Re: more on the sharps paper cartridge replica.

26
ok, finally getting back to this.
one of the problems common to percussion replicas is restrictions of the passage through which the flash must pass. this is more of a problem with some designs than others. the 1853 enfield, for example, has a single angled hole, directly from the nipple to the chamber. the 61 springfield, however, has a right angle in the passage. this is not a problem if the piece is kept scrupulously clean, but fouling builds up from use, especially on the sharp corners, and it must be cleaned out. Springfield Armory thoughtfully provided a cleanout screw, but this means you must use it, with the attendant risk of losing the screw, making the weapon useless. the armory learned from the earlier '53 enfield and did away with the sharp turn and cleanout screw, and the model 1863 is more reliable.

the sharps is even worse, with *two* right angles for the flame to traverse. there is a cleanout screw in the breech block, which is often restricted from the factory.

the first and most obvious restriction is the nipple or cone. soldiers routinely carried a needle or pick to clean out accumulated residue. drill it out. i've had good results with a 1/16" drill bit. any larger and you risk the powder charge blowing back through the nipple and slamming the hammer back, sending fragments of the cap flying near the shooter's face. not fun.
drillcone.jpg
next is the breech block itself. remove the cleanout screw,
cleanout.JPG
and hand-feed a drill bit into the passage, twisting it to scrape out any residue. this one's a 9/64ths, just large enough to scrape out residue without eating the threads.
drillblock.JPG
if it doesn't pass all the way into the recess under the nipple, chuck it up in your drill press and drill it out. don't go all the way through and out the other side!
lightly oil the threads on the nipple and screw when putting it all back together.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: more on the sharps paper cartridge replica.

29
sharps breech face.

the sharps breech block has a separate plate, the rear of which should float freely in a recess in the breech block, and is intended to serve two purposes.
first, the top edge has a bevel ground into it to cut open the back end of the paper cartridge, much like the blade of a scissor. occasional filing will keep this sharp. the gas seal is accomplished in concert with the chamber sleeve, which i will discuss in more detail next time.

here are three, the first out of my IAB carbine, the second from my Armisport infantry rifle, and the third a replacement recently purchased as a spare for the Armisport. in general terms they are interchangeable, although some hand-fitting may be required. i'm not sure why Armisport now sells the different design.
the front, which should press against the chamber sleeve.
brchplt2.JPG
and the back, which floats in the breech block.
brchplt1.JPG
the plate is intended to float freely in a recess in the breech block. propellant gasses get behind the plate, pushing it forward against the chamber sleeve, which should press back against it. if either of them sticks, a gap remains through which flame will escape, possibly cutting into the metal and causing loss of pressure, fouling deposition in the working parts, and disconcertion to the shooter and bystanders.
some manufacturers have, for reasons unknown, made the tolerances so tight that the breech face will not move. i've even seen assertions by shooters that this is as sharps intended ("the sharps is not a paper-cutter"), but this is not borne out by any of the documents i've seen, including mr. sharps' patents and manuals issued by the army.
this is remedied by lightly filing or polishing the cylindrical portion of the plate. the Armisport plates have small cutouts on either side to aid insertion of a tool to pry out the plate for cleaning. the IAB plate lacked these, but they can be easily added with a dremel.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: more on the sharps paper cartridge replica.

30
the second part of the breech seal is the chamber sleeve. also known as the chrome sleeve, it was intended by C. Sharps to slide fore and aft in the chamber. expanding gases behind the bullet get into a bevel cut in the chamber in front of the sleeve, forcing the sleeve back against the breech face. black powder fouling can get in between the sleeve and the chamber, and worse, water from cleaning can cause rust. either of these will cause the chamber to stick, ruining the seal.

this would not be a big deal, except that the sleeve is longer than the opening where the breech block goes. hence it is impossible to completely remove the sleeve from the gun for cleaning without dismounting the barrel. not an option for most of us.

here are two replacement sleeves i ordered up from armisport, and a brass sleeve removal tool.
chmbrslv.JPG
the tool is inadequate. once the sleeve is firmly stuck, it's not going to do the job. i'm told that there's an automotive tool, a valve guide puller, which may be better. i haven't tried it.
the longer sleeve on the left is for the infantry rifle, and the shorter one is for the carbine. once you modify(!) the receiver so that the sleeves can be removed, Armisport and IAB sleeves can be used interchangeably, as long it's carbine sleeve to carbine and rifle sleeve to rifle.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: more on the sharps paper cartridge replica.

31
before my hard drive crashed i had detailed in-process pictures, but, well, these will have to do. these are of the carbine, which i cut before i knew that the sleeve was shorter than the rifle sleeve. as a result, the cutout in the pics, while just right for the rifle, is about 1/2 inch longer than the carbine requires. but no matter, no harm done.

on to the question of how to remove the chamber sleeve from the chamber for thorough cleaning.
the sleeve is offset low and to the right in relation to the channel in the receiver frame used for loading cartridges, and the length of the frame which holds the breech block is not long enough to simply slide it out. as a result, it's nearly impossible to completely clean either the sleeve or the chamber. fouling will accumulate, and sooner or later the sleeve will stick.
rcvrcut1.JPG
here's the carbine sleeve in the carbine. as you can see, the sleeve is about 1/16th inch longer than the frame for the breech block. using a cylindrical stone in my dremel, i made a relief cut to the bottom and right side of the loading channel. go slowly here, there's lockworks behind that metal on the right. the cut needs to be about 1/16th inch deep and to the right. cut a little, try the fit, cut a little more...
rcvrcut2.JPG
and here's another view.
rcvrcut3.JPG
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: more on the sharps paper cartridge replica.

32
since i "finished" this thread two months ago, i have noticed people are still looking at it. hundreds of them. surely not all club members admiring my writing skills. so i got curious about how they are finding the thread, and did a google search for "paper cartridge sharps replica" and sure enough, there it is on page 18 :o of the search results!

i may at some point add some posts on how i got the stuck (i mean STUCK!) sleeve out of the chamber, and also a link back to my thread on rolling blank cartridges for the sharps and springfield.

heck, i'll do the link now. http://www.theliberalgunclub.com/phpBB3 ... 32&t=27166
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: more on the sharps paper cartridge replica.

33
i've noticed that people are still (>1000 views!) looking at this thread. so i did a google search and a yahoo search for "sharps paper cartridge replica", and we're on page 2 of google and page 3 of yahoo.

obviously, there's a good bit of interest in the sharps. for those of you who find us by google-fu, i urge you to not be put off by the forum name. we are serious about our firearms, and open to polite discourse and diversity of opinion on a broad array of topics. so look around, maybe sign up, ask questions, and share your knowledge.

anyway, some of you are probably wondering how to get a stuck chamber sleeve out, now that we have a place for it to go. this is how i did it, i'm sure there are other ways.

first, you'll need some tools.
tools.jpg
hammer (not shown)
at the top is a 3 foot long by 1/2" steel rod, to drive out the stuck sleeve once we have something to drive against. it's wrapped in masking tape to prevent metal-to metal contact against the rifling.
next is a 5/8ths inch tap. since it's somewhat crowded in the loading channel, i had a friend weld a 6 inch long 3/8ths extension to the tap, so i can reach in with my ratchet to cut the threads.
finally, there's a 6" long by 5/8ths bolt. i ended up with 3 of these, for reasons i'll discuss later.

so, get your extended tap and lots of oil, and cut your threads. it's a good idea to know which sleeve you're working with so you don't go too far and cut the bouching (mouth) of the barrel.
tapping.jpg
now that we have threaded the sleeve,(sorry, botched edit on the picture. i'm not gonna fix it)
threads.jpg
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Re: more on the sharps paper cartridge replica.

34
once we have threaded the sleeve, we can turn a bolt into it.
bolt1.jpg
if it's really stuck hard i'd advise against trying to drive it out now. it needs some help to break it loose first.
as a shadetree mechanic, i've learned that cold shrinks metal. this works wonders for installing automotive bearings, where tolerances are very close. the question is how to apply the cold. i wanted to stuff the sleeve full of dry ice, but couldn't find any locally. so i bought a couple of spare bolts (3 total) and left them in the freezer overnight. in the morning, leave the rifle out in the sun for a couple of hours to warm it up, then fetch your first bolt, thread it all the way in, and wait for it to warm up, approaching room temperature. so very scientific ;). maybe 20 minutes. swap the first bolt out with the second, wait 20, then swap in the third. now, slide the steel rod gently down the barrel to rest on the bolt inside the sleeve, give the end of the rod a solid whack with the hammer, and it should start to slide out. repeat as needed.
bolt2.jpg
i had to hit mine 3 times, et voila! out it came. i suspect that dry ice would work much better.

put a wire brush on your dremel and buff out the corrosion inside the chamber, and the outside of the sleeve. keep it lubed and clean, carry a bolt in your haversack in case it sticks again, and you should be all set.

so that's it. if you have questions or suggestions, this is the place to bring them up.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: more on the sharps paper cartridge replica.

37
When this thread started, I hadn't yet left the board. That's me having a heart attack about lurker threatening Dremel use, under my old user name. While I was gone, lurker went on to build this treatise on the chamber sealing mechanism of the percussion Sharps. It came up today in conversation between us. At first, I thought he was chiding me about dropping a current conversation (which I could have done, I'm a bit distracted these days by work and some other things). Looking, I realized he was sending me back a couple of years, to see the parts I missed while I was gone.

I'm very glad he did, but he might regret it shortly... Hey, lurker, you really should write this thread up as a post for the blog. I know Quiz would be more than happy to have it. I'll even offer to make enough time to edit if you get it all dragged together in to one piece.
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