I have read that a Gunsmith from yesteryear modified Sharps actions so the breech block could fully seat the round so you could engrave the bullet. I really mis this feature when loading for and shooting my Sharps rifles compared to the CPA and Stevens 44 1/2 Rifles. I would appreciate any information if it is out there or if someone has pictures of such. I have tried Google every which way and have not retrieved any useful information.

I've studied the pictures of what the Freund Bros. did, made a few of my own.  It's considerable work, requires a new breech block and to copy what Frank did, a wedge needs to be made and inserted to give the block it's camming motion.  Then the firing pin/transfer bar design needs to be changed, and the hammer works best with a large nose welded on it.   
Here's pics of a few mods I did, one's for a copy of the transitional '74 project, one's for a '77 that's in the works, and another is for a Little Sharps I work on in my spare time. 
GT

GT, On your pic showing the basic fully assembled action what is the lock plate made of? It looks to be Damascus.

LRF,
The wedge plate is fit into the action so it's a snug fit making full contact to the back side and corners.  It gets spotted in with soot, the two screws, one on either side simply hold it in place.  I made one wedge that didn't fit nearly as nice and I had a little movement, it was scrapped.   
That lock plate is damascus, the bottom tangs on all three of these is made from damascus also just for a twist.  The finished action is still waiting wood, mostly inlet now but I've had other things going on. 
The transitional '74 is a ways from a completed action but the barrel is mated and a piece of wood is started.   
Of all of these, the Little Sharps sees a little time now and then.  The original intentions with it was a 22rf, but now it's something in a 28 caliber, probably the G&H Short in a Schuetzen configuration.  I attached a pic of the two hammers, one is the original the Little Sharps comes with, the one beside it is a copy of what the Freund Bros. used and then a nose was welded on it.  I have a nose made for it but I don't believe I have it done yet.   It has a lower tang from Damascus, double sets, a test block as I made the triggers is seen next to the new tang.  I believe I have the triggers in and working.  A piece of wood is well underway for this project.  For the way it will be fired - breech seated- the camming breech block will serve no purpose except novelty... but then that's why I do this.

GT 
 
To the OP, I apologize for the thread drift.  If one looks, I have a few posts out there a few years ago about these builds but I'm not interested in chasing them.

GT the Damascus is definitely a nice touch. Always wanted to build an action receiver using it but just never got around to it. Oh well.
I attached a sketch for what's it worth, it is how I a fixed and held the bottom of the cam plate in the receiver. As I said it wasn't my idea and I got it from an old picture of an original so the brothers thought of it at least first. The wedge fits into a mortise in the back of the receiver and when the trigger plate is inserted it wedges the plate back into the receiver. I thought it was a good solution. Anyway just sharing ideas.

JP,
That'll work. I did that to a couple of Sharps I built, it will assist in camming in a tiny bit.  For a big 50 I built, I had to build a manual camming tool that gets used occasionally if and when I shoot BP and only use a blow tube.  It's easy to understand why the Freunds modifications were desirable back in the day.  Both the camming and the dual extractors.

LRF, thanks for sharing the sketch, that would make the fit on the cam plate not quite so critical.
Greg

You would be as well served to get one of the cam tools sold for just this issue.

YippyKiYay wrote on May 25^th, 2026 at 7:49am:


The Freund Bros. were great gunsmiths, especially so for Frank. But the many improvements that Frank came up with were all great custom work, just not easily done in a factory setting where production needs to be done quickly. 

My Freund Improved

My Freund Improved

In the meanwhile, someone on the site makes a nifty little tool that fully seats the cartridge in a jiffy.

That is history repeated. Very nice. Very nice indeed...




JMH

I think he has the copyrights to the name.

you can copyright anything you want just like C.Sharps has the copyright to the Old Reliable name

I was thinking about patents, not copyright...mea culpa

What I'm reading says the patent expired in 1871, IIRC.  Remington was the only one to pay royalties to S&W prior to that.   
I'll double check the dates,  but I know the patent expired before 1873.

marlinguy wrote on May 29^th, 2026 at 10:37am:



I was referring to the Rollin White patent for bored thru cylinders.

I've never understood why White's 1855 patent ran out in 15 years? Patents back then generally ran 20 years, so it's a mystery to me.

You're too "in the present", Vall.  As we're talking about Utility Patents, their duration history is:
     1790 to 1835: up to 14 years.
     1836 to 1860: 14 years, with a possible 7-year extension.
     1861 to June 7, 1995: 17 years from the issue date.
     June 8, 1995 to Present: 20 years from the earliest filing date. 

I've only owned Copyrights, but friends and clients have owned Patents.

Bill Lawrence

Bill what about copyrights Ken