Sharps 50-70s at the “Quigley”

The 50-70 might not be considered a real long-range round, but the Matthew Quigley Buffalo Rifle Match isn’t actually a long-range doin’s. To be more exact, the Quigley is more correctly a midrange match with one long-range target; that single target, of course, is the buffalo, Target Number One, which is standing at 805 yards. All other targets are at 600 yards or less, falling into the midrange category. For matches such as these, the good old 50-70 should do a decent job, depending on the loads, the winds and the shooters.

The winds we can’t control or even second-guess, but the shooters we’ll talk about are Mike Moran and myself. Mike purchased from C. Sharps Arms a 50-70 Sharps Hartford Model with a 30-inch Number 1¾ Heavy barrel which is almost a twin to my 50-70 Sharps rifle. We decided months ago we would use our 50-70s at Quigley this year.

Back in 2021, I used my 50-70 Sharps at Quigley, which gave me a head start on Mike with his rifle. The only advantage I had was in my notes from three years ago for the elevations at the Quigley distances, and I was certainly eager to share those. Old notes, of course, are probably in need of updating for one reason or another. For one thing, I’d be shooting at those targets with a different eye and left-handed for the first time at Quigley. Also, I’m not sure that my loads are close or even the same. That said, those old notes would still give us some starting points.

Back in 2021, while on our way to Quigley, we stopped at C. Sharps Arms in Big Timber, Montana, to pick up my 50-70, the rifle I named “Moonbeam”. After much back and forth, I decided to use it in that Quigley match. The first couple days at Quigley were spent sighting it in. Our first competitive target was the Bucket at 350 yards, which I only hit once, but at least I hit it. Then we moved to the Buffalo at 805 yards and I scored on that target three times. For the Octagon, I scored five hits, then four hits on the Postage Stamp, followed by six hits on the Diamond, and finally finishing with just three more hits on the second Postage Stamp. This gave me 22 hits with the 50-70, which was one more hit than what I had managed with “Hefty Hannah” two years before.

One of the things I like about the 50-70 (or any of the 50s for that matter) is when I’m shooting on paper targets, any good group can be seen with the naked eye out at 100 yards. I’ve seen my groups with 44s and 45s with the naked eye as well, but not as easily. Of course, that doesn’t mean anything at Quigley where no paper targets are used, but there is a satisfying feeling when shooting a .50-caliber rifle.

This year, Allen Cunniff and I arrived at “Quigleyville” a couple of days before Mike Moran and his travel partner, Jim Haeckel. To make sure we would all be shooting in the same group, I registered our names together. At Quigley, you must be a registered shooter before you can fire any practice shots. The squadding is done on Friday, before the match starts on Saturday morning. “Squadding” is when you select your shooting position within the squads of six shooters, which allows you and your partner to do the spotting of your shots at the same time. For this big match, registration and squadding are certainly important and easily done.

The 50-70 rifles that Mike and I would shoot were both made by C. Sharps Arms. Mike’s rifle was basically a copy of mine, built a couple of years later and both of them have custom barrels. My rifle’s barrel was made by Oregon Barrel Company, a part of The Gun Works in Springfield, Oregon. The barrel, with its 1 in 32-inch rate of twist, was sent to C. Sharps Arms as a rifled blank and it was profiled as a No. 1¾ Heavy barrel by the craftsmen at the shop. My rifle’s barrel also has the Hartford collar.

Mike’s rifle is almost a twin of mine; both are made with 30-inch barrels. His barrel is made by Jim Carpenter, of Idaho, and also has a 1 in 32-inch rate of twist. One of the differences between our two rifles is Mike’s does not have the Hartford collar. Instead, his No. 1¾ Heavy barrel, remains octagon in shape all the way to the rifle’s receiver. Sometimes that was done on the original Sharps rifles; it is attractive, and gives his rifle its own identity.

Both of our rifles were equipped with Deluxe Mid Range Vernier tang sights made by C. Sharps Arms. Those sights proved to have more than enough “reach” for our shots on the buffalo target at Quigley, which is just beyond 800 yards.

The loads for my rifle used 65 grains of Olde Eynsford 2Fg powder under a .060 Walters’ Wad, and bullets from Accurate Molds’ No. 52-450L2, lubricated with BPC lube from C. Sharps Arms. Those bullets were cast from an alloy that began with 30-1 lead and tin from Buffalo Arms Company, and then hardened with an ingot from another mix. This means I can’t actually specify the alloy other than calling it “mine”. Experience taught me that 30-1 alloy is not the best mix in my 50-70, but with plenty of 30-1 on hand, I simply mixed in some harder bullet metal. Old factory ammunition, especially grease groove ammo, was often loaded with alloy as hard as 16-1 lead/tin.

Mike’s load was slightly different. He was putting 68 grains of Swiss 1½ Fg in his 50-70 and was using a slightly heavier bullet; it was another of Accurate Molds’ bullets, No. 52-460N, with its wider flat point. The small difference in our loads probably wouldn’t be noticed on the firing line.

While comparing notes, we’d often see if our two rifles needed similar sight settings for the various distances on the targets at Quigley. Mike’s rifle consistently used lower sight settings than my rifle. The main reason for that was not the difference in our loads, but rather Mike’s rifle has a slightly lower front sight than mine, which must be “echoed” in his elevation settings on his rear sight.

The rear sight I was using was not a Soule, so it has limited range for making windage adjustments. Deith Allies, a very active member of the Forsyth Rifle Club, asked me how I handled shots that required more windage than the sight could provide, and I told him how I often hold the white spot on the target just outside the front sight aperture. This gives me a sight picture with added windage, which can be fairly consistent with the next or following shots. Deith grinned and shook his head saying, “That should be put in a book someplace.” I did use that hold to get a couple of good hits on the 530-yard Postage Stamp and the 405-yard Diamond during the winds on Sunday morning.

Now, more about this year’s Quigley shoot. Allen Cunniff and I arrived in camp on Monday. We had the tent set up and most of our gear stashed, when Al Kajin popped his head into the tent to tell me that Mike Venturino had passed away the previous day. Mike Venturino, as many of you know, was the winner of the first Quigley Buffalo Rifle Match back in 1991, when the Quigley shoot first got started. Mike gave Tom Selleck some tips and instruction on how to shoot and handle the Sharps rifle before the movie “Quigley Down Under” was filmed. We could say that Mike Venturino left his footprints all over the Quigley matches and will be sorely missed. This sad news was on the “down side” for this year’s Quigley.

On Tuesday, after registering for the match, Allen and I grabbed our rifles and headed to the firing line to get some practice. In addition to practice, I needed to update my notes in my sight book. To my surprise, when I used this 50-70 back in 2021, I hadn’t written down my sight setting for the 350-yard bucket.

Allen and I started our practice shots at the Diamond (405 yards) then moved to the 417-yard Rectangle, the second Postage Stamp and finally the Bucket. To get a sight setting, I took my practice shots at the Bucket from a sitting position, making sure the elevation for the rear sight was written down.

Mike Moran and Jim Haeckel pulled into camp on the following day. Mike’s tent added more canvas to our gathering of the Black River Buffalo Runners. Then Scott and Cathy Sibley from Wyoming, showed up with their single-pole Sibley tent, as well as Phil Wiebe from Washington, which added even more canvas. Mike Holeman and Larry Litten also joined us, camping nearby in a nice big RV.

Then, as soon as they could, everyone headed to the firing line for some practice shots. Mike Moran had never fired his 50-70 at Quigley and this was Jim and Larry’s first trip as well. They all needed full and complete notes before the match started, leaving them just over two full days to get that done.

Mike and I didn’t practice together, although we often compared notes back at the tents. Our rifles and loads were very similar and I’m not going to say that we were the only ones there with 50-70 rifles, but we were the only ones we knew about. Those 50 caliber rifles did have a sound all their own on the firing line; no “crack” at all, just a big sounding “boom”.

Of course, our shooting practice was badly interrupted with shopping along Vendors Row. New shirts from Sagebrush and Caroline’s Embroidery, a new bullet mould from Steve Brooks, brass from Mike Bucholz, powder and cartridge boxes from Buffalo Arms, more powder from Bear River Powder, and (for Allen) a new “made-while-you-wait” hat from Buffalo Hats. We made many stops at the C. Sharps Arms tent, mostly to look at the 45-70 rolling block, which was a joint donation from Ken Womack’s Rolling Block Parts, Treebone Carving, and C. Sharps Arms, and this was to be given away at the end of the match. Let’s face it, Quigley is the place to get resupplied and that’s just one of the reasons why we certainly don’t want to miss it.

Late on Friday afternoon, we held the camp burger feed with antelope burgers furnished by Scott and Cathy Sibley. Once more, I did the cooking on the grill heated by Scott’s propane burner and there was about 20 people enjoying the meal, including Al and Claudia Kajin.

Saturday morning was time for the shooter’s meeting. Allen had decided to shoot the match with his 40-65 but I was still shooting with “Moonbeam”, my 50-70. I must admit that I brought along another rifle just in case I needed a back-up should something happen to my 50-70. My back-up rifle was Hefty Hannah, a 15-pound 44-77. As it turned out, Hefty Hannah was not taken out of its gun cover. Even so, I was certainly glad to have it with me. After all, when going 1,000 miles to a shooting match, it’s best to be prepared for anything.

Mike also had a second rifle, his 45-70 Sharps that he used last year. Just like with Hefty Hannah, his back-up rifle was not needed either.

At the shooters’ meeting, we learned where our group would start in the match. We’d start on the Postage Stamp, which follows the Diamond. We considered that good, because we’d be shooting at the Bucket, the only offhand gong in the match as our second target. I can’t tell you how well Mike did on the rectangle but I, for one reason or another, only got one hit.

Let me admit it, I’m not a contender for the top prize at Quigley. My personal goal was to simply beat my low score of only nine hits from last year. You might remember that last year I tried shooting with a scoped 45-70, hoping the new MVA scope would make a difference, but my right eye just didn’t have what’s needed. So, this year, I went back to iron sights to help aiming with my left eye. To me, that was really like starting over again.

The next stage was the Bucket at 350 yards. My shooting improved enough that I got two hits. Mike did much better with his 50-70, getting four hits from the offhand position. Then we got to enjoy the more than a ¼ mile-long walk to get to Target No. One, the Buffalo at 805 yards.

When it was my turn to shoot (with Mike spotting for me) I had the midrange sight dialed in at 1.57, almost to the top of the ladder, which told me that my 50-70 could lob a bullet to the 800-yard targets, but not to 1000 yards, unless a long-range sight was used. My first shot was a miss, right under the critter’s chin. With that information to help, my next shot “made meat”. After firing my eight shots at the buffalo, Becky Berdahl, our scorekeeper, gave me credit for three hits. Mike, again, shot better than I.

Our next target was the Octagon at 600 yards, our last target for the day. My shooting didn’t improve much but I did get another three hits. Right after finishing my shots, I headed back to the tents and I’m glad I did, as that was when the big wind and dust storm hit. Yes, Quigley is noted for the winds in that area, but this was something more; it was such a storm that it even made the news. Scott Sibley and I were the only ones in camp and seeing the storm coming, we got busy taking down the canvas awnings, rather than have them torn down by the wind. Doing so saved the tents. While that was happening, some shooters were still trying to see the targets through the flying dust … that’s Quigley for you!

Later that night the wind and dust died down, allowing me to get a little sleep. The morning of our last day in camp, we started packing up even before heading back to the firing line. Our group still had two targets to shoot; the 530-yard Postage Stamp and the 405-yard Diamond. However, the winds were not completely finished and those targets were shot in a fairly strong wind coming in from the left. So, my method of holding the target’s white dots outside of the front aperture was used again, which gave me just two hits per target.

While I was not one of the winners at Quigley, I certainly do tip my hat to those good shooters, especially the winner, Shane Kraft. However, I feel rather good about my shooting because I managed to beat my last year’s score by four hits, which gave me a total of 13. That score is certainly in the right direction. Out of approximately 575 shooters this year, maybe my score will put me in the top 500. To find out, go to quigleymatch.com to see the scores. Also, it pleased me that Mike Moran got 21 hits, using his 50-70 rifle for the first time. We certainly enjoyed the match enough to use our 50-70 rifles at Quigley next year