Make: Shiloh Rifle Mfg. Co (Big Timber, Montana)

Model: 1874

Serial Number: 2760B

Year of Manufacture: ca. mid-2005. The “B” suffix in the serial number began to be used by the Bryan family (the owners of Shiloh Rifle Mfg Co. in Big Timber, Montana) in the Spring of 2002, and the production rate for Shiloh at the time was about 800-900 rifles per year, placing manufacture in ca. mid-2005.

Caliber: .45 2 4/10, AKA .45-90 Sharps

Action Type: Single Shot, Breech Loading Rifle with Set Trigger

Barrel Length: 30” Octagonal

Sights / Optics: The front sight is a flip-up globe sight with a beaded post in one position and a brass blade in the alternate position with their mount dovetailed to the barrel above the muzzle. The rear sight is a V-notch with a flip-up ladder sight with a V-notch slider dovetailed to the top rear of the barrel. The upper tang is drilled, tapped, and installed with a fully adjustable aperture sight.

Stock Configuration & Condition: The stocks are two-piece smooth walnut featuring a bright pewter capped forend, straight grip, straight comb, and a metal buttplate. The wood shows only a few faint nicks and light handling marks. There are no chips or cracks. The LOP measures 14” and 13 3/8” from the fronts of the triggers to the back of the buttplate. The stocks are in Excellent overall condition.

Type of Finish: Blue and Case Color

Finish Originality: Original

Bore Condition: The bore is bright and the rifling is sharp. There is no erosion in the bore. In this writer’s opinion, this bore rates a 9 or 10 out of 10.

Overall Condition: This rifle retains about 99% of its metal finish. The balance of the finish shows no notable wear or damage, just some light handling marks. The screw heads are sharp. The markings are clear. Overall, this rifle is in Excellent condition.

Mechanics: The action functions correctly. We have not fired this rifle. As with all previously owned firearms, thorough cleaning may be necessary to meet your maintenance standards.

Box, Paperwork & Accessories: None.

Our Assessment: Christian Sharps introduced one of America’s first and most successful breech-loading rifles beginning in 1850, and improvements continued into the 1870s and the metallic cartridge era. In 1983, the Bryan family bought out the “Shiloh Products” company of Farmingdale, New York, renamed it the “Shiloh Rifle Manufacturing Company”, and relocated it to Big Timber, Montana. For the last 40 years, Shiloh Rifle Mfg. Co. has produced stunningly beautiful and incredibly high quality reproductions of the iconic Sharps big bore buffalo guns of the 1870s. These powerful black powder cartridge rifles were capable of taking buffalo at long ranges, and were used by buffalo hunters with shockingly great effect on the southern Great Plains in the last days of the American bison.

This Shiloh Sharps Mfg. Co. 1874 Rifle was made in ca. mid-2005 and is in Excellent condition. It’s a breech loading falling block design, chambered for “Calibre 45 2 4/10”, which is dimensionally identical to .45-90 Sharps, and features a 30” octagonal barrel, bright bore with sharp rifling, “extra fancy” walnut stocks, and 99% of its original finish, with lustrous bluing on the barrel, and gorgeous iridescent color case hardening on the receiver, hammer, tang, lever/trigger guard, rear tang sight, and shotgun buttplate. Many of those are custom features that were added at an extra cost, as all of these Shiloh Sharps are made to order, custom built rifles. This should make for a great shooter for the lucky winner, and would also be a wonderful addition to a Sharps collection.