I recently bought a collection, and one of the rifles has me baffled. It's a rebarreled , restocked, sharps-borchardt with no markings or ser. #. It's a sporter action in 45-100. The no serial # thing is my question. Could this be an original action

With all the changes you listed, it may be that the serial number was polished off at the same time. Are you certain it's a Sporter action, and not a military that's been reshaped to sporter look?

Pete, Borchardt triggers can be made good. Lot of work by a craftsman with a lot of patience. One done by many including Zishang was to drill and tap the striker for a set screw where the sear engages. This also required drilling a access hole in the top of the breech block so you could get to the screw to adjust it. This is necessary because if you cannot keep it cocked you cannot get the breech block out of the reciever because the firing pin tip sticks out far enough to hang up in the rim cut in the barrel. My Zischang has been done in this manner and is a nice clean trigger about 1 1/2 lbs. I wish it had his set trigger system but cannot be too fussy. What the real problem is with Borchardt is the striker is not supported well on the back end and so needs a lot of sear engagment in order to work. I hope someday to rework an action by threading the back end of a block and fitting plug that is closely fitted to the striker so it cannot move around on the tail end. This would allow you to then adjust the sear to small engagement and it would be consistant. As to this fellows Borchard not having a number. He needs to look very closely at the bottom of the reciever just ahead of the trigger. I recently had a Borchardt Short Range rifle brought to me to look over. It was in tough shape having at some time been in a house fire but not really burned. The fellow said it has no serial number, I have looked everywhere. Well when I looked at it I was able to see the number, full of crud. And by the way they are stamped with very small numbers probably 1/16" or maybe even smaller, but once we scrubbed it clean with a toothbrush and some Hoppes #9 it came out nice and clear. Prior to that it just looked like a mild disturbance on the bottom surface of the action. So, can the trigger be made good? YES! Would it be expensive? YES! Is it a worthwhile expenditure? YES! Borchardts with their fast, short striker travel can be most accurate. I believe in fact that it is a significant issue when comparing a Borchardt against any Hammer Single Shot. Well enough of my soapbox. Regards, FITZ.

FITZ & Joe,

  Thanks for the info. I'll pass it along as I think my friend wants to re-barrel, or re-line the one he bought. I've seen a picture of it and if the inside looks as bad as the outside it'll definitely need some work.

  I've read the article mentioning John King as having done the trigger work but nothing on how it was done, or if any alteration was done to get the results.

  Sounds like it would be expensive, as FITZ mentions, but at least it's doable.

  Appreciate both of your responses!

PETE

I've got a very rare original sporting Borchardt (shot only very rarely by me) and some military actions, one original configuration and one redone late in the 19th Century as a sporter.  All have serial numbers as described by the other posters.  Sounds like they were removed during refinish.

I also have one of the fine 'modern' versions built so nicely by Al Story, in a 405 Win.  While it is possible that your gun may be built on that action, that is unlikely as the modern construction should be obvious, and there should be a serial number on that action as well.   Al may also be a good source of information on reworking the trigger.  The one on my Story is excellent, and the originals are, sad to say, as much of a pain as you have noted.  Dave

I like Sharps Borchardts, but their triggers can be a problem. One of the sources of much frustration is the fit of the striker to the little bushing in the back of the breech block. Normally this bushing, that appears as a little button at the back of the breech, is quite worn. Now, if you carefully turn down and true up the rear of the striker and then make a new bushing that fits properly with no play, the trigger will be much improved. When this bushing is loose, every time you cock the striker it takes a slightly different position and the trigger pull changes, which is why you don't want to set them too lightly.

Bob

Brent, I have seen stellite and or carbide Silver soldered onto the Sear in an effort to improve the trigger with not much benefit. The real issue as mentioned in an earlier post is getting the striker bushed on the back end to keep it from wagging up and down when you want to adjust the sear engagement. I completely disagree with you on the sear spring issue. The more spring pressure you have on the sear the less engagement you can have. Remember when squeezing the trigger you are bucking the poor leverage design of the sear and the engagement of the striker with a heavy coil spring loading the striker. The sear spring is not very strong anyhow being only a small coil about 3/32" diameter. I have run into a few Borchardts with good triggers. One I own a Zischang without his set triggers is excellent with the sear engagement feature. The others have been rifles that showed no evidence of ever having been messed with.  Literally as they left the factory. Just my thoughts. Regards, FITZ.

I have a sharps borschardt rebarreled by Creighton Audette. He thought a long time about the bad trigger on the sharps and he then installed a ruger #1 single set trigger in it. This works very well and over the years I have learned to like the single set much better than the double set triggers.
Bill

Bill,
I've never seen a Ruger with anything but a stock Ruger trigger on it, and all of those were plain triggers.  Can you tell us more about what the heck a Ruger set trigger is, and how it is made to fit a Borchardt?   

I'b be really interested in this if it is feasible today.

Pictures, sources of parts, anything more you can provide would be wonderful.

Thanks,


Brent

Ben,
I was wondering if it might be a Canjar trigger.  I know they are no more, but perhaps one could buy a Ruger #1 or some other rifle with a Canjar trigger and swap off the trigger.   

Or maybe someone like you would have one lying about, catchin' dust and looking for a good home where no one will bring home a derelict E Brown....

Brent

I think you are referring to KEPPLINGER single set triggers for #1 & 3 Rugers. They are very nice. moodyholler

At one time Canjar made an SST specifically for the Ruger, as does Kepplinger today. The Kepplinger is still available through Brownell's. I don't have one handy and so I don't know how it could be adapted to the Borchardt, but the Canjar is very doable. The ASSRA Journal had instructions on the procedure back about 10-15 years ago, I did one for my long range Borchardt at that time. It makes an ugly trigger-&-guard appear to be even uglier IMO. Also FWIW IMO the original Sharps factory Borchardt DST is superior to any other except that it requires one hand to be removed from the rifle in order to set the trigger, much like an SST or Win close-coupled DST. But IMO it's both crisper and faster than any other set trigger on the Borchardt.

But it's mighty rare and mighty ugly.

Contact Rudi for a reprint of the Canjar conversion article, I'll try to look it up in my records.
Regards, Joe