by Mike Nesbitt
Contributing Editor
In his fantastic book, Sharps Firearms, Frank Sellers makes the statement that the .44/90 Sharps was the favorite of the buffalo hunters. I do wish Sellers had mentioned what his statement was based upon. We can guess his statement was based on sales records through the 1870s. It was from Sellers’ book that my search for information on the .44/90 Sharps got started and it is still where most of what I’ve learned has come from.
Much of the info I found about the .44/90 came from legend. Things like the saying, “the .44/90 is more accurate at 1000 yards than the Big .50 is at 600,” really fueled my interest. The .44/90 Sharps was also a Creedmoor cartridge, although I personally would shy away from a “Creedmoor” rifle in this caliber that had to weigh less than ten pounds. Getting tidbits of information like that increases the hunger for more knowledge both in the form of solid facts or just more of the old written memories about the .44/90 Sharps.
One shooter who used a .44/90 in the early part of the twentieth century was Elmer Keith. In Keith’s typical style, he hardly ever used his rifle without loading it “to the top” with 105 grains of powder under the heavy paper patched bullets. Reading his tales about shooting his old rifle is very interesting. Keith’s rifle, of course, was an old original that he bought complete with ammo and loading tools from an old buffalo hunter.
The opportunity came for me to get an old but good condition mould for Ideal’s #446187 in the heavy version. That bullet was made for the .44/90. It was actually made in at least two weights, 400 and 470, with the 400-grain version intended for the .44/77. The 470-grain version, what I had gotten, could be used in either the .44/77 or the .44/90. I was quick to use it in my .44/77 but that bullet simply had .44/90 written all over it. Then I noticed that Jamison had plenty of .44/90 brass on hand while almost everything else was marked “out of stock.” That made me order 100 of the thick rimmed .44/90 cases, which could be shortened to .44/77s if need be. But none were ever shortened so I had a fair supply of .44/90 fixin’s even though I basically had no use for them.
That was when I sent a note to C. Sharps Arms asking if they had a #1½ heavy barrel on hand in .44 caliber. They let me know that such a barrel was on hand and I replied with “Please put my name on it.” Things became clear to me by then that I was going to order a custom rifle in .44/90 caliber. That rifle was to be patterned after a ’74 Hartfordstyle Sharps, something that a buffalo hunter would have had before 1876. And, just to be sure you can see all of the details, I’ll mention everything that was ordered.
My order was placed for an 1874 Sharps Hartford Model with a #1½ Heavy barrel (which measures 1 1/8-inches across at the muzzle). The barrel was made 32-inches long and it has a Hartford collar just ahead of the action. The receiver group which includes the lockplate, trigger plate and trigger guard plus the buttplate was pack-hardened which is an extra (adding $350 to the price of the rifle) but it adds so much to the appearance of the gun. I asked that brass escutcheons be added under the screws for the forearm and the lock screw on the left side of the wrist. The barrel’s only dovetail near the muzzle was filled with a globe sight with changeable apertures plus a spirit level. The Deluxe Long Range rear sight was added after the rifle was delivered. Once again, just to give all of the details, the rifle was chambered for the .44/90 Sharps Bottleneck cartridge and the specific brass to be used was from Jamison with the .079” thick rims.
You can get a rough figure for the cost for this gun by adding the options in the catalog. Also, the time it took to get the gun, from barrel blank to finished and delivered rifle, was just under two months. That was faster than what I actually expected. And as soon as I got the gun, the rear sight was installed and then the rifle was carefully weighed. It has a weight of 13¼ pounds. That heft is just fine. If I left anything out it was only because it wasn’t included on the order form. To learn more, visit the C. Sharps Arms website at csharparms.com, or phone 406-932-4353.
I’m highly delighted with the rifle, from its general appearance to the fit and finish of its individual parts. After this rifle was delivered, I simply sat and held it for a good long time. This gun is most certainly a reflection of the picture I had in my mind, a buffalo hunter’s rifle.
The ammo I’ve loaded so far is a rather simple and basic load, using 90 grains of KIK 1½ Fg black powder under the bullets from the old Ideal #446187 mould. Those bullets weigh 465 grains with a 16-1 alloy. That’s the only load I’ve tried but it is shooting very well. The target shown is one of my first groups, and even with the “climbing ladder” effect I was rather pleased with it. Since shooting this target I have started to use a blow tube with some religion, and tighter groups are usually seen.
While I have not changed my loads, my loading techniques have changed. The change was made after firing enough shots in the new brass to have some fire-formed cases. With fire-formed cases the bullets can be seated with just fingertips and then slightly crimped to hold the bullets in place. That, of course, is after the powder charge has been compressed under a card wad, leaving just the right space for the bullet.
The loads with little or no neck tension on the bullets group much better than the loads where the bullets have been seated into tight cases with the loading press. I know that “fingertip bullet seating” is a standard practice with a lot of Sharps shooters but you never know how much of a difference it can make until you try it.
Shooting this .44/90 has been a lot of fun and I would probably have some more specific things to say about it if I didn’t usually go to the range with both this rifle and my .44/77. There are too many times when the .44/77 gets most of my attention. Even so, I will say that the two rifles make fine partners and I will try my best to see that one doesn’t get too much attention over the other.
At this point my shooting with the .44/90 has not been at ranges over 200 yards. Our local range has a 200-yard limit but that does not limit the fun at all. There is a heavy steel gong out at that distance which has become my favorite target with the .44/90. Yes, after a good hit with the heavy .44 it takes a while for the gong to stop swinging but that just adds to the fun.
There are a lot of things I want to do with this new .44/90 and they certainly include shooting at longer ranges and hunting. For now I find the .44/90 Sharps Bottleneck a fine cartridge, fine enough that I wonder why Sharps generally discontinued it when they introduced the .45 caliber rifles. Remington maintained the .44 caliber rifles with both bottleneck and straight cases in their rolling blocks. Today there should be a greater interest in shooting the .44 calibers because the .44/77 and the .44/90 cartridges certainly deserve more attention. Maybe I’ll just give this gun more attention until I can fire it over my x-sticks at a cross-canyon target.
