Popularity among Buffalo Hunters: Sharps vs. Remington

[C. Cash]

Is there any reliable data out there on how many Sharps were sent out West vs. the Remington Rolling Block? It would make some sense that the Remington was as prevelant as the Sharps, but I rarely see the Remington in pictures of the Buffalo Hunters. What say ye?

[Ray Newman]

If I recall correctly from my reading of volumes 1 and 2 of “Encyclopedia of Buffalo Hunters and Skinners of the Old West”, the Sharps was the predominant rifle of the two. While there were Remington System rifles -- as the Rolling Block was originally called -- in use on the buffalo killing fields, seems that Remington’s focus was mainly on military contracts.

I believe that the “The Encyclopedia” eventually will be four or five volumes. Written from primary sources such as diaries, newspaper accounts, daybooks, ledgers, etc., they tell of it was like to hunt buffalo on the range and what the buffalo business entailed beyond hunting and shooting. It is of special interest to black powder cartridge rifle shooters who are Sharps and Remington Rolling Block rifle enthusiasts. The books go into detail as to the cost and details of shipping the hides, cost of goods and availability of such. Both volumes are available fropm Buffalo Arms and Shiloh Sharps:
www.buffaloarms.com/default.aspx
www.shilohrifle.com

The SPG “Black Powder Cartridge News”, a quarterly publication, at times also has publishes letters, diaries, and other such accounts of the buffalo hunters. Definitely interesting reading of a very hard life.
www.blackpowderspg.com/mag.html

As an aside, Frank Meyer’s book “The Buffalo Harvest” co-authored by C.B. Roth, has come under criticism as Mr. Roth was not known for his accuracy and or was prone to embellish his writings.

[Don McDowell]

The edge goes to the Sharps rifle, it had a reputation of being more reliable than the Remington, and was said to never shoot backwards as a Remington is prone to do once in awhile. Sharps was a heavier rifle with a larger selection of suitable cartridges. Both rifles cost the same.
There was also a fair number of Ballards, Maynards, and Winchesters centennial model had a small following.

[Hobie]

The SPG “Black Powder Cartridge News”, a quarterly publication, at times also has publishes letters, diaries, and other such accounts of the buffalo hunters. Definitely interesting reading of a very hard life.
http://www.blackpowderspg.com/mag.html

I subscribe and think it is well worth the price.

[Booger Bill]

Okay, I have another war story. I just wrote about once owning a 1862 sharps carbine. This story is as bad or worse! Again at lockheed, there was another supervisor I knew that told me he had a huge old .50 caliber rifle and he wanted a winchester 94 30-30. We met someplace and it was a whitneyville armory. It must have weighed close to 12 pounds with a octogon barrel and looked almost exactly like a oversized remington rolling block. It took some type of a .50 shell. I went and bought him a brand new winchester 94 30-30 for it. I kept it a few years and ended up takeing it to the great western show in pasadena. Ray houswer that owned the old pony express gun shop bought it from me. He said this one was going over his fireplace! The rifle had many extra slots on top of the barrel, some filled and some left open. He explained to me that some frontiersman had moved the sights as his eyes aged! Golly! I wish I had those two rifles today!

[C. Cash]

Thank you Gents....very interesting. I would have figured the opposite. I was just thinking about how expensive it was to get a Sharps setup going, but maybe I'm off on that too . Thank you for the links as well....will be studying up.

[Don McDowell]

Yeh for some reason or other folks think the sharps was more expensive, just not the case they both cost 35$ for the basic rifle.
If you find Cornell publishing they have reprints of many of the old catalogs, there is alot of information contained in those catalogs. You can find them on Auction Arms.

[rbertalotto]

The whole buffalo slaughter was very short lived. The Remington Rolling Block rifle appeared toward the end of the carnage. The sharps was there as a muzzle loader and then as the 1873......

The Sharps also used a much more potent cartridge which the Buffalo Hunters appreciated.

If you want to read the whole story, get the book "American Rifle: A Biography" ............amazing piece of work . Available from Amazon for under $!5

[Bullard4075]

If I recall correctly from my reading of volumes 1 and 2 of “Encyclopedia of Buffalo Hunters and Skinners of the Old West”, the Sharps was the predominant rifle of the two. While there were Remington System rifles -- as the Rolling Block was originally called -- in use on the buffalo killing fields, seems that Remington’s focus was mainly on military contracts.

I believe that the “The Encyclopedia” eventually will be four or five volumes. Written from primary sources such as diaries, newspaper accounts, daybooks, ledgers, etc., they tell of it was like to hunt buffalo on the range and what the buffalo business entailed beyond hunting and shooting. It is of special interest to black powder cartridge rifle shooters who are Sharps and Remington Rolling Block rifle enthusiasts. The books go into detail as to the cost and details of shipping the hides, cost of goods and availability of such. Both volumes are available fropm Buffalo Arms and Shiloh Sharps:
http://www.buffaloarms.com/default.aspx
http://www.shilohrifle.com

The SPG “Black Powder Cartridge News”, a quarterly publication, at times also has publishes letters, diaries, and other such accounts of the buffalo hunters. Definitely interesting reading of a very hard life.
http://www.blackpowderspg.com/mag.html

As an aside, Frank Meyer’s book “The Buffalo Harvest” co-authored by C.B. Roth, has come under criticism as Mr. Roth was not known for his accuracy and or was prone to embellish his writings.

I would be interested in where you heard this. I remember some discussion of it but am unable to locate (Google) the source.

[Ray Newman]

Bullard: there have been several discussions of the Meyer book on the Shiloh-Sharps site. And if I recall correctly, soem information was obtained via of Google search of C.B. Roth.