[Jeff Higgins]

The old "Heartburns" are sure going up in value. I had one in .45-2.4 (aka .45-90) that I used to hunt with. A buddy has it now and still hunts with it. Fantastic guns; one of the strongest single shots made. The toilet lever always kind of put me off, though.

.40-70 Sharps Straight is not the most desireable caliber, unless collectors see some value in its rarity. The original chambering demanded undersized, paper patched, pure lead bullets to bump up to take the rifling. The chambers were very undersized compared to the bores. Groove diameter bullets will not chamber, so it makes it pretty tough to find a combination that will shoot with grease groove bullets. Modern .40 caliber bullets go .408"-.410"; the originals will not chamber anything over about .403" (if you are lucky); some will only accept .401" diameter. They kind of rattle down a .408" groove, .400" bore barrel. Black powder is a must to get these undersize bullets to obturate and fill the bore, and those bullets better be dead soft.

Loading dies for the original chambering are tough to find. Dave Gullo over at Buffalo Arms might have some. I was trying to get an old High Wall in this caliber shooting a few years back, and Dave was a big help. Shilo Sharps, C. Sharps, Ballard, Lone Star, and others chamber the "modern" version meant for .408" bullets, so all the dies are generally reamed to match the new dimensions. Brass is different, too, between the old and new versions. Dave makes brass for the new version from .30-40 Krag, but the originals demand Bertram or some other custom brass. What I'm getting at is this is one of the tougher original chamberings to shoot. Dies, molds, and brass are tough to find and, even when you do, your troubles are just beginning.

I started out with the High Wall with my standard 20:1 lead/tin alloy in a 390 grain, .403" Saeco mold that Dave sold me (his personal mold: he didn't know if he would ever get another). Bertram brass, custom dies reamed by Dave's gunsmith, and a bunch of Goex FFg. What a misserable failure at first. Bullets would not chamber at .403" as-cast, so I had to size them to .401". Dropped in the muzzle, they would fall under their own weight all the way through. Even straight black would not bump them up to fill the barrel, which despite being in fantastic shape, leaded horribly. Different seating depths, primers, granulations of black, and finally duplex loads had no affect on "accuracy". Even pure lead would not shoot well enough to be usefull. In desparation, I finally got around to learning to paper patch. Viola; success; acceptable accuracy. I later went to breach seating grooved .408" bullets and it shot even better. Major PIA, though. Probably a good thing that you missed it.