Carbine purchase question

[devildog]

I'm hoping for a little guidance. I am wanting to buy a Civil War era reproduction carbine to shoot at the range with. I'm wanting something that is a reliable shooter without breaking the bank. Right now I'm thinking either a Sharps or a Smith Carbine. Any thoughts or help would be appreciated, thanks.

[reb64]

What is yuor budget? That wold help to know to help you find the right priced carbine. Period or repro? original caliber or close?

[Blair]

Devildog,

Either the Sharps or Smith can be a good choice. It really depends on what you like most or feels best to you. Each has its own draw backs or short comming.
You may find a large selection of repro Sharps to pick and choose from than with the Smith's.
I think the only Smith's that are available come in from the same sourse as those made for Navy Arms.
The .50 cal bullet used in the Smith may give you a greater range of choices in the type bullet you wish to use as well, but, the catrrigde tubes may cause it to be a bit more expencive to shoot.
I hope this helps,
Blair Taylor

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

As already shared, there are many variables to the answers...

And "breaking the bank" is a relative term as what is cheap for one lad may not be for the other- such as chosing between say an "IAB" Spanish Sharps repro and a Shiloh Sharps.
And, different lads have different "authenticity" requirements in general as well as for what they get for the Yankee Greenback invested. Such as the Sharps having a funky simulated Lawrence Pellet Primer Mechanism feature.
And, there are "cost" and "convenience" factors such as the Sharps' incorrect .54 taking more powder and lead, or the Sharps being more timem consuming when having to "roll" paper cartridges, or having to buy plastic or vinyl cartridges for the Smith or mkaing paper Smith rounds. Etc., etc. Or the Sharps being "harder" to clean than the Smith.

In the N-SSA I have competed with both the Sharps and the Smith carbine.
In the end, I went with the .50 Smith for "convenience" of shooting and loading even though competively the Sile Sharps (with original lock) would shoot a 25 cent piece group, benched, at 50 yards.

I believe all of the repro Smith's are the children or Italian clones of the old Mike Yeck Smiths when he quit and sold the machinery in the early '80's I believe it was. However, on the N-SSA boards one can sometimes find one. I sold my last one about two years ago or so for $300.

Kinda/sorta... apples and oranges. I like them both.

Others' mileage will vary...

CHS

[devildog]

I appreciate all the feedback. Breaking the bank for me would be anything over 900. Ive read alot about some of the sharps having o ring and seal issues. Authenticity isnt a big issue. Someday I may want to try the NSSA though. Mostly Id just like a fun shooter that is going to be reliable. I'm kind of leaning towards the Smith. THanks for the help!

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

IMHO, the Smith is an easier mechanism to maintain and clean.

Yes, the problem with the Italian Sharps clones is that the "simplified" the Sharps gas check system.
What they did is mold the floating gas check into the face of the breech block, and enlarge the chamber to accomodate a sliding tube affair that is suposed to move backwards from the blast of a round to help seal the action.
(A somewhat messier problem with out a live round to push back againt.)

The other problem is the varying degree of Italian "quality control" in the machining and fit of the tube or "sleeve." As a result some a stuck in, some are loose, and some are in between. Some are too tight to work properly, some require a special tool to remove for cleaning and functional maintenance, and some are loose enough to pull out with thumb and fore-finger.

While the Smith has a simpler design, it is not immune to its own problems.

The hinge on Smith's will eventually wear from the friciton of repeated openings and closings. However, that is usually easily remedied by eitehr squeezing gently with vice, or simply cutting and inserting a small spacer cut from very thin sheet brass (often found at model railroad or hobby shops).
And the latch or catch on the top using spring friction to snap over a square lug on the top. With repeated us, the lug wears causing a loose closing, This is fairly easy to fix simply by giving the edge of the lug a whack with a small hammer to upset some metal back to make it tight again.

And lastly for Smiths, for live shooting there are nylon and plastic Smith cartridges that are real easy to load and reload. However, for reenacting they are not all that practical versus paper cartridges in that it can be hard to be able to back to find and retrieve all of the dropped spent cartridges.

CHS