That's interesting Joe.  Does yours have the "L" markings on the barrel in front of the lever spring mount?  I have included a picture of the forearm stamp as well as the barrel marks.  Did you have your rifle rechambered to 45 2.6 or did the former owner?  I have a Shiloh 74 in .50 3.25 so I understand the recoil issue intimately.  Sometimes I'd rather poke my eyes out than pull the trigger.

Yep, mine has the same mark's. Seems mine aint quite as neat as yours. 

I looked at the chamber in my rifle with a bore scope and did a chamber cast. The patina is the same the entire length of the chamber. It looks original to the rifle.
Also the chamber doesnt have a modern 45 degree angle at the mouth of the chamber. It has a long gentle lead in. So, If the chamber was recut it was a long long time ago.  These old rifle's can be perty mysterious.  I have some special chambered rifle's that should baffle some gun crank in the future.  Wouldnt be any fun if we had all the answers. 
It's been a few years since I read Sellers chapter on the Borchardt. 
Does he mention anything about the cartouche's ? I'm too lazy to look right now. Maybe tomorrow. I'm too pooped to pop. Clank ! ( Head hitting pillow )   ZZZZZZZZZ     

                                                                        Joe.

thop wrote on Jan 29^th, 2008 at 1:50pm:


Hello Throp

I think you may have missunderstood my post. Some 17 Bulk purchases of Borchardts are entioned in Sellers book. The initials of these 17 purchasing organisations do not match the letters on the cartouche's.

I have never contacted Dr. Labowski myself, but from others who have, I believe he may TELL you what calibre it was chambered for, but if you want your rifle 'lettered' in other words have a one page sheet giving you what details he has relating to your rifle it will cost you the best part of US$ 200.00. Quite expensive, especially if it doesn't contain more information that he may tell you on the phone.

The 1878 Military rifle is recorded as being made in 40/70, 44/77 and 45/70 calibres, Sellers does not mention how many of each was made but it's highly likely the majority were in 45/70, and the other calibres were special order.

Sellers book makes no reference to inspectors Cartouch marks on the 1878 model. Sellers also states that the factory records show that 1,104 military rifles being sold to individuals through to September 1880, but notes and contracts not accounted for in the factory serial number records show considerably larger numbers. (being sold?)

It's quite apparent from published correspondence that the Sharps Rifle Co was in desperate financial straights having no liquid assets by late 1878 and they were assembling as many rifles, of all models, from stocks of spare parts, in a desperate effort to get cash into their coffers. By 1880 they had dropped the discounts given to dealers, which meant dealers had to pay more for the rifles and sell them at higher prices to make a profit.  This in a market that (for single shot rifles) was already in decline. An abortive attempt to produce LEE magazine rifles also came to nothing and was probably the straw that finally broke the camels back. 

All over the world the military were turning to repeating rifles, so there was no longer any demand for the big bore single shot rifles from the military and the few sales to civilian outlets couldn't keep the factory going once the Buffalo were gone.

The Sharps Shotgun was another failed venture, all the shotguns sold under the Sharps name were actually made on contract in England by Webley & Co but were marked with Sharps name, as a part of the contract.

Too many failures with too little money coming in, it's hardly surprising that their usually detailed factory records became less detailed in their final years, especially for the 1878 Borchardt.

Harry

The marks are not "LB", but indeed stand for "J P Lower".  In his recently discovered memoirs, he states:  "I began with the script L, making the stem of the P of same, with the foot of it on top, the J intersecting the stem from the right, the whole encirciled.  This mark I used on most all the Borchardts and those assembled from parts."  He further stated that the Sharps factory had provided him with a "coating" that he used to 'brown' the unfinished parts he bought from the factory when it was going out of business.  I have seen a frame, with a beautiful factory looking blue, part of a Lower marked rifle, that was white under the stock and had fingerprints of blue on the white metal, probably from Lower himself.  I have photos of those prints somewhere.

JP

Hello Harry, I've been out of touch for a year, but since my post on the "LB" cartouche, I've found a factory original Borchardt sporting rifle in extremely fine condition, shipped to Lower and possessing the stamping, which validates his claim of stamping these guns in their various styles.  The memories are not  yet published but may be available next summer, as the author has discoverd new material that will be incorporated concerning Lower's relationship with Carlos Gove.  Still need to find the photos of the fingerprints, will keep looking.

JP