Christian Sharps (January 2, 1810 – March 12, 1874) was the inventor of the Sharps rifle, which was the first commercially successful breech-loading rifle. He also created the Sharps Four Barrel Pistol and the Sharps Breech-Loading Pistol.

Life, death and legacy

Christian Sharps was born in Washington, New Jersey, in 1810. He married Sarah Elizabeth Chadwick of Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania. The couple had two children: a daughter named Satella and a son named Leon Stewart. Satella’s daughter, also named Satella Waterstone, became an author and composer.

Sharps was hired as an apprentice gunsmith at the Harpers Ferry Arsenal in the 1830s. At Harpers Ferry, he learned about the Hall rifle, an early breech-loader, and worked for its inventor, Captain John H. Hall. He also studied how to make weapons with fully interchangeable parts.

Sharps’ first rifle was patented on September 12, 1848. It used a breech-loading design with a "slanting breech action" and paper cartridges. The rifle was made by "A. S. Nippes" at Mill Creek, Pennsylvania, in 1850.

In 1851, the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company (later renamed "Sharps Rifle Co") was created as a holding company with $1,000 in capital. John C. Palmer was president, Christian Sharps was engineer, and Richard S. Lawrence was master armorer and manufacturing superintendent. Sharps received $1 per firearm as a royalty, and the factory was built on R&L’s property in Hartford, Connecticut.

In 1855, Sharps left the company to start his own firm, "C. Sharps & Co." This company made four-barrel pepperboxes. In 1862, the company was renamed "Sharps & Hankins" in partnership with William Hankins. Both companies were based in Philadelphia. Sharps & Hankins produced four-barrel pistols, as well as the single-shot Model 1861 Navy rifles and the Model 1862 carbines. These weapons used forward "sliding breech actions" and fired the .56-52 Spencer rimfire metallic cartridge. The partnership ended in 1867, and Sharps returned to manufacturing under the name "C. Sharps & Co."

In 1870, Sharps and his family moved to Vernon, Connecticut. There, he continued designing firearms and started a large trout farming business.

Sharps died in Vernon on March 12, 1874, from tuberculosis. He received fifteen firearms-related patents in total. After his death, "C. Sharps & Co." closed, and firearms production ended. However, "Sharps Rifle Co" continued making his rifles until 1881, when it also closed.

In 1983, Shiloh Rifle Manufacturing Company began making modern copies of the 1874 Sharps Rifle. This rifle was featured in the 1990 Western film Quigley Down Under, starring Tom Selleck. Before this, Sharps rifle reproductions were made by "Shiloh Products Inc.," founded by Len Mulé (pronounced Mull-A) and Wolfgang Droge. Len Mulé is considered the second founder of Sharps and responsible for its revival in the modern era.

The Sharps Rifle

On September 12, 1848, Sharps received a patent for his design of a breech-loading rifle. The Hall rifle had problems that may have led Sharps to create his new design. The Sharps rifle used a vertical dropping block action, controlled by a lever that also acted as a trigger guard. This action was strong and helped reduce the release of gases when the rifle fired. Sharps’ first rifle, the Model 1849, was made by A.S. Nippes & Co. in Mill Creek, Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Although not the first breech-loading rifle, the Sharps rifle was the first to be widely accepted and produced in large numbers during the American Civil War. A carbine version of the Sharps rifle became the most commonly used cavalry carbine by the Union Army. Its success led the Confederate government to copy and manufacture it for its own troops. Later, Sharps-designed firearms were widely used in the American West as military and hunting tools. These rifles were highly valued as target rifles and were frequently used in international shooting competitions until the late 19th century.

The Sharps & Hankins 4-Shot Pepperbox Pistols

One of the most common pocket pistols used in the "Old West" was the Sharps Pepperbox. These pistols had four barrels and used a single-action mechanism with a revolving firing pin. They were available in .22, .30, and .32 rimfire calibers. The four barrels could slide forward to load and unload the weapon. First patented in 1849, they were not produced until 1859, when Sharps created a practical pocket pistol design. The first model had brass frames and used the newly introduced .22 Rimfire metallic cartridges. The second model was made in .30 rimfire. These pistols were produced by "C. Sharps and Co" and are sometimes called pepperboxes by modern collectors.

In 1862, William Hankins joined Sharps, providing financial support. The company was renamed "Sharps & Hankins." They introduced a third model, a .32 rimfire deringer with an iron frame. The barrel release was moved from under the frame to the left side. Production of this model stopped when the partnership ended in 1867. That same year, the company was renamed "C. Sharps and Co" again and released a fourth model. This version had a new "birdshead" grip and 2 1/2-inch barrels, but was otherwise similar to the third model. Production of these pistols ended in 1874 with the death of Christian Sharps. About 100,000 of these four-barrel pistols were made between 1859 and 1874.