So I immediately went about rolling up some rounds to try it out. I thought that using the same load as my old Marlin 1895 bear bust’n shorty would suffice. With Campro 350gr flat nose bullets over 49gr of IMR4198 with CCI BR2 primers.
So out I went on Thursday (yes, I took the day off work) to try it out.
First impressions were pretty good. The first ten shots were point of aim at 100m. The sights are dead-on! Banging away on all the steel, especially the small 8” gong was sure fun! The loading gate is nothing like my Rossi .44mag. The Pedersoli is smooth like butter! Loading is a pleasure with this.
I decided to move over and try it out at longer range. I was popp’n away at 200m with regularity. Sad but true, but this might just be more accurate then my single shot Sharps 1874. But then again, it’s probably me and getting used to the sights on the Sharps. But this 1886 is a whole lot of fun! Yes it’s heavy. What do you expect with that action, the heavy wood, and that 26” barrel? But once you get the hang of it…you can’t have more fun with your clothes on.
I shot a 103 rounds from the 1886 and... another 50 from my single shot Sharps. That’s a whole lot of 45-70 in one outing. And my shoulder was pretty sore on Friday. I am so glad I took the plunge on this. I had to hide it from my Wife (successfully, I might add), and I really had other things financially that I needed to look after. But I don’t regret it.