high wall info

[joesharp79]

Hi everyone I'm new to this forum was wondering if you guys could help me .
I'm looking to buy a falling block rifle in 45-70 or 45-90 wanting it to hunt with and do some long range target shooting as well at times for fun planing on loading my own with BP.
Having a hard time finding sites on the net that gives prices or even sell these any sites with prices would be a great help .
And also any info on the best bang for my buck that would suit my needs would be helpful still trying to decide what way to go with a sharps replica or browning 1885 or any others if u think theres a better choice .

Thank you for your time
Joe

 

[Witchhunter]

C. Sharps Arms has 1885 Hi-walls that sure do look purdy to me. Kinda spendy though.

 

[CatShooter]

I have a 45-70 Browning HIgh Wall, and a 45-120 Uberti High Wall... both are way better than the Sharps in terms of strength and lock time.

The Browning is beautiful...

 

[ShootDots]

I have virtually no experience with these older black powder cartridges. Having said that, I was out at the range back in the summertime and a young man showed up with one of the most beautiful rifles I have ever laid eyes on. It was a custom single shot rifle similar to Cat's, in 45-90. He was shooting completely open sights, albeit as precise as one can get with a peep rear and bead front. The peep sight had several inserts of varying sizes. He was shooting at 200 yards. It was a nice, warm day with just a mild breeze. I was watching him shoot and he was shooting 5 shot groups at 200 yards. With those sights those groups never stretched to 2", most were somewhere between about 1.25" and 1.50" maybe a few at 1.750". I was extremely surprised at the level of accuracy that was on display.

 

[watercam]

Go to the assra.com forum. They are devoted to single shot black powder firearms and can help you in your quest.

 

[NickB1075]

I have a Browning 1885 45-70 and I absolutely love it. It is one I am very fond of and will hold onto for the long hall. You can purchase a 1885 pretty easy on gunbroker. Just my opinion but at the cost I have seen ubertis sel for. I would save a few some more coins and get a Browning.

Nick

 

[GeorgeSpringer]

Joe,

I have #1 Shiloh Sharps in 45-90 and a C Sharps high wall in 40-50 Straight Sharps that I was about to list on Gunbroker. Not a thing wrong with either I am just thinning the heard a bit. Both have unertl blocks installed and both have front sight dovetails and the prices will be reasonable. Shoot me a PM if interested in either. I have brass and dies for both calibers.

George Springer

 

[XTR]

If you are new to the straight walled big bore cartridge game be prepared to forget pretty much everything you know about reloading, it's not the same.

Some things to realize:

Hunting, they are great, launching 405gr pills will shoot through just about anything from any direction BUT unless you are really good you will probably use it where ranges are under 100 yards, why you ask?

Pretty much any bullet you choose to shoot, with any powder you want to shoot will drop a foot or more from 100 to 200 yards, and from 100 to 300 the drop is close to 5 feet. There is literally a foot of drop per 25 yards from 200 to 300.

The elevation to get to "long range" is beyond what most can imagine. Elevation required to get a 535 launched at black powder velocities to 1000 yards is on the order of 175 to 225 MOA depending on bullet shape and atmospherics.

The current Brownings and Winchesters are made by Miroku in Japan and run $900 to $1300 or so. Anything from C. Sharps is going to run you at least $2k used or a whole lot more. The Italian rifles are by all accounts hit or miss. Some are very good, some have all kinds if issues. There has been some issue in the past with the reamer design used by them and trying to get good accuracy, and the prices these days isn't much better than the US versions. (though I'm still browsing for one in 30-40K)

45-90s are designed for black powder, hell, the case on a 45-70 is too big for smokeless. You can't get close to 100% load density and shoot it w/o breaking your shoulder. If you want to shoot BP at longer ranges a 45-90 is a good choice, but for a first one I'd suggest a 45-70.

If you want to shoot it do not get a crescent buttplate. <- seriously they look good on the mantle, but are designed to separate your shoulder from your body.


The Shiloh arms website is a good place to learn about shooting Black Powder (holy black), as is castboolits.com. Be warned if you go into some of these places and ask about shooting jacketed bullets and smokeless you may get some resistance.

 

[StevenDzupin]

Texas Mac has a very good book about the later Browning Hi-Walls.

Lots of information about buying used ones.

Regards,

Steve

 

[Ggmac]

No body mentions the Rugers ,#1,#3 .

 

[CatShooter]

No body mentions the Rugers ,#1,#3 .

That is because the subject on the table is High Walls..

 

[lawman29]

If new to black powder 45-70 or 38-55 are best to start. Here are some more web sites:
http://www.buffaloarms.com/
http://www.montanabulletworks.com/
http://blackpowderspg.com/
http://montanavintagearms.com/
http://shiloh-ballard.com/
http://singleshotrifles.com/
http://www.starlinebrass.com/

 

[wapiti25]

I bought a new limited production Winchester High Wall in 38-55 back about 6 yrs ago and they were running about $1200 back then. The newer Winchester high wall has a much better trigger than the older B78 high wall from Browning.

 

[Aero]

Welcome Joe

A couple of forums to look at for BP shooting info are...........

historicshooting.com
shilohrifle.com/forums
assra.com

You would be hard pressed to beat one of the old Browning 1885 BPCR's. They can still be found new in the box. The new Winchester branded 1885's are not nearly as nice as the Brownings were, but are still decent rifles. The Brownings also came with pretty good sights and of course used Badger barrels, which is one of the reasons they shoot so good. They were generally competitive right out of the box with only a little trigger work at most. They are a little heavy for hunting as is most any target rifle.

The Shiloh Sharps rifles are among the best factory rifles available and customer service is as good as it gets.

Someone mentioned Ruger #1's. They can work well using a scope, but iron sights are a problem as far as getting to the chamber for cleaning or wiping between shots.

Other options are the CPA Stevens 44 1/2. C. Sharps makes 1885's, 1874 Sharps, and a Remington Hep-burn copy.

As far as the Italian guns go, someone mentioned them being hit or miss and that is about right. At one time they were a cheaper option. I'm not sure that is the case anymore and I generally try to steer people away from them. I have seen some that shot really good, but in general, the fit and finish is not nearly as good as most of the others and they have had problems in the past.

45-70 is a pretty good all around cartridge. A bit much for some things and a bit light for others. If playing at 800 yards and beyond is what you have in mind, a 45-90 or more will work better for straight BP loads using 525+ grain bullets. Duplexing the 70 can dramatically improve its performance, but is not allowed in most target games and generally frowned on by most cartridge gun shooters.

Good luck!

-Eron

 

[joesharp79]

Try you all for the very good info and sites and them are some really good looking rifles castshooter think I'm going to lean more towards the 1885 now for the quest to find the right one to buy ty all again

 

[Rpbump]

I use 4 Browning Hi-walls. The 40-65, 45-70, 45-90 are BPCR's and the 270 is an octagon barreled hunting rifle. The 45-70 is more than adequate for big game in N America but my 45-90 with its 34" barrel is more accurate and a better silhouette rifle. I also have a military stocked Shilo Sharps in 45-70 that shoots 405gr bullets very accurately out to 300yds. All my Brownings have exceptional wood with the 270 being a thing of beauty with its highly finished wood, and deep bluing. The action on the BPCR rifles is color case hardened as opposed to the 270. For longer range get a 1 in 18 twist in the 45-70/90 and a 1 in 16 twist in the 40-65 especially if you are using 530+gr bullets in the 45 or 400+gr bullets in the 40. Swiss 1.5 & GOEX 2f have given me the best results with the edge going to Swiss BP. Good luck in your pursuit of a Classic rifle
but beware that BP is quite addictive.
R P Bump