Sharps Rifle was series of rifles first designed by Christian Sharps and manufactured by the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company. The Sharps Rifle patented 1848 and manufacturing started in 1850. Christian Sharps left the Company in 1853. Hugo Borchardt designed the last rifle made by the company; Sharps-Borchardt Model 1878. The Sharps Rifle Co. closed down in 1881.

Reproductions of the paper cartridge Sharps 1853 Rifle, the metallic cartridges 1874 Sharps Rifle, and Sharps-Borchardt Model 1878 are being manufactured today. They are used in hunting and target shooting.

Type	Rifle, Carbine
Place of origin	U.S., Union
Service history
In service	1850-1881
Production history
Designer	Christian Sharps
Designed	1848
Number built	100,000+
Variants	Single set trigger (regular army) Double set trigger (United States Sharpshooters)
Specifications
Weight	8 pounds
Length	47 inches (rifle)
Cartridge	caliber .52 475-grain projectile with 50-grain cartridge, later converted to 45-70 US government in 1873.
Action	Falling Block
Rate of fire	8 - 10 shots per minute
Muzzle velocity	1200 ft/s
Effective range	500 yards
Feed system	1 round
Sights	open ladder type

Sharps military rifles and carbines

Sharps military rifles

The military Sharps rifle (also known as the Berdan Sharps rifle) was a falling block rifle used during and after the American Civil War. Along with being able to use a standard percussion cap, the Sharps had a fairly unusual pellet primer feed. This was a device which held a stack of pelleted primers that flipped one over the nipple every time the trigger was pulled and the hammer fell. This was much easier to operate from horseback than individual percussion caps.

The Sharps Rifle was used in the Civil War by the U.S. Army sharpshooters known popularly as "Berdan's Sharpshooters" in honor of their leader Hiram Berdan. The Sharps made a superior sniper weapon of higher accuracy than the more commonly issued muzzle-loading rifled-muskets. This was due mainly to the higher rate of fire of the breech loading mechanism and the fact that the quality of manufacture was superior. It was produced by the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company in Hartford, CT.

Sharps military carbine

Sharps 1863 Carbine .50-70 Calibre antique original

The Carbine version was very popular with the cavalry of both the Union and Confederate armies and was issued in much larger numbers than the full length rifle. The falling block action lent itself to conversion to the new metallic cartridges developed in the late 1860s, and many of these converted carbines in .50-70 Gov't were used during the Indian Wars in the decades immediately following the Civil War.

Sharps sporting rifles

Sharps made rifles in sporting versions from the late 1840s until the late 1880s. After the American Civil War, converted Army surplus guns were made into custom rifles, and the Sharps factory produced Models 1869 and 1874 rifles in large numbers for the commercial buffalo hunters and frontiersmen. These largebore rifles were manufactured in some of the most powerful black powder cartridges. Sharps also manufactured special long range target versions for the then popular Creedmore style of 1000-yard target shooting. Many modern black powder Cartridge Silhouette shooters use original and replica Sharps rifles to shoot metallic silhouettes cut in the shapes of animals at ranges up to 500 meters. A company known as Shiloh Rifle Manufacturing Company, of Big Timber, Montana, has been manufacturing reproductions of the Sharps Rifle since 1983. A replica Sharps Rifle was featured prominently in the 1990 western film Quigley Down Under, starring Tom Selleck