The Goose
NES Member
My Christmas present to myself was a Pedersoli Quigley Sharps in .50/90. For those of you that don’t know, the .50/90 Sharps was one of the original buffalo hunting cartridges, it was created for that market in the early 1870’s. There is some conjecture that the term “big fifty” was used for either the .50/70 or the .50/90, however these days it is most often used to describe the .50/90. The larger .50/140 did not appear until the tail end of the 19th century, was never actually chambered in a Sharps rifle and was certainly much too late to have been used as a buffalo round. As gruesome and wasteful as the virtual extermination of the bison was I have always been fascinated by the superb rifles that came out of that period.
My .50/90 came with an open rear sight and a blade front. In my eagerness to try it out I initially loaded up some light smokeless rounds with some 425 gr .50/70 cast bullets that I found at Riley’s. I could hit pretty well at 50 yards, which is about the limit for my tired old eyes with an open iron sight, and the recoil was relatively mild. I decided to make the leap to black powder, and I must say it was a leap. I downloaded everything I could find on the web and read a good half dozen books, much of the information I found was contradictory and confusing. I accumulated the materials and components that I thought I would need and tried to figure out what to do. Really serious black powder cartridge guys make the most anal 1911 fanatics look like slackers. They fixate on every single step of what they do. I got to the point that I was almost afraid to do anything for fear of doing it wrong. Finally I said the hell with it, back in the day they just poured as much powder as the case would hold stuck a bullet on top. Time to make some smoke.
I acquired some 700 gr. round nose bullets (20.1) with SPG lube. I used Winchester Magnum rifle primers and Swiss 1.5 F black powder. The powder was poured down a 24” drop tube (which I made) into the case. I put 100 grs. (volume not weight) into the case with a .030 Walter’s wad on top and used a special powder compression die to slightly compress the powder. I had already arrived at my bullet seating depth on a dummy round by fractionally increasing the depth until the round would chamber in my rifle. I could not find an OAL length for the particular bullet I had chosen and this method assured the largest powder charge in the case. I used a light crimp after seating (separate step). It was like learning to reload all over again.
I replaced the blade front sight with a Kelly globe sight with a dozen different inserts. I mounted a Montana Vintage Arms Mid Range Soule sight on the tang. I also acquired a blow tube to blow down the barrel between shots and keep the fouling soft. It was finally time to hit the range.
Not surprisingly I was the only person at the range, even in the mid 30’s it was chilly. Given all of the variables (new sights and new loads) I had no idea what to expect. I set up a target at 100 yards and got started. If you look at the pictures below you will see my first shot which is the big hole in the cardboard about 8 – 10” below the paper. I raised the aperture a bit and the next shot is a straight line up onto the paper. A little more dialing got me onto the Shoot N C where I fiddled with four more shots before getting near center and putting 5 shots touching. I was pretty pleased with the result. I fired all 11 shots only using the blow tube in between shots and then swabbed out he bore. I fired 9 more shots at another target, but my hands were numb by then and my concentration was failing. I certainly believe that the rifle and load could easily replicate that 5 shot group if the shooter did his part. I will also add that a .50 bullet weighing 700 grs. being pushed by 100 grs of powder is one hell of a thumper. Lots of smoke and one hell of a kick!
My .50/90 came with an open rear sight and a blade front. In my eagerness to try it out I initially loaded up some light smokeless rounds with some 425 gr .50/70 cast bullets that I found at Riley’s. I could hit pretty well at 50 yards, which is about the limit for my tired old eyes with an open iron sight, and the recoil was relatively mild. I decided to make the leap to black powder, and I must say it was a leap. I downloaded everything I could find on the web and read a good half dozen books, much of the information I found was contradictory and confusing. I accumulated the materials and components that I thought I would need and tried to figure out what to do. Really serious black powder cartridge guys make the most anal 1911 fanatics look like slackers. They fixate on every single step of what they do. I got to the point that I was almost afraid to do anything for fear of doing it wrong. Finally I said the hell with it, back in the day they just poured as much powder as the case would hold stuck a bullet on top. Time to make some smoke.
I acquired some 700 gr. round nose bullets (20.1) with SPG lube. I used Winchester Magnum rifle primers and Swiss 1.5 F black powder. The powder was poured down a 24” drop tube (which I made) into the case. I put 100 grs. (volume not weight) into the case with a .030 Walter’s wad on top and used a special powder compression die to slightly compress the powder. I had already arrived at my bullet seating depth on a dummy round by fractionally increasing the depth until the round would chamber in my rifle. I could not find an OAL length for the particular bullet I had chosen and this method assured the largest powder charge in the case. I used a light crimp after seating (separate step). It was like learning to reload all over again.
I replaced the blade front sight with a Kelly globe sight with a dozen different inserts. I mounted a Montana Vintage Arms Mid Range Soule sight on the tang. I also acquired a blow tube to blow down the barrel between shots and keep the fouling soft. It was finally time to hit the range.
Not surprisingly I was the only person at the range, even in the mid 30’s it was chilly. Given all of the variables (new sights and new loads) I had no idea what to expect. I set up a target at 100 yards and got started. If you look at the pictures below you will see my first shot which is the big hole in the cardboard about 8 – 10” below the paper. I raised the aperture a bit and the next shot is a straight line up onto the paper. A little more dialing got me onto the Shoot N C where I fiddled with four more shots before getting near center and putting 5 shots touching. I was pretty pleased with the result. I fired all 11 shots only using the blow tube in between shots and then swabbed out he bore. I fired 9 more shots at another target, but my hands were numb by then and my concentration was failing. I certainly believe that the rifle and load could easily replicate that 5 shot group if the shooter did his part. I will also add that a .50 bullet weighing 700 grs. being pushed by 100 grs of powder is one hell of a thumper. Lots of smoke and one hell of a kick!
![[wink]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/002.gif "Wink [wink]")
