Hunting
Silhouette Shooting
Barrel Lengths

The prospective buyer of a Shiloh Sharps has a large selection of rifle styles and calibers from which to choose. Over the years, we have put together a few suggestions that might help in narrowing down those choices. The following information may help you determine the best possible combination of caliber, barrel, construction and accessories to meet your individual shooting needs. As an example, the shooter who wants a rifle just to shoot in black powder silhouette matches may be best served with a Sporter #1 in .40-65, .45-70 or .40-70 ST. The hunter with no interest in black powder shooting may choose a lighter, shorter rifle that can handle over-the-counter ammunition in .45-70 or .38-55. The shooter who wants to have a real “Buffalo Sharps” may choose a #3 Sporting rifle in one of the traditional buffalo calibers such as .45-110 ( 2 7/8”). Each rifle and caliber has its advantages and disadvantages for a particular purpose.

HUNTING
If you have become bored with hunting because it seems too easy with modern high power rifles and their telescopic sights, then perhaps you should consider becoming a Sharps hunter. All of the traditional Sharps are adequate for hunting big game with black powder, though the .40-50 may be a little light for anything larger than deer.

The .45 27/8” is adequate for any North American game, as is the .50 2 ½”. The .38-55 is offered as a target load though a great many deer and black bear have been killed with it over the years. Many of the rifle variations we offer such as the Saddle Rifle with 26 inch barrel make nice handling rifles for woods use. All of the models with standard weight barrels weigh in the vicinity of nine to 10 lbs, or not much more than the average scope-sighted, bolt action rifle.

Of course by hunting with a rifle using iron sights and high trajectory cartridges you will be limiting yourself to practical ranges of 100 to perhaps 200 yards maximum for most game. That means you may not get as much shooting as the fellow with a modern scope-sighted magnum rifle, but as anyone who has brought home game with a Sharps can tell you, the satisfaction of hunting as the Frontiersmen did is immense.

Many new Sharps shooters ask why, if their rifles are accurate for target shooting out to 1,000 yards, are they limited to about 200 yards for hunting. The answer is in the high trajectory of the old black powder cartridges, and the difficulty in judging distances closely. At longer ranges, a mere 5 yard mistake in judging the distance to an animal can result in a clean miss at best or, at worst, a wounded animal.

Can you shoot smokeless power in your Shiloh Model 1874, or is it strictly a blackpowder rifle? Our attitude here at Shiloh is that blackpowder makes these rifles what they are. It gives the feel (and smell!) of what it was like for buffalo hunters or target shooters over 100 years ago. And, it also is capable of extremely good accuracy all the way to 1,000 yards, with the assistance of a good spotting scope and someone to get you on target.

However, some Sharps shooters shy away from using blackpowder for whatever their reasons. Therefore our rifles that are chambered for cartridges for which modern factory manufactured smokeless powder ammunition is available are warrantied for such ammunition. Those are the 30-40K, .38-55, and .45-70.

NOTE: We do not recommend that smokeless powder handloads be used in the large volume blackpowder cartridges of the 1870s. There have been reports of excessive pressures, even detonations, happening when too little smokeless powder is loaded in large-capacity cartridges. The big blackpowder rounds were meant to be loaded with blackpowder, and they perform better with blackpowder. Therefore if you desire to be a smokeless powder Sharps shooter, stay with those calibers for which smokeless powder ammunition is readily available.

SILHOUETTE SHOOTING
One of the most often-asked questions is, “What do I need for a silhouette rifle?” Actually almost any variation of rifle we make can be used for an entry level black powder cartridge silhouette rifle. However, if you are serious about your competition, here are a few pointers to help you get a closer to that winner’s circle.

First we could advise you to pick the heavy weight barrel that we offer at no additional cost. The choice of full octagon, half octagon/half round, or round, is up to you. Maximum rifle weight by NRA rules is 12 lb. 2 oz. including sights. Our .45 caliber rifles with the same barrel configuration have gone over weight. This is due to the density of the wood, something we cannot control down to a few ounces. Therefore, if you want a silhouette rifle in .40 caliber we advise you to be careful in adding options such as pewter tip or traditional steel buttplate. We also advise those wanting the heavy weight barrels to stay with a 30 inch length, and with .40 caliber we only guarantee the heavy half octagon to meet weight specifications according to NRA Silhouette rules.

As for caliber, we can recommend only three chamberings as being competitive for BPCR Silhouette (.40-65, .45-70, .40-70SS). Those possess the necessary power to do the job out of 500 meters without offering undue recoil. For shooting at longer ranges, the .45 calibers are preferable to the .40s because it is much easier to see the bullet strike. The .45 calibers also have less wind drift when 500-550 grain bullets are used.

Finally, we recommend that all potential silhouette shooters order the #111 or #112 hooded front sight with interchangeable inserts, and the #108 mid-range venire tang sight. This sighting equipment is perfectly adequate for National Championship level silhouette shooting.

BARREL LENGTHS
Barrel lengths for blackpowder shooting should be a minimum of 28” with 30” being better. The 34” barrels offer more sight radius when shooting at long ranges and slight velocity increases over the 30” in most calibers. The barrel weight should be as heavy as possible for rifles intended for target shooting as it helps dampen recoil over a long string of shots.

The only known weight limitation on blackpowder cartridge rifles at this writing is the NRA Blackpowder Silhouette limit of 12 lb 2 oz. The Shiloh Rifle #1 heavy barrel will exceed this at a 34” length. The #1 heavy barrel 30” length in .45 caliber will meet weight. The #1 heavy barrel in .40 caliber must be half round/half octagon in 30” length to make weight specifications. The 30” barreled rifles will weigh 11 ¼ to 11 ¾ lb. with a full octagon #1 heavy. If you intend to compete in the NRA matches, the Long Range Express with a #1 heavy full octagon barrel 34” long will be too heavy to pass inspection.

The .45-110 can be uncomfortable in a 12-14 lb. gun when a long string of shots are fired with heavy slugs. This is why there are so many original Sharps rifles with very heavy (by modern standards) barrels.

All Shiloh barrels, regardless of weight, are drilled, reamed, rifled, and shaped in the Shiloh plant. ALL barrels are built to the same exacting standards. Barrels may be (and are) rejected at any time during the process. All Shiloh barrels are the best and are covered by the Shiloh warranty.