hunting with .40 2 1/4

[longcarbine]

Hello gents, I have been lurking on this site for a while and have enjoyed following many of the discussions, learned a bit and laughed a bit. I have been enamored with the 1874 sharps rifle for as long as I can remember. Unfortunatly my early experiences with them were with an Italian job that was a complete pile of junk. Within the last two years I have aquired two shilo's, a 45/70 roughrider w/34" bbl and a saddle rifle w/ 28" bbl in .40 2 1/4. I hunted exclusivly with the .40 2 1/4 saddle rifle this year and thought I would share some of my experiences with it. My load consisted of Buffalo Arms streached and formed 45/70 brass, fed 215, 67 gr. swiss 1 1/2, .030" fiber wad, 400 gr layman bullet w/spg (dropped from mould at 420 gr.) seated with one grease groove out of case. This load and rifle shot 2-3" groups a 100 yds with the full buckhorn sights with a copper penny front sight, which I thought was plenty good. The rifle and I spent a week in canada on a whitetail/wolf hunt. Lots of time was spent on horseback and still hunting with some time in tree stands. I thought the rifle handled beautifully while carrying and packed very well in a saddle scabard. Saw lots of deer and finally got a 40 yd shot at a nice buck.

Quartering away shot, bullet entered between last two ribs on left side, exited right on the knuckle of the right shoulder, deer ran about 30 yards and folded up. Also heard lots of wolves and saw lots of fresh tracks but never saw one. I thought the rifle stood up well to the conditions, which were cold and snowy, with no problems.
The next deer I shot was at home on my farm. 20 yard shot standing straight on. Bullet entered on the bottom line of the throat patch, dead center and shattered 4 vertibrea. Buck dropped on the spot. The bullet really came apart on all that bone. I recovered 4 large pieces that collectivly weighed 360 grns. The most special part of that day was that my two young boys (2 and 3 yrs) were with me. They both get a kick out of watching me shoot that rifle. When I shot that buck my 3 year old said "Wow dad that buck really bit the dust".


Thank you for letting me post this and thanks to shilo for such fantastic rifles.

longcarbine

[Long Knife]

So where in Canada/what outfitter were you with? Nice Buck and great to see some nice photo's.

Long Knife

[Conan_568]

Nice buck and a beautiful family you have there.
.
I'm guessing you got him in Alberta, but I'm probably wrong.
Last fall I shot a buffalo in the shoulder with a 420 grain flathead and the bullet lodged against the bone, he looked at me and went back to his lunch.
Then I loaded a 540 grain PJ creedmoor and put it right through his chest.
The buff dropped like it was hit by lightning.
Now I use only 540 grain bullets for hunting with 45s and 420 grain bullets when I hunt with my 40-90 which was the .300 Weatherby of the 1800s.
It's sure rewarding taking an animal with one of these rifles.
Hell everything is rewarding about Shilohs.

[rdnck]

longcarbine--Congratulations on two really nice deer, and welcome to the world of hunting with a Sharps and traditional black powder loads. You and your sons have a lot of years of the finest in the hunting experience ahead of you. The performance of these rifles is second to none in the game fields, and the personal satisfaction is off the scale. You are getting the boys off to a great start. Well done! Shoot straight, rdnck.

[Oregon Bill]

Boy howdy on what the other fellas are saying. Those are two fine bucks and two "finer" sons. They don't know how lucky they are to have a father who hunts with a Sharps. Some day they will. Thanks for the post and pictures, and have a Merry Christmas.

[pete]

Nice post and photos. Thanks.

[longcarbine]

Thanks for the kind words. I hunted in west central Manitoba in the Duck Mountians with Pat Bergson (Bows and Bullets Outfitters). Beautiful country to hunt and Pat and his guides John and Russell are real good people. Old school country boys for sure. Hunting with the shilo this year has brought back to me what hunting should be. A challenging, rewarding experience. Hunting with scoped high power rifles had become somewhat unfulfilling, what was missing is the great sense of personal satisfaction and accomplishment that comes when personal skills and a fine rifle, not technology and gizmos, wins the day. I applaud all of you who have preceded me on this path. I'm glad I turned this corner while my boys are young. God willing, I'll teach em right.

Keep yer sniffers in the wind

longcarbine

[nineteen76]

Smoke Eater,
The 40- 2 1/4 is a bottleneck case.
The 40/70SS (Sharps Straight) is 2-1/2" long.
Chris