1874 Sharps Overbaugh

About the 1874 Sharps Overbaugh

The Pedersoli 1874 Sharps Overbaugh is a single-shot, falling-block breech-loading rifle chambered in .45-70 Government, reproducing the lightened long-range Sharps competition rifle designed by Charles E. Overbaugh, the traveling salesman and exhibition shooter of the Sharps Rifle Company. Overbaugh reworked the heavy 1874 frame to shed weight so shooters could mount a longer, heavier barrel while staying under the NRA's 10-pound competition limit, taming recoil and vibration on the firing line. Pedersoli's modern version pairs a forged frame and a 30-inch broach-rifled PMG-quality barrel with an American walnut stock, double-set triggers and color case-hardened furniture, and remains popular for long-range black-powder cartridge target matches and cowboy action shooting.

Charles E. Overbaugh was the Sharps Rifle Company's chief traveling salesman and a skilled exhibition shooter and gunsmith. When Creedmoor-era long-range competitors complained that the NRA's 10-pound weight cap forced them to use short, whippy barrels, Overbaugh redesigned the massive Sharps action to be lighter, letting a heavier long barrel fit within the limit for steadier, softer-recoiling fire.

1874 Sharps Overbaugh specifications

Sold by Pedersoli under the 1877/Overbaugh Long Range designation; the Overbaugh action is a lightened evolution of the classic 1874 Sharps sporting frame. Twist rate is 1:18 in (approx. 457 mm).