of scope right up to his eye and I thought that would probably injury his eye if he fired it, but it turns out I was wrong.

[@bennichols561]

There was a lot of hunting for leather. It was the best leather for drive belts and during the steam age everything ran on belts.

[@chrischiampo8106]

Perhaps You Could Do a Video On the Optics Of The Later 19th Century Firearms 1850’s- 1900 Gun Jesus That Would Make For an Interesting And Informative Video 😀😊😀😊

[@elgostine]

agreed, its a very scarce topic/

[@SamuraiAkechi]

1850-1918. Because gun optics of WWII are not well-known to many people.

[@51WCDodge]

Yes plase, Forgotten Optics as much intrest to the Nerd as what they were mounted on, after all as Ian is fond of saying 'if you can't se it, you can't hit it'.

[@beverwyck1]

That's a very good idea for some videos! My old scope knowledge is limited to "if you see a unertl scope for a cheap price buy it".

[@vettekid3326]

My guess is the rifle was fitted with the barrel in 40-100 along with the optics for longhorn sheep hunting.

[@charlesadams1721]

Sorry to be too precise, but in the Rocky’s it’d be Bighorn Sheep. Also, bring it was refitted in Wyoming, there would also be the opportunity for hunting the Shiras Moose. BTW, the natives of Yellowstone were often referred to other natives, explorers, chroniclers of the time as “sheep-eaters” so during the time, it is documented that the Bighorn hadn’t “retired” back into the high mountains as much as might be thought today. I imagine that in some areas, the diversity of wildlife would have been remarkable on the high plains.

[@charlesadams1721]

Laird Cummings: I always thought, based upon mammalogy classes, that Dall were historically a species of the Canadian and Alaskan ranges and foothills. But you learn something everyday.

[@charlesadams1721]

Laird; based upon my mammalogy classes some 45 years ago, I thought I’d read that the Dall Sheep was a historical and current resident of the Alaskan and high Canadian ranges, principally the Yukon. Their current range is somewhat more limited, Primarily due to introduced diseases from domestic livestock. Perhaps I’ve not seen any current literature reflecting the historical expansion of the range.

[@torianholt2752]

That's true, I've only ever seen them while above 11,000 feet, but some of my miner buddies have had run ins while at 8k or so. I've heard they can be much more confrontational/aggressive in their environment as well.

[@jamespassmore3993]

With that scoped set up and specifically rebarreled for the express 40-100 cartridge, it is more likely it was a professional wolfer's rifle.

[@Xenon_Proto]

I played with this in h3VR, easily my favorite rifle. So easy to understand and it seriously packs a punch!

[@popat997]

Damn I remember sniping cougars and shit in Red Dead Redemption with a Sharps rifle. Fun game.

[@KurwaRomek]

3:21 that pile reminded me of hunting with dynamite in Red Dead... (Never got the 'wipe out all buffallos' achievement though. For some reason I was also quite reluctant to shoot eagles. Then again I could never kill a giant in Shadow of the Colossus; these guys just never attacked me)

[@popat997]

Player Review I didn't pay for Xbox Live back then but never played multiplayer when I did get Live. Only played single player.

[@KurwaRomek]

Too bad bro, it was fun AF to overtake El Presidio with your friends and get some cannon kills on players.

[@TonyNewJersey1]

That's not nice towards cougars. I prefer to take them out for dinner.

[@aurorawhorealis]

Never forget the unending spawn of bears in twos and threes, that shit was scary

[@GinSoakedBoy]

Wonderful piece of arms history, and in fine condition to boot. (And it made me think of Red Dead Redemption, although in that game the rifle with that type of scope was a Rolling Block.)

[@smasica]

The standard load for the late Sharps Buffalo guns, the 'Big 50', was .50-90 and topped out at .50-110. That's some serious fire power.

[@josephhouseman9482]

Those early scopes and mounts were very fragile and hard to keep zeroed, OK for a pampered target rifle but not very practical for hunting. In his book "The Modern American Rifle" published 1885 A.C.Gould advocates a system wherein the scope tube is soldered rigidly to the rifle and adjustment to zero is done by rotating the objective lense. He claims no other mount of that time is sturdy enough to serve as a hunting rifle.

[@jakeroberts7435]

I'm sitting on the Green River in Mundfordville, Kentucky drinking my coffee next to a statue of a Buffalo. This used to be a crossing for them, in the old days they were even thick around here. The statue is life size, they were massive

[@ifitsfreeitsforme1852]

I believe Ian's explanation of the scope elevation is backwards. He says adjusting the front scope mount up raises the elevation, when in reality raising any front sight lowers the elevation.

[@mongoose4117]

I was going to drop the same comment. I believe you are correct on this. Close range zero would be on the highest setting and then adjusting for range by setting the cam to a more narrow area of the cam

[@jacobishii6121]

Elk used to native to the entire continental US......only a handful of natural populations are left and even some of the older populations were reintroduced 100 or so years ago like the Roosevelt elk in Washington

[@baneofbanes]

White tail deer were almost hunted to extinction in the US. Same with turkeys.

[@vasili_zajtsev2685]

I don't think sharpshooter comes from sharps because in dutch we say scherpschutter (sharpshooter in english) which is practicaly the same.

[@craftpaint1644]

Thanks for the history lesson. People always accuse Americans of suppressing the truth. I always say it depends on who you listen to, there are a lot of us who have no problems telling it like it was. There were Native Americans who shot whites on sight, they also killed each other, it wasn't called the wild west for nothing.

[@asteroidmonger]

Thanks for acknowledging one of the worst crimes we ever committed as a nation. We really need to remember these things and use them to guide our current reality.

[@d8nh20s]

No doubt. Especially since there is literally NO ONE talking about how horrible the USA has always been in "our current reality."

[@Mr-Trox]

@@d8nh20s What are you talking about? You can't go five minutes without someone screaming that the USA is evil and terrible, and that the Founding Fathers should have been hanged by the English. Okay, maybe the last one was an exaggeration, but still.

[@d8nh20s]

@@Mr-Trox Sarcasm...

[@AdamantLightLP]

*we* never committed them, our ancestors did. Just as everyone's has. No one has forgotten about it, no one needs you to preach about it.

[@Battlemenof]

So the late coming hunter with this particular rifle was one of those who ended the buffalo herds!

[@showywhite2338]

Too bad you havn't added subtitles to this video. I'm kinda struggling to comprehend everything by hearing, because english isn't my native language. But I need to admit that your diction is so good that youtube auto-generated subs are doing nearly perfect job. Thank you for your work!

[@doncoria9505]

You can read it now

[@RyTrapp0]

"The Sharps company even had a Creedmoor mode" OOOO, I can pick one of these up in 6.5? Nice!

[@lukebryan5512]

@Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Minus price and recoil. A 6.5 is to a .223 what a 300 Win Mag is to a .308.

[@robslover2959]

Contact Shiloh Sharps, for enough $ you probably could get one in 6.5cm

[@jamesharding3459]

Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin But it’s: - Bigger - More expensive (both gun and ammo) - Harder recoil - Inherently less accurate

[@viking1ur]

Petter Harry Bergersen, Born in Oslo(at that time Christiania) Norway in 1852. He was ecucated gunsmith by trade and emigrated to America in 1876. Gun production was big at that time and Norway also tryed to make guns the best they could. Several gunsmith emigrantde to America like also Iver Johnson from Nordfjord in Norway.

[@guysview]

Bison, NOT Buffalo. Bison are what we have in America. Buffalo live in India and Asia. They are not realated. I repeat. Bison, Not buffalo.

[@frankduncan5685]

The major reason the buffalo meat was abandoned was that without refrigeration, the meat spoiled in a day or so! Nothing could be done with it. The hides were dried in the sun, then sent back east to be processed into leather. The leather, as mentioned in several places, was an absolute necessity for the development of the industrial revolution in the United States. The machine shop building at the Hercules plant (now Alliant) in West Valley City (used to be Granger) still had the bearings for the overhead line drive shaft embedded in the ends of the building built around 1912.

[@AdmiralBosch19]

has Ian been playing Hunt Showdown?

[@tillmannfischer]

Wait wait wait, you mentioned a Borchardt-action rifle made by Sharps. Do you have anything more on that? Because that sounds definitely interesting...

[@tillmannfischer]

Huh, thanks!

[@cptreech]

At the time Borchardt (He of the pistol fame) was Superintendent of the Sharps Rifle company, kzbin.info/www/bejne/m37PZ3mgjNCZqa8

[@D3faulted1]

I have one they are definitely interesting. Unfortunatly the one i have was a military version that someone "sporterized". They cut the barrel down (didn't even put a new crown on it) and welded a completely incorrect front sight to it. Then lathered it in a varnish or lacquer. Shoots like shit. If i remember correctly only about 22,500 were made. They are rare but not impossible to find. There is one guy that makes a reproduction of them.

[@PJ-kj3ef]

I have an italian Davide Pedersoli manufactured 'Sharps 1874 Sporter' in .45/70Gov't and double set trigger, with a 6x magnification 'William Malcolm' type scope in micrometer-mount. Those scopes are virtually parallax-free and clear at any distance, due to the few lenses being so far away from eachoder. Davide Pedersoli made a limited number of those, when the reproduction scopes came on the market. I got the second last of those rifles that German hunting/shootingstore Frankonia had in stock. Wonderful gun.

[@peterjohnson170]

He needs to read more diaries of the buffalo hunters. They would take meat from the back half of the buffalo, smoke it and sell that too. Also the tongues were worth almost as much as the hide. Anything to make more money. Still not a very nice part of our history

[@SeaDog337]

It's likely we get the term "sharpshooter" from the German "scharfschütze" which dates back to at least around 1781. The term was also in use by the British army as early as 1801-1805.

[@craigthescott5074]

I think it’s more likely we get the name sharps shooter from snipers using sharps rifles in the civil war.

[@stuartb9323]

How about Clint Eastwood's movie, "Outlaw Josie Wales" ? He pulls out this weapon, and shoots a rope.... sending a raft, full of men on horses, on a "Missoora boat ride" ! Look up that scene on KZbin... Awesome movie 😀 Stay well everyone

[@paradiseroad6405]

...imagine getting a lecture on the virtues of veganism... ...from somebody named DiahRiah...

[@WithinandThroughout]

I'm really disgusted what we did with the buffalo. Wholesale slaughter, What the fuck.

[@TroopperFoFo]

I Always loved old scopes and how incredibly long and skinny they are. Something about that look vs modern scopes.

[@lastcoyote2355]

Killing any animal, simply for sport and not harvesting the meat is at best irresponsible and stupid .

[@ruletocoll1790]

It works very well with my .22 single shot. Simple to adjust and right on point with elevation and windage. A great buy for any hunters or for competition.

[@baronobeefdipyes5181]

Grandfather has one of these in .45-120 without the scope, it's a fun gun to shoot but the set trigger needs to be adjusted, found out most my family has poor trigger discipline when most accidentally fired it before they even brought it up to their shoulder.

[@polarjet1833]

Someone get me a damn bucket and this rifle, I’m becoming Quigley

[@geraldtakala1721]

Hunted for hides the leather being used to make belts for industrial drives in machinery

[@williamowens4821]

Ian should start lifting. Just imagine a jacked Ian describing french rifles.

[@pstrap1311]

I like him how he is though. There's soooooo many gun channels and almost all featuring some agro dickhead. Ian's nerd engineer status is his main appeal for me, even if he does constantly misuse the word "cam".

[@Kickthelighter]

Nice hiss!

[@rozilmer]

I asume the therm `sharpshooter`might come from the german word for sniper, which is `Scharfschütze`. Translated to english it si `sharpshooter. Hope that helps.

[@johnkendall6962]

LOL Raising the front of the scope would lower the point of impact. The longer the range the lower the scope setting. Moving a sight in the front has the opposite effect moving the rear sight does

[@bobjimenez4464]

A beautiful old rifle with equally impressive optics. I hope that the new owner enjoys shooting it.

[@robertkubrick3738]

Buffalo leather drove the industrial revolution, literally as drive belts. Inferior leather is still used today on quilting machines.

[@kodiakkeith]

I should point out that the buffalo were not slaughtered for the "fur." They were killed for the leather. Every mill and factory in North America was running the machinery with long belts from a steam or water powered engine, and those belts were made of buffalo leather.

[@dwhunts]

I love your stuff, and you really know your guns, but you need to do some more reading on the buffalo situation. I would recommend the works of Professor Dan Flores, and "American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon" by Steven Rinella to start. The whole thing was admittedly tragic, but also far more complicated then you portrayed it in your brief reference. As I said, I do enjoy your gun videos very much though. I never miss one.

[@thegreenman2030]

Darrel: American Bufflo while an easy read is an Amazing book full of factual unbiased Information. Steven Rinealla has inspired me in so many ways with his writing, show, and his podcasts.

[@Paelorian]

Early scope technology is fascinating. Especially how unfamiliar with is most contemporary firearms enthusiasts, being quite rare and different from modern technology. This is the first time I've seen a free-floated scope. Fascinating.

[@jamespassmore3993]

With that scoped set up and specifically rebarreled for the express 40-100 cartridge, it is more likely it was a professional wolfer's rifle.

[@epauletshark3793]

In a few Louis L'Amour books, they talks about using a sharps to take out target at a mile away. I want to try and recreate that someday.

[@billdunbar4731]

there is a group of long range shooters that duplicate the long range shooting of dixon at adobe wells. go on line for all kinds of black powder shooting, including the annual quigley shoot

[@BoopShooBee]

My Grandfather moved out onto the prairie in 1880. He supplemented his income picking up buffalo bones. I went for a walk with him down a street I must have walked a hundred times and he stopped and kicked a buffalo horn out of the grass. He couldn't hear and had no teeth but was more observant than I was. Never got lost on the prairie either. They used buffalo robes to keep warm in sleighs and open cars in sub zero weather.

[@therugburnz]

So glad that the gunsmith that worked on it had the incentive to preserve the serial number. I also noticed the front lens tube looked adjustable. Was it for focus as well.

[@caseyhall2320]

I love the aesthetic of the hexagonal barrel, it just feels so cool when looking at an old rifle like this one.

[@johnnyringo3871]

It harkens back to American antiquity, you just picture a guy with a top hat, a bear skin coat and a big bowie knife carrying one of these in his saddle.

[@weddays354]

Obviously not a "hexagonal" barrel as you would not end up with a 'flat' on the top & bottom of the barrel with only 6 sides. It is an octagonal barrel.

[@anchorbait6662]

Free floating scope = no scope bite :)

[@unhippy1]

OR a scope that comes back to get you after the rifle has stopped on your shoulder....

[@sksaddrakk5183]

@@unhippy1 but with much less force due to friction then just slamming a hard metal object against your brow... In the Swiss Army such injuries were called 'Rifleman Marks'

[@zimbabweofficial1002]

Fistful of Frags anyone?

[@StPaul76]

There is something about these Sharps rifles that I'm just fascinated by.. We don't see these at all here in Northern Europe and something like this would make a beautiful retro-style close/mid-range moose rifle. Btw. I can only imagine the amount of vouchers and coyotes thriving on those plains with all the rottening beef around.. And i didn't know that U.S government deliberately destroyed the livelyhood of indian tribes using it as method of genocide. I had the impression it was more of a simultaneous side effect. What a nasty ass way of business..

[@4T3hM4kr0n]

This is the sniper rifle used in Darkest of Days!

[@TheAdequateMedia]

I totally have an 1859 new model sharps carbine (saddle ring) clearly it's a centerfire conversion though

[@brianfuller5868]

Not the first hunting rifle or the first sniper rifle, the Sharps rifles were iconic Western and excellent at both hunting and sniping. The iconic Sharps is truly one of the greatest firearms ever.

[@MachineGunManUFMS]

I'm in your wagon, Gun Jesus. I definitely like guns with history attached more. My grandpa's 1892 Winchesters, old S&W revolver and a very cool 32 gauge, double barrel belgian shotgun I called "peashooter" are probably the reasons I got this way. Old guns ftw!

[@AvarllanTelesto]

Recently watched Quigley Down Under, where Tom Sellecks character uses a custom Sharpes that shoots a metal cartridge 45cal 110 grain bullet out of 34 inch barrel. The scene where he shows it of is awesoooooome! EDIT:Ok so for clarification, when i posted i was running of what i remembered which wasnt all of it so the specs from the movies main character. 34inch barrel converted to use a 45 cal 110 grain metal cartridge, with a 540 grain paperpatch bullet and something called a ?levernia? sight i think he called it. Sorry for the confusion about the type of shot it was using.

[@elgostine]

they couldnt hit anything at this Dist-

[@AvarllanTelesto]

Ok so for clarification, when i posted i was running of what i remembered which wasnt all of it so the specs from the movies main character. 34inch barrel converted to use a 45 cal 110 grain metal cartridge, with a 540 grain paperpatch bullet and something called a ?levernia? sight i think he called it. Sorry for the confusion about the type of shot it was using.

[@RaderizDorret]

"Vernier" sight, I think it's called. Essentially a tang-mounted peep sight that Lyman company produced for the Sharps (and other rifles) back in the day.

[@allewis4008]

I hear the word 'Sharpes', Quigley is literally the first guy I think of! Great, great movie.

[@allewis4008]

I'd like to add, "performing a Quigley" is common in sniper jargon for dropping more than one guy with a single shot, from the scene where Tom does just that to two poor slobs on a ranch stakeout.

[@doncoria9505]

This remind me to the sniper in "3:10 to Yuma" movie

[@cursedcliff7562]

Sharps Rifle a.k.a Ye olde AWP

[@SafetyProMalta]

Legendary weapon. And this will go for big bucks.

[@Darts2116]

Just watched this recently. He briefly mentions a town in New York called Creedmore. It’s on Long Island near where I grew up. We all knew Creedmore is a NYS Mental Facility.

[@Nivola1953]

I’m not a weapon expert so I have this silly question, if one lift the muzzle end of the telescope, like showed at 8:14, isn’t the barrel depressing instead of elevating?

[@benewagner9212]

No, I don't think so- just take a close look at the Amount of Space between the Barrel an the adjustment drum ( for lack of a better term). Because the User needs to compensate for bullet drop at longer Ranges, he has to aim higher to still hit the same point of Impact on the target. And in this case with this kind of scope you have to move the whole scope in its mount, as the scope itself has no possibility for adjustments built into it. Think of it as the reverse version of normal rifle (or pistol) sights with the notch at the back and the front post, but instead of elevating the notch on the rear you raise the whole ensemble up at the front to compensate the bullet drop.

[@thomasc7610]

Very interesting. This gun is about to appear in Hunt: Showdown. It showcases a lot of post civil war era weaponry. They already have the Sharps 1874 rifle except its called the Sparks. The developers said they will add scoped variants. I hope they watch your videos to get all the correct details and accuracy they need.

[@aarondevaldez9134]

True, but the Buffalo Rifle was a Sharps

[@BobSmith-dk8nw]

My other post was getting to long and KZbin has a limit so I'll add this here. The Animal the Army DID itself intentionally slaughter on occasion was the Indians Horses. Indian War parties were very well mounted - each Brave typically having several horses with him. He rode a travel horse suited to that purpose while he left unmounted until he needed them - his War Ponies. He would then, during the course of a battle - change horses now and then so that he was always on a fresh one. The other thing about Indian Ponies was that a Male Indian's reputation included his ability with Horses. He might in fact use them to buy himself a bride. Indian fathers and daughters had various relationships - based primarily on the individuals involved - so that some fathers were more considerate of their daughters feelings than others. But - even if the father and daughter agreed on the marriage - the groom might be expected to furnish the father with some horses. With the Army mounted on horses provided by the low bidder and ridden by city kids from the east coast who didn't know what they were getting into when they signed up (the westerners knew what Army life was like and wanted nothing to do with it) the Army was not going to catch a War Party that had raided a White Settlement. But they could track it back to the village it came from. Here the fact that the Cheyenne and Lakota had ganged up on the Crow to drive them off of territory they had claimed - meant that the Crow hated their guts - and were more than happy to scout for the Army - doing such things as tracking Cheyenne and Lakota War Parties back to their villages. The Village - was the Indians Logistic's Center. The Army would haul it's supplies about in Wagons and could stay indefinitely out away from their bases as long as they were supplied by more wagons. The Indian War Parties didn't carry a lot of supplies with them. They'd go out on a raid, it would go well or not - and then they'd come back to their village to drop off whatever they had captured in the way of horses, women, children and loot then resupply. Now - an Indian Village could move about as fast as the Army could. So if the Indians knew the Army was coming - they could stay away from it - but - they couldn't hunt or gather food while they were doing that, so one Army tactic was to simply follow the village around until it ran out of food - at which time it would go back to the reservation where the Government would feed it. For the Army - that was Mission Accomplished. This was what they did to the villages that had left the Reservation to go to the Little Big Horn - where Custer got himself killed. It wasn't easy and they went through most of their horses - but they kept at it and when the Indians got hungry they went back and the Government fed them. The Army went back to it's bases and bought some more horses from the low bidder. The other tactic which the Army would use - if they could sneak up on a village - was to attack it. That is what Custer was trying to do when he bit off more than he could chew. Other Army attacks on Indian Logistics Centers went better than that. The Indian Villages response to an attack - from another tribe or the Army - was that the women would grab the kids but nothing else and scatter like a covey of quail while the men threw themselves at the attacker. Riders would be sent out to the neighboring villages and - when these reinforcements showed up - the battle could go the other way While they were able to do it - before the reinforcements from the other villages got there - the Army would burn the Indians stuff, destroying their food, shelter and tools. A village thus attacked - would then be dependent on the charity of neighboring villages - if - the other villages were themselves able to help - which sometimes they were not. The Army's biggest concern in these operations was that the village would get away. That is what got Custer killed. He was so worried that the Indians had seen him and were about to flee - that he made a hasty attack before the other units showed up (both his own and those of other officers he was TRYING to beat to the goal of attacking the Indians). He split his command - and took the part with him that was going to hit the village from the north while Reno hit it from the south. Reno was driven off by Indian numbers but had Captain Benteen and the supply column come up to reinforce him - and survived. Custer didn't when the Indians that had been attacking Reno - turned to respond to him. With their ammunition depleted from their engagement with Crook on the Rosebud and this battle with Custer - and the fact that their large collection of villages had used up that camp site that they were at - the Indians had to disperse to be able to feed themselves off the land - which ended their ability to actually fight the Army. One of the first things the Army would try to do in a successful attack on a Village - was to capture the Pony Herd to dismount the Indians. The problem with that - was that the Indians were better with horses than they were - and would often take the Pony Herd back. The Army's solution to that - was to kill the horses. They'd drive them into such as a box canyon - and slaughter them. The troopers didn't like doing that but their officers didn't care. They'd had enough trouble running villages down - that they wanted to deprive the Indians of their mobility - so they could be forced back to the Reservation which was the Army's job. Remember here - that the reason the Indians were forced onto Reservations - was to keep these roving bands of Indians from doing to the Whites what they had been doing to each other for generations. The White populations were not so large yet that they needed all that Indian land - but - what White farms and settlements there were - needed protection from Indian War Parties. The Governments solution to that - was putting them on Reservations. What you had here - was two cultures that came into conflict with each other - and the more powerful culture won. At Little Big Horn - there were about 6,000 Indian men, women and children with 1 or 2 thousand warriors. At Gettysburg - there were over 70,000 guys ON EACH SIDE. The Indians didn't stand a chance. .

[@starman545]

10:20 a rifle that perfectly defines that is Ians own burnt Arisaka that has the markings of where the soldier who was sadly killed held it. Totally eerie.

[@Blackhawk441]

have a link for that?

[@jefffisher4208]

My uncle worked at a plant with a central drive shaft and leather belts to the machines. He said buffalo hide belt were the best. Much thicker than cow hide belts. The industrial revolution ran on million of hide belts.

[@ColoradoStreaming]

I have a cousin in Nebraska that has a lathe machine that is run by leather belts in his garage from a benchtop grinder motor. Its pretty sweet.

[@Bayan1905]

This gun is a work of art, but also a true working tool from another time. I would have to take it hunting, it's begging to go hunting again.

[@mikeblair2594]

Not so much fur as hide. The leather from the buffalo is incredibly strong and was used as belts to run the machinery in the factories and mills in Britton during the nineteenth century. Before that the fire were used as robes, but that wouldn't have made much of a dent in the herds of the time.

[@IrishTechnicalThinker]

Hunt Showdown ❤

[@nepdisc3722]

Sparks LRR in Hunt Showdown.

[@kevingambrell]

Just about the best looking rifle ever made. I owned a Pedersoli copy in 45-70 Just beautiful to own and shoot. Spent many happy Sundays at Bisley with the rifle. I wish I could have afforded a genuine Sharps but the Pedersoli was a good second option ..

[@ge0arc244]

As a rifle it is a MASTEE PIECE, But it's reason for existence and history come from pure EVIL. I love it but hate it's history. Sort of like my ex-wife. Her body was a site to behold but her personality was toxic waste. Tricky very tricky....

[@paulmanson253]

I remember reading as a child that Black Widow spider silk was the standard product for crosshairs for many decades. Just when such a thing started to be used I have no idea. Is that telescopic sight too early for such a thing ? No idea. Who knows,the owner of that rifle might possibly have known or known of Elmer Keith. Makes you wish the families had included stories from the life of the persons owning the thing. If you do not make record of the highlights,they will be irretrievably lost. Just the journey from where originally shipped to the Great Plains would have been quite a tale. Erie Canal both directions ? Quite possibly. Railroads at their height ? Very possibly. Buffalo skins one way,cartridges the other. Propped up in the corner of a saloon somewhere the owner wanted a cold beer. Campfires with buffalo hump stew the main dish. Iconic.

[@colb9916]

Beautifull old rifle. 1 thing you had wrong, as im sure a few others noticed. elevating the front of the scope will Decrease the point of aim.. With that style of sight adjustment, the lowest setting is the longest range ,the opposite to rear sight adjustments as im sure you know :). Always enjoy your videos. Thanks for shareing these beautifull and historic firearms :)

[@dallonperry3639]

I own a Shiloh sharps 45-70 Montana rough rider. Honestly my fav gun to shoot by a million.