............Gunny, what you have is a Sharps made by I.A.B in Italy. I believe it stands for (be kind to my Italianization and spelling) Industria de Armas, Brescia. These are not in the same league of manufacture as the Sharps Old Reliable, or Shiloh Sharps, and are usually held in lower regard then the Pedersoli repros.
Until recently all these models came with the Percussion hammer conversion to utilize self contained metallic cartridges vs paper cartridges. The reason was manufacturing costs as this company also offered the paper cartridge version too. You can order parts from GPC and in their catalog they have an exploded parts diagram.
While the outside fit and finish is pretty consistant, the internal finishing of some parts was (in the past) not always up to snuff. A friend of mine bought one and the set triggers were dead soft and in-operable until he had them hardened and reground. Another seemingly simple problem to rectify, but aggravating was that the hammer would rub against the sideplate, and the shape of the triggerguard-lever was sometimes odd (lacking the reverse curve at the end).
While I have written some negatives, most of these dealt with the earlier production rifles. I was able to pick mine out of a batch of 4 by driving down to EMF in Orange County here in So. Calif. I don't know if they are the sole importers any longer as I have seen several different versions of the IAB Sharps in the past couple of years.
At EMF, all there imported firearms were inspected by their gunsmith before it was available for sale. I was shown the 4 Sharps they had avail that day. I've had this rifle for probably 10-12 years now. It's wood to metal fit is at least V good+, if not excellent. The case colors are simply brilliant. Compared to most Pedersoli's I've seen, the color and brilliance of my IAB is like a carnival midway in comparison to the other's washed out and dingy 'grayness'. I also have a Pedersoli Super Match rolling block and it's case colors almost don't qualify as 'Colors' by comparison. I've seen many other similar Pedersoli's too.
Mine was also in 45-70 and in all honesty the accuracy was dismal. The reason was a very long throat and leade. A "Lawyer's" setup, if you like. There was nothing at all wrong with the bore, as it was a bright and smooth as glass. I guess I could have done nothing but shoot paper patched 500gr + cast lead boolits to fill the windage, but I'm not man enough to stand up to much of that fun, just for fun
.
I had my gunsmith run a 45-90 reamer into it, and that cured all the accuracy ills. The rifle shoots with accuracy as fine as you could ask for. I would have no problem putting this rifle up against ANY Sharps for accuracy with smokless loads.
On the old Shooters.Com BPCR board there was a poster who was the personal representative of the IAB company's owner, in the U.S. Not as an importer but as a correspondent and kind of info gatherer (spy?
). I don't recall now, but I must have responded to a post on the board and got an e-mail from this 'rep'. He asked me several questions after identifying himself and his capacity for Mr? (I sure don't recall the owners name). Mr.X was coming over for a visit and to see several BPCR shoots around the country.
He was concerned by the slow sales. The rep informed him it was because of the poor visual appearance of his rifles compared to the other 3 Sharps repros, plus the on and off quality issues. The rep told me that part of the problem is that IAB isn't a company like Pedersoli who manufactures the entire rifle 'inhouse'. IAB is a consortium of small companies who manufacture the various components. IAB has people who do the fit and finish part and final assembly.
While strength and safety have never been at issue, the rep said that IAB had difficulty in supplying to their contractors exactly what it was they were wanting. The IAB rep said that Mr.X had
obtained a couple Sharps repro's and an original he was taking back to Italy for them to use, since prints were apparently not to be found. Reverse engineering I guess.
Of recent IAB Sharps I've seen, the most marked improvement has been the replacement of the 1859 percussion hammer on cartridge rifles with the 1874 type. Also their rather odd treatment of the Hartford barrel coller has been rectified. My rifle still has the 1859 type hammer. While my rifle has the mentioned bright case colors, and a very nice piece of wood both in grain and finish, the barrel has a 'matte' finish
. Rather odd compared to the rest of the rifle. I have always thought I'd polish it and have it reblued. Heck, it shoots like a lazer so why bother?
BTW, Dave Gullo who owns Buffalo Arms hunts with an IAB Sharps.
.............Buckshot
YES, Castboolits.gunloads is currently down,,we are working on it
http://chat.parachat.com/chat/code.php if you want to BS and share the trials and tribulations.
Anyway as was said it has very nice case colors and wood, double triggers, Lyman globe front with incerts, import vernier tang, and Lorence style rear barrel sights with slider. It has been rechambered to 45/3.25" and comes with a set of dies and one box of brass but one is missing so I believe there are 19. When I moved back to AK I took it as partial trade for several ton of lead I couldnt haul. It is like new condition except for a small scratch on the stock at the wrist . I gave Butch $600.00 off tward the lead so thats what I want + shipping which I guess will be around $25.00 to 30.00.
