Thanks for the info Capt. Apathy. I don't shoot much nowadays due to old eye, and other interests that take up time. I went to the Dallas SHOT show a few years back, and visited a display of Sharps rifles. Started talking to the fellow there, and when I told him about using smokeless Blue Dot, he said I'd blow myself up. Though the rifle is designed for modern powder, and is a falling block modern rifle (Garrett Arms.)
There is reloading info about the 50-70 in the Lyman manual, and I never had a problem with it. The rifle surprizingly kicks about like a .22 with minimum load (because it's so front heavy), and the report is about like a .22 also, not all that loud in the woods.
My version is the 1873, I believe. It's the military carbine, and was in military use for about 6 months, before the Winchester 1873 was adopted by the Army. I think those are the right dates, but can't remember exactly. Haven't thought about it in a while and don't remember all the facts about this rifle's history.
Sounds like you have the hunting version, which is more accurate due to the longer barrel and tang sights. The sights on my rifle are fixed forward and back with no adjustments. The hunting versions are more expensive and better rifles. They're cool too, with a choice of 45-70, 50-70, 50-90, and 50-140.... The 50-140 cartridge is about 4 inches long. Sharps was used for buffalo hunting.
Les
