Sharps 45/70

[PRSearls]

I haven't posted for awhile; here's a quick shot taken last night of a new (to me) rifle. Lighting was a single flash bounced off a white ceiling. Post processing in Lightroom opened up the shadows a little. The "Indian" blanket was draped over some furniture for a backdrop. It did not cover the top and bottom portions of the frame so I erased those areas in Photoshop. I normally don't use this effect but it may be okay here. What do you think?

For those interested in guns, this is a replica 1874 Sharps rifle by Pedersoli of Italy. It is chambered in 45/70 Government (.45 caliber with 70 grains of black powder). This was the official US Army cartridge from 1873 for about 25 years. The cartridge is still a very popular today for hunting and long-range target shooting (up to 1000 yards). This particular model is a replica of the type Tom Selleck used in the movie, "Quigley, Down Under." Like "Dirty Harry" movies did for the popularity of the .44 Magnum, "Quigley," popularized the Sharps rifle. You can watch clips of the movie on YouTube. This one will be fed black powder ammunition like the original and used for target shooting.

Comments welcome.

[GEORDIE]

Don't know anything about guns Paul, love the effect you have created.

Cheers Colin.

[Digital]

Nice photo.


Bruce

[Shadowman]

Very nice.

[Mike Buckley]

I don't have enough experience with guns to appreciate your photo, but it is nice to see you again.

[Plumcrak]

Paul, I must say I don't know which I like better...the photo or the Sharps. Very nice on both accounts.

[travis4567]

Nice work Paul. I love the colors of the blanket and even though the blanket background is in focus, the gun still jumps out as the focal point. A little too much on the white vignette maybe.

[rpcrowe]

Nice shot of a wonderful historic replica. Long arms are pretty difficult to shoot if you desire to include the entire weapon.

I have never fired a Sharps, or a trapdoor Springfield, for that matter, but I imagine that the kick would be pretty potent...

I did have a Winchester Model 94 Rifle (not carbine) with a half octagonal barrel that was chambered for the .38-55 cartridge. That is quite a bit tamer than the .45-70 but, still pretty well kicked like a mule in that lightweight rifle.

For the edification of people who might be wondering just what I am talking about, black powder, metallic cartridges were identified with two numbers separated by a dash. The first number was the caliber or diameter of the bullet. .38 caliber was 38/100 inch in diameter while .45 was 45/100 inch in diameter and the second number identified how many grains of black powder propelled the load 55 or 75 respectively in the two cases mentioned.

Probably the most famous of the two number cartridge identifiers is the .30-30 Winchester. The bullet is 30/100 inch in diameter and the load was 30 grains of black powder. Although the .30-30 is now loaded with smokeless powder, the old "thutty-thutty" keeps its original black powder designation and although well over a hundred years old, is still a viable hunting round....

Photographically, I wonder how a black vignette would have looked...