Quote:
Originally Posted by cassisrot
What model Sharps did Billy Dixon use at Adobe Walls? I think it was a 50-90 but I don't know what model.
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He used an 1874 "big fifty" - a .50-2.5", known as either a .50-90 or .50-100, depending upon the specific load.
Dixon maintained until his dying day that that shot was just a "scratch shot" - pure, blind ass luck. I've seen analytical deconstructions of that shot and, yes, he was right - blind ass luck. With the angle at which that bullet was descending, that poor unlucky Indian could have been a yard or two closer or further away and he would have escaped unscathed. Damn the bad luck...
To add insult to injury, Dixon had borrowed that rifle and had likely never fired it before. He was just being a smart ass, essentially just thumbing his nose at the Indians up on the bluff. Those Indians, however, had no idea, and pretty much immediately called off their siege and fled. Funny how things work out sometimes.