.40-65 Winchester Center Fire

Loads for a Shiloh 1874 Sharps

- John Barsness

One of the pleasures of gun writing is encountering firearms you never really expected or wanted until they somehow “appear,” the reason some specialists consider my modest collection of rifles too scattered, unlike their own collection of old Winchester lever actions or German drillings. (My collection includes both – and some twenty-first-century rifles.) This forces me to learn new stuff, which is always fun. One recent unanticipated learning curve turned out to be a Shiloh reproduction of the 1874 Sharps rifle in .40-65 WCF.

Shiloh named this particular model the “Montana Roughrider,” and it appeared in the classified section on an internet site. The ad claimed it was in “like new” condition, with photos backing that up, and included with the rifle was a set of reloading dies and 80 rounds of Ventura Munitions smokeless factory ammunition loaded in Starline’s excellent .40-65 headstamped cases. The price for everything was considerably less than ordering the same rifle, so it did not take long to succumb.

In several ways, the .40-65’s present existence is a minor miracle. Essentially the .45-70 tapered (not necked) down to .40 caliber, it appeared in 1887 primarily as a lighter-recoiling hunting cartridge for the 1886 lever action. Winchester also made a few 1885 single shots for the round, and Marlin eventually chambered the .40-65 in its Model 93 lever action.