Weapons of the Civil War Cavalry: The Sharps Carbine 

Shoot the damn thing!

Lucky bastard

Was is a standard infantry gun or was it mainly for the Calvary?

@@ryanklinger8562 later

Mainly cavalry but 2 Sharpshooter regiments used both the standard m1859 rifles and special set trigger models. As the war progressed infantry regiments would see organic sharpshooter and skirmisher squads and platoons armed with the rifle. Individual soldiers would also buy them via mail order.

Sorry to be off topic but does anybody know a tool to log back into an Instagram account..? I stupidly forgot my password. I love any tricks you can offer me

@Hugo Jayden Instablaster =)

@Cooper Frederick Thanks for your reply. I found the site through google and I'm trying it out now. Seems to take quite some time so I will get back to you later with my results.

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@Hugo Jayden glad I could help :)

Consider the post 1865 use of the Sharps carbine on the 19th century Western Frontier(1850-1890 . Example: The Modoc Indian War of 1872-1873. This occurred in the Lava Beds at south end of Tule Lake. Today it's the Lava Beds National Monument which straddles the Modoc/Sikiyou County line in North-eastern California. During this six month conflict the Model 1868 .50-70 Sharps carbine, a post Civil War (1861-1865) era conversion of the Models 1859, 1863, and 1865 "percussion" Sharps carbine, saw extensive use by U.S. Army/Cavalry troops. Also, the Model 1868 "Allin" conversion Trapdoor Springfield also chambered in .50-70. The latter was a conversion of the earlier Civil War 1863 .58 caliber Springfield rifle-musket, a single shot muzzle loader. Remember this is almost a decade following the end of the Civil War in 1865. Afterwards wagon train emigrants settled the West for homesteading, farming, ranching, and even perhaps trapping and mining. Many of these emigrants utilized, owned, and carried Civil War surplus firearms. Reason: Simple economics. A Winchester Model 1866 for example might cost say $40.00 vs. say $7.00 for a Civil War Spencer, or even a Sharps carbine. 1873 was also a year of economic panic and depression. Fascinating history! ----Jim Farmer Merrill, Oregon (Klamath County) On the net: The Cascade Civil War Society at www.ccws.org

he does not understand how to make the cartridges. the style shown at 0:54 should be made neat. the cartridges I make in that style fit flush with breech. no powder lost, which is point.

Beaguins, we actually plan to do just that but try to keep our videos as short as possible. When we made the first rough draft of the script, our video was more than 2 hours long...on just the '59 Sharps Carbine! Too much to do and too little time! Thanks for watching.

Two hours long? Jiminy cricket!

Chris, by any chance do you have a serial number and/or photos? Feel free to send them to us at sdacus@11thovc.com

Its a different accent

Listen to him again and pay attention, he is clearly saying it correctly but he may be saying it too fast for your hearing.

@@mrbrainbob5320 No, it's called illiteracy. An accent doesn't change the order of the letters in a word.

@@INeverMetAGunIDidntLike No, I've listened to it eight times now. He's clearly saying Calvary.

@@twistedpixel2558 nah you are just being dramatic

That is so nice to read about any blackpowder rifle. Does yours have the primer system?

@@sashasoule4585 My carbine is a post war conversion to 50-70 and as such has the remnants is the original priming system. The bore measures 0.520" and is the post war three land liner type. It's still remarkably accurate with a carefully cast bullet . FYI my serial # is 6620X

You'll have to buy the brass and load you own.

The Pedersoli is great, but the Shiloh Sharps 1863 carbine is the best you can buy. Add the patchbox as a custom option, and it is perfect for an 1859 repro minus the integral primer setup of the original.

Robert Heinlein said "Anytime a question starts with "Why don't they", the answer is always MONEY. I believe the Sharps cost about three times the Springfield muzzle loader rifled musket.

Pyrodex works just fine. Its superior to traditional black powder in every way.

Never had a Sharps myself & wondered how pyrodex did because of the longer distance the spark had to travel as opposed to the Hawken style guns I’m used to . Thank you for your help 👍

The disc primers would be a problem to acquire I would imagine.

I am not sure about the new models but I am sure that could have been possible on the early Sharps it wasn't until 1859 that they had a good gas check and with the new style cartridges that did not have to be cut off there was no powder spillage like the early ones.

I ve read that too.depending how ti ght block fit the mortise it could be a lot or little.they did use shims later

I'm pretty sure that's true.

They didn't have a cap like you are imagining. The cap on them was a disc and shot out of an opening as the trigger was pulled. Hopefully the cap was on the nipple when the hammer got there. If it wasn't they just cock it again and pull the trigger again. The caps were preloaded on top of a spring device that pushed them up so they could be thrown to the nipple. It's hard to tell by looking at my Sharps how many primers could be pre loaded.

@@russellkeeling4387 yes that’s the sharps pellet priming system. They could also use standard musket caps in an emergency and seeing as how in the field the pellet primer proved less then reliable they were mostly used with standard issue musket caps. That’s why I’m asking about that

I think some people might mistake a powder grinder as a coffee grinder. Militaries of old did not usually carry around a bunch of granulated black powder. The powder was stored and carried in puk form and was ground as needed before battles.

By the start of the war, the cartridges were quite flush fitting, meaning there was little if any powder lost. Prior to the war, older cartridges often did lose some powder

Spencer not Sharps

Ideally the paper would be nitrated ensuring an almost complete clean burn. Even without nitration, enough of it would burn away as to not cause significant fouling until many cartridges have been fired. Paper cartridges also have a lot more "give" than brass, so a little crud in the chamber won't put it out of action.

LOL! Agreed! We could go on "forever" on our unit's namesake history. Ironic how our organization's name is "11th OVC" and we haven't done any informational videos on the actual history of our unit! Maybe one of these days!

That would be a good one its nice reading history but its all the better watching it on RU-vid

LOL! Agreed! We will be sure to tell him that.

Lol

Look at some photos of civil war soldiers.a lot of them wore them that way.

Yes you could but you have to remember the Henry was a rimfire that had a very limited range. You could shoot all day and never reach the enemy with a bullet.

And say carbine not carbene, you yanks talk crap english

Also mispronounced cavalry