Ruger's buffalo rifle: it ain't no Sharps, but it shoots like one

Guns Magazine, July, 2005 by Holt Bodinson

Guns are romantic possessions, and few guns have more romance swirling around them than the big-bore Sharps rifle. When I was growing up, there was always a rumor or two about some lucky devil stumbling across a Sharps "buffalo" gun abandoned and left behind in the corner of a remote cabin. Believe me, we scoured the countryside and poked around in every old cabin and mining shack we could locate. Turned up a lot of cast iron stove parts, roofing tin, Prince Albert cans and whiskey bottles but never turned up a Sharps, or any other gun, for that matter.

As a result of that boyhood disappointment, I have long lusted after one of the quality Sharps reproductions chambered for the .45-110 or .50-90. Oh, there have been times when I almost plunked down my few grand plus and rode off into the sunset, but I always got sidetracked by some other exotic offering that was less expensive and almost as fun, like a Swedish rolling block in 8x58R Danish or some other equally useful combination.

A Lott of Gun

Then one day I was cruising the used gun racks and spotted a Ruger Tropical rifle in the then brand new .458 Lott chambering. Hefting the 9 pound single shot and thinking about the size of the Lott case, which is just a hair's breadth away from being a rimless clone of the .45-110 Sharps cartridge, I realized my search for a Sharps buffalo rifle had just been sidetracked again. Actually, what I was holding in my hands was to prove even better.

Bill Ruger lavished attention and taste on the overall design and clean lines of his No. 1 single shot. It is an utterly elegant rifle and highly distinctive with its Farquharson type underlever, quarter-rib, banded front sight and sling swivel and Alexander Henry type forearm. Combining modern metallurgy with classic lines, every No. 1 or No. 3 I've owned shot well, although that has not been everyone's experience. I think the more recent guns are more accurate on the whole than earlier models. It may be today's better barrels.

In any case, you can morph the Ruger No. 1 into any chambering from the .22 Long Rifle to the .577 Nitro. There are no feeding problems to contend with or issues about action length. One just chambers or rechambers a and alters the extractor. In the words of the late Maj. George Nonte, a single shot action functions like "nailing a board over a rat hole." It is that very simplicity that makes the single shots so versatile.

Anyway, that Tropical model in .458 Lott really got my juices boiling. I liked its weight, which topped out at 10 pounds 3 ounces when mounted with a scope, because weight is a definite plus when you're pushing 500-grain bullets around at 2,200 feet per second. I liked its lines, its balance and most of all, its .458-sized bore and long Lott chamber.

Big Bores Are Best

When it comes to big bores, nothing approaches the versatility of the .458 bore. Whether it's English Nitro cartridges, obsolete black powder cartridges, or our own domestic run of modern commercial and wildcat .45s, the .458 bore can do it all when it comes to hunting and long-range target competition. Cast bullets available range from little 144-grain lead round balls to NEI's 645-grain gas checked bone cruncher with the most popular cast bullets falling in the 405- to 500-grain range. We're also blessed with a bevy of great, jacketed bullets like Hornady's and Speer's 350-grain SR Remington's 405-grain SP, and Hornady's 500-grain SP and FMJ.

When Jack Lott designed the .458 Lott case. he accomplished two objectives--he increased the velocity of what he considered an under-powered and unreliable .458 Win Mag and by maintaining a straight taper to his case, he insured that .458 Win Mag ammunition could be fired in the Lott chamber without any problems whatsoever. He succeeded. He gained about 200 fps over the average .458 Win Mag in a compatible chamber.

Lott of Powder

What intrigued me about the Lott case was its length and powder capacity. The case measures 2.8" long while the .45-110 Sharps case measures 2.875".

The .45-110 Sharps cartridge, known as the .45 2 7/8" inch case, was the longest cartridge loaded by Sharps. Their typical loading was a 500-grain bullet over 90 to 100 grains of black powder, although there was an express loading with a 293-grain bullet as well. Yup, this is the cartridge Tom Selleck was shooting in his Quigley Down Under Sharps. And looking at the .458 Lott case, I had a .45 2 6/8" buffalo gun, too.

Now it was time for some fun with the big Ruger. The plan was to work up a smorgasbord of cast and jacketed loads to see just how flexible the .45 2 6/8" Lott cartridge was and in doing so, to see if the "Buffalo" Ruger No. 1 would satisfy my craving for a .45-110 Sharps.

The Lott cases and loading dies I used are Hornady, and the Hornady reloading manual contains excellent data for loading the big case with smokeless.

To keep all the test loads on one target, I set up at 50 yards, which is a good dangerous game distance anyway. First out of the box were the cast bullet loads after which I cleaned the barrel before continuing with the jacketed pills.