Company E

First Regiment Of (Berdan`s)

United States Sharpshooters

                                                 

 

The Sharps Rifle we know today is the culmination of a series of rifles, designed and manufactured by Christian Sharps, and what was to become the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company

 

1848, the first models of Sharps Sporting Rifles were
being made in Mill Creek, Pennsylvania by the firm of
A. S. Nippes and it was in this year that the first
Sharps Rifle was patented on September 12th, 1848

1850 saw manufacturing moved to Robin & Lawrence Co.
of Windsor, VT were the new breechloader was to be
produced, it was here that Rollin White of R&L invented
the knife-edge breech block and self-cocking device for
the "box-lock" Model 1851 which used the Maynard tape
primer. This is referred to as the "First Contract," which
was for 5,000 Model 1851
carbines, of which approximately 1,650 were produced
all in Windsor.
Weight 8 pounds
Length 47 inches (rifle)

Cartridge
Projectile Cartridge

 Calibre .52 475-grain
            with 50 grain
Action Falling block
Rate of fire 8-12 shots per minute
Muzzle velocity 1200 ft/s
Effective Range 500 yards
Sighted Range 900 yards
Sights open ladder type

In 1851 the "Second Contract" was made for 15,000 rifles and the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Co. was organized as a holding company with $100,000
in capital and with John C. Palmer as president, Christian Sharps an engineer, and Richard S. Lawrence as master armourer and superintendent of
manufacturing. The new factory was built on the property of Robbins & Lawrence in Hartford, CT and manufacturing moved there in 1855.
Where three sharps long guns were made for the union

The Model 1851 was replaced in production by the Model 1853 which was intern surpassed by the  Model 1859.
All civil war Sharps arms were percussion cap arms, using a combustible cartridge of paper or glazed linen.
The basic principle of  toggle-linking guard lever and vertical sliding breechblock all date from the 1848 patent.
By releasing a catch a soldier could pull down the trigger guard, which dropped the breech and allowed him to
insert a cartridge. Returning the trigger guard closed the breech.

In the front of the breechblock was set a plate, having a slight motion from front to back under the influence of gas pressure. The top edge, on closing
the breech, sheared off the end of the cartridge to expose the powder.  Mechanically the 1859-63 lock plates, also had the Sharps pellet primer installed,
patented by Sharps on October 5th 1852 and modified by R.S. Lawrence’s pellet feed shut-off, (to conserve the pellet primers). These pellet primers or
“sharps primes” as they were called were valuable but a labour to load, but when used when a fast rate of fire was required, enabled the rifle to fulfil the
claim of firing 10>12 shots per minute, at all other times top hat caps were used and the primes kept in reserve. During the late winter of 1863
the new model was developed . Differing in only minor manufacturing changes, the biggest of these being the removal of the sharps pellet primer and
the omission of the patch box in the stock.

Christian Sharps had left the Company in 1853 and Richard S. Lawrence continued as the chief armourer until 1872 and developed the various Sharp
models and improvements that made the rifle famous. The Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Co. Finally closed down in 1881.

Reproductions of the paper cartridge Sharps 1853 & 1859 Rifle, are still being manufactured today and are still used for target shooting & hunting.