Joe that is a mighty fine looking Roller!  Tom

Since starting this thread and discussion, I have found that C. Sharps Arms in Big Timber, MT makes an 1885. Looks like they are entirely made there. Prices are from $600 to $800 more than the Italian replicas and are about the same as I’m seeing Miroku made Brownings and Winchesters for. Has anybody had any experience with C. Sharp 1885s? I would pay that difference if I knew it was a quality made rifle.

Original action was a 40-50. John king installed the barrel and had the case colors done. Gene Gordner fit and finished the stocks. A lady I dont know did the checkering.  I supplied the wood. MVA sights.

The barrel John originally fit did not shoot well at all using the blow tube. Had very shallow rifling. New barrel is a NOS Badger from Carmen Axtell. Caliber is 45-90. Dave Casey installed the Badger. Shoots like a sooped up wildcat. 

Westerner, count me another great admirer of your rolling block. The wood is outstanding, and so is the rest of the rifle.

I started buying Pedersoli 1874 Sharps almost 30 years ago and now I have 5 rifes in 45/70, 45/90, 40/65, 50/70 and 50/90.

Then I bought a Hiwall 38/55 Target rifle. Which is best? Both types offer a world of fun, both have a camming action to seat that cartridge into the rifling and both are very accurate with a little tuning.

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50/70 Sharps at 100 yards

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SS - - - that was the original poster who you quoted there, not me.   All my Remingtons are originals as are half my Sharps rifles.   I don't care for any of the imported copies of Remington, Sharps, or High Walls.  The only Pedersoli I have is one of their Mortimer flintlock rifles.   That must be the top of their line as it is very well made, looks good and shoots as good as it looks.

George

For user-friendly practicality, it’s the Winchester, hands-down.  The mechanism cocks (or half-cocks) itself when the lever is cycled, the block has a modicum of camming action if the cartridge is a little swollen, the firing pin is straight, rugged and automatically retracts, and broken springs are an extreme rarity.  Whether you’re right- or left-handed, function is the same.  It can handle about any cartridge, black-powder or smokeless, with safety and (now that reworked varmint rifles are Cool) without being jarringly anachronistic.

You have to remember to put the Sharps on half-cock after firing or the pin tip will drag down the primer, cartridge case and barrel breech and might break off.  The pin itself is complicated, and has been further complicated, depending on the manufacturer’s ideas of how to minimize firing-pin tip damage.  It also limits the intensity of the cartridges you may want to fire in it.  Springs (especially the lever spring) have a propensity to break in the middle of an important shooting session, and holding the lever up while pulling the trigger is (for me anyway) a less-natural grip than that on the lever of the Winchester. Half- or full-cocking of the hammer is less convenient for lefthanders than righthanders.

On the other hand, the Cool factor of the Winchester is 9, with the Sharps a 10; and the historical-association factor of the Winchester is (maybe) a 5, while the Sharps is all the way up to 11.