New old guns

[bobw]

Was Don, very interesting .I'll never have an income that allows me the ability to accumulate such guns but it sure is neat he will share the looking and handling of such. The Freund modified Sharps had all sorts of trick stuff on it,like a steel checkered shotgun butt with a sliding trapdoor in it made of brass. I looked at the owner and he said go ahead so I slid it open. Looked like a rolled piece of canvas inserted into approx. 7/8" hole bored back in the butt. I pulled it out to reveal a neat little sown canvas bag with a snap closure. It contained a jointed 4 piece hard wood cleaning rod. 3 of them were about 7" long and the 4th about 3". exactly the length of the barrel the frt end section had push jag. The joint ferrules were beautifully machined and joined to the wood. The Freund shop was obviously capable of all sorts of mastercraftsmanship. Freund modifications to the 74 Sharps tend to receive a lot of doubtful attitude and I can't say one way or another if they are really necessary but they sure were beautifully executed. Like the reforging and shaping of the hammer with it checkered, the ebony forend tip,& the one piece steel pistol grip cap. The trigger on this gun was set so light that the hammer would not stay cocked unless you engaged the set tigger before cocking it. A condition I call scary as well as unsafe. This rifle had one of the smallest frt sights I've ever seen,coupled with a very small notch in the semi-buckhorn rear made for a very precise sight picture and one I am sure was of doubtful use in low light with eyes like mine. At one point in time while D. Boone May owned this gun it was stolen from him and he sought to recover it, allways looking at rifle butts projecting from scabbards on horses tied to hitching rails. He spotted it on a horse tied in frt of a saloon and went it in asking whose horse it was. When the guy who owned the horse owed up, DB May called him for a thief and they shot it out. DBMay was arrested for this but exonerated for it. History all over this gun ,just as plain as the rowel marks on the butt. DB May was reported to have killed 9 men not counting Indians in his time in the west.... bobw