Hello all, I'm new here and I would appreciate your assistance identifying a rifle I just acquired. I'll give the description as best as I can.  I have a lot of pictures so if needed, I'll be able to post them up.

Receiver:  The rifle has what appears to be a 1874 action but is serial numbered "154."  That's all, no "Cxxxx" and no six digit number.  It has the 1848 patent mark on the left side and no other patent markings on the receiver or lock plate.  The lock plate is the thin (3/16"). There is no modification/conversion from percussion - this rifle was always a CF rifle.  Based on my limited research it seems that this could be none other than a Springfield 1870 type 2 action, military contract.

Barrel:  The barrel is round, has the three-line address: "Sharps Rifle/ Manufg.Co/ Hartford Conn" and is also marked "New Model." There is no caliber marking, but it is a 50-70.  It is serial numbered to match - 154 - on the bottom of the barrel.  There is also a "29" about six inches forward of the receiver on the bottom of the barrel.  The barrel has been (crudely) cut to just over 20".  The rear sight is a 1859 R.S. Lawrence ladder sight graduated to 800 yards.  The front is a "frontier replacement" and not worth mentioning.  This barrel seems consistent with a New Model 1869 Rifle, also military contract. 

Wood:  The butt has a patchbox, and no discernable inspectors mark, and no "US" mark on the butt plate.  The wood to metal fit is perfect and I believe the wood is original to the rifle.  The forend has one band and likely was cut from a rifle forend, however, there are two oddities:  The barrel band retainer is on the bottom rather on the side where a rifle's would be, and there is no hole where the ramrod would have been.  The wood-to-metal fit is excellent, and the forend appears to be factory, containing an "S" stamp on the rear end where it abuts the receiver.  

So....please help me figure this one out...

I think you have it right.  Sellers writes that Sharps produced 300 case hardened actions for the Springfield Armory in 1871 which were separately numbered.  The rest was done by Springfield.  That would explain why your stock doesn't have the inspection and acceptance marks.  If you want to pull your forend, the lever spring should have a friction roller on it rather than the lever.  Probably frontier gunsmithed by somebody as the original barrel length was 35".  Springfield may also have chosen a different method to attach the forearm than Sharps did.  Original cal. was 50-70.  
The interesting part though is the 3 line Sharps address.  That shouldn't be there???    Bob

71fan, Here's some pictures of a74 Sharps military buttstock that you can compare yours to. It shows placements of the imspectors and acceptance marks.  Do you think your stock was made by the Sharps factory?  There probably isn't a lot of information on what Sharps actually sent to the Springfield Armory.  Bob

Three

Old-Win wrote on Jan 1^st, 2013 at 9:58am:

Old-Win,
Thanks for the pics!  That rifle is quite nice.  My stock has no evidence of inspectors marks but it has probably been lightly sanded at one time.  I'm fairly certain it's a factory stock.   

I've been rooting around the internet for several weeks and it seems all of the springfield sharps rifles did not have the patch box, and any carbine that I've seen with a patch box also has a saddle ring.   

I think it's either a lunchbox special or a very well fitted frankenstein.   

As far as restoring it, since I can't determine what it was I think I'm going to just put a new front site on it and shoot it, and see how it does.  At this point I'm jsut happy to have an original sharps for the price I paid. Now I need to find from 50-70 brass.

Thanks for your help!