I have had a double barrel 50-90 Sharps conversion rifle made for me. It uses PacNor 1 in 15 inch twist barrels (set up for 500 NITRO) 510 groove. Barrels are 20 inches long. It will be a stopper gun and an all-round fun gun to carry in the woods and be ready for anything from bears to cougars to boars. I use the starline brass in 50-90 Sharps and have annealed them rim to top.

My gunsmith said the gun regulates using 78 grains of Reloader15 Powder throwing a huge 535 grain Woodleigh round nosed copper coated bullet. He says he gets 1 inch groups at 75 yards... Nice I say.

But: He says the gun kicks really hard.

I orderd some Accurate Arms 5744 and some 300 grain copper coated round nosed bullets because of some load tables I found on 50-90 Sharps showed the 5744 with 365 grain bullets as a good lower pressure load (under 20K pounds).

I have two types of Cast Performance bullets on hand (525 garin and 440 grain) and the copper coated bullets (300 and 535 grain). Can anyone recommend any loads or any powder that I can try in this 50-90 Sharps for punching paper and just thin skinned non-dangerous game, like deer? I want to shoot this gun alot.

Obviously the dangerous game load my gunsmith regulated the gun for gives him a headache and smashes up his trigger hand... I don't want the same fate for punching paper. I did many searches here but just find BLACKPOWDER loads for the 50-90; no modern loads... Any help is much appreciated!

Does anyone have any cartridge experience with 50-90 Sharps using modern powders?

I just bought a 50-90 Double Rifle (conversion gun) it has Pac Nor 1 in 15 Inch twist barrels.

I am looking for a light lbullet/load combo and a heavy bullet/load combo. I think my gunsmith has the heavy combo figured out---78 grains of Reloder 15 throwing a 535 grain round nosed copper plated Woodleigh. Should take down any brown bear or grizzly no prob. But a light cartrdige for fun and poking holes in paper would be nice.

20 inch barrels. One heck of a Stopper Gun.

Threads merged. Please don't double post.

Bye
Jack

sorry. I wasn't sure what would be the best arena for my question, either in cartridges or in handloading. I won't make this mistake again. Thank you.

Zoar:

I would have some concern about annealing the 50-90 cases clear to the rim. This will make the brass soft. I anneal Starline 45-90 cases, but just at the mouth of the case to help seal the case to the chamber when firing.

Lyman has done more scientific testing of the old black powder cartridges than anyone that I know of. You might give their tech a call, 1-800-22LYMAN.

My personal opinion is that the 50-90 has way too much volume for low pressure smokeless loads, and that higher loading density smokeless power loads may produce dangerous pressures. Inert fillers are advocated by some but this is very controversal, and in your situation a great deal of filler would be required. These may be experiments best left to the guys in the lab.

That being said, black powder loads will be safe, and you can expect velocities in the 1200 fps range. Whether or not this will be comfortable to shoot in your rifle is another question.

Zoar, I have been shooting a .50-90 single shot for several years now, and your 'smith is right.......it kicks!
All my loads use lead bullets and are under 20K out of respect to the rifle and my shoulder.
All the following loads do not use a filler:

Lyman 515141 422 gn lead over 22 gns SR-4759 for about 1100'

Lyman 512138 440 gn lead over 19 gns SR-4759 for about 1050'

Here's a PDF file from Accurate powders:

http://home.bak.rr.com/jslayer/50 90 Sharps.pdf

Also, IMR Trailboss powder is one of the best for this round; it fills the case very well. The support crew at IMR said to use this method:

Measure the case capacity to the base of a seated bullet (without compression) in grains of Trailboss. 50% of this figure is your starting load, 70% of this is your max load.

Also, annealing the case all the way to the base is incorrect. The top 1/2 to 3/4 inch is plenty.

Interesting input. Now that the brass is annealed all the way down as my 'smith recommended I hope I don't have problems using this brass. hmmmm.

My smith also insists the 50-90 with Reloder 15 powder is essentailly the same as a .500 Light Nitro.
And he chrono'd the 535 grainer Woodleighs and said they were around 1900 FPS. I have to imagine the pressure is well over 20,000 pounds.

I reread some of Graeme Wright's "Shooting An English Double Rifle" yestedray and he had all good things to say about the Reloder15 powder for .500 caliber guns.

Yesterday I also researched Accurate 5744 powder for use in an 50-90 Sharps (and 45-70) and the results I've gotten back were very positive. Accurate has several load recommendations with this powder using different bullets in the 50-90 Sharps. Supposedly the 5744 recolid is also less than most other powders in big capacity brass.

I will continue to research before I load any rounds for this 50-90. And I do appreciate the input here from people who have more direct experience than I do.