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I have been trying to look for info and/or pictures of this round. Does this even exist? My search has not been fruitful. I have heard is it simple a .50-140 case but I am not sure. Can yall help me out with info and possible photos of it?
Thank you!
.............Isn't that the case the Navy used as a basis for it's 5"/38 dual purpose semi fixed powder casing? :-)
............Buckshot
That was Elmer Keiths load for the 50-3&1/4 sharps p
Pass. My orthopaedic surgeon made enough off me and retired.
i made a custom muzzle loader that was a 1/23 twist. it shot a 700 grain bullet with only 70 grains by volume of blackhorn 209 powder. it left the barrel at 1200 ft persecond with an average of only 4 ft per second diff. in a day at the targets. why would anyone want to try to push it harder with those good stats. it now belongs to a hunter who uses it to hunt elk once a year. oh, yes the recoil was very good and not noticed. 140 grains of powder or more would be not fun and really give no more. with 70 grains a 300 yard shot with a good sight was not out of the question and would drop a bull buffalo. you would soon tire of a gun that was not fun to shoot.
Gotta admit, I'd want to try it at least once.
Search under "The Big Fifty Sharps," and you should the the reprint of Elmer Keith's 1941 writeup on his search for the legendary .50-170-700 Sharps rifle.
He found one, sort of, and tried it out. By his description, it appeared to be a .52 caliber Sharps, reworked to take the 3-1/4" shell. He could get 170 gr of powder in with a paper-patched boolit.
Subsequent research has indicated that Sharps never chambered for this shell, which was not even available until after the company had gone out of the rifle business. More 3-1/4" chambers have been cut by the Italian and American Sharps replicators in the last forty years than were ever cut by all manufacturers back when the cartridge was being manufactured. It is now called the .50-140, and I believe the standard boolit is closer to 600 gr than 700.
I used to have a .50-140. With a 700gr Creedmoo bullet seated to cover all grease grooves it was easy to get 135gr of Goex Fg into the case. With a denser powder, some compression, and the bullet seated out a bit I'm sure that you could sqeeze in a fair bit more powder if you had to have it :-).Chris.
I believe this actually is one of the big Brit rounds, seeing it mentioned in the Kirton book as chambered in the Farquharson action. Don't forget they had some cartridges for africa that made the rest look downright puny...
Used to shoot a .50-140- 650 after 20 rounds off the bench my head and neck would hurt for two days whimped out and re barreled it to .40-65 great shooter 40 to 100 rounds a day no problem.