In July of 1861, a Sharps & Hankins Naval Rifle was test fired at the Washington Naval Yard in Washington, D.C. This test may have been the result of successful testing of a Spencer Rifle at the Navy Yard a month earlier. The Spencer test resulted in the Navy ordering 700 Spencer Rifles with Saber Bayonets. From a practical point of view, a firearm that used self-contained metallic cartridges would be more reliable at sea than a muzzleloading percussion ignition firearm. In a world where damp powder was always a potential hazard, the reliability offered by essentially weatherproof metallic cartridges was probably quite enticing to the Navy. The Spencer Rifles were breechloading repeaters and were very expensive, costing $43 each, including the saber bayonet. At a time when best quality muzzleloading percussion rifle muskets were only $20 to $25 each, paying essentially double that for a Spencer Rifle was probably a hard pill for the naval bean counters to swallow. However, the Sharps & Hankins Rifles were priced at only $36 each, including the saber bayonet. They offered the same advantages as the Spencer in that they were breechloading metallic cartridge rifles at a significantly lower price, with their only disadvantage being that they were single shot rifles. The testing went well enough that 500 of the Sharps & Hankins Navy Rifles with bayonets were ordered by the Navy after the testing.

The first deliveries of the rifles from that order were made on 19 March 1862, when 100 rifles arrived at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The following month 150 of the rifles were delivered to the New York Navy Yard. The Boston Navy Yard also received 150 of the rifles on May 27, 1862. The final 100 rifles were delivered on June 28, 1862, to the Washington Naval Yard. The rifles were packed ten to the case, along with ten saber bayonets and scabbards, two screwdrivers and ten cleaning rods. An additional delivery of 100 rifles was made to the Washington Navy Yard in September of 1862, bringing the overall total to 600. According to the research published by John D. McAulay, the first Sharps & Hankins Naval Rifles were issued for use aboard the frigate Wabash. Additional documented issues of the Naval Rifles were to the monitor Catskill and the sloop Lackawanna. During 1864 the steamers Meteor and Elk were issued Sharps & Hankins Navy Rifles, receiving 30 and 20 of the rifles, respectively. Other US Naval vessels to receive the rifles were the Dacotah, Octorara, Tacony and the William G. Anderson. In May of 1863, a five-man shore party from the William G. Anderson was attacked by the members of Company D of the 8^th Texas Infantry while the shore party was trying to help tow off a grounded sloop. The shore party was captured, as were the five Sharps & Hankins Naval Rifles they had with them. This allows us to document at least five Sharps & Hankins Naval Rifles being in Confederate hands.

Although the rifle was well liked and generally received positive comments from those who used them, the shorter carbine variant was apparently preferred by the Navy and after the 600 rifles were acquired, all additional orders were for the shorter, 24” barreled navy carbine version or for the 19” cavalry carbine variant. Most of the carbines also had a safety improvement that moved the firing pin from the face of the hammer to the frame of the gun, which help to prevent accidental discharges if the hammer was struck when in the down position on a loaded chamber.

The firm of Sharps & Hankins was a partnership between Christian Sharps of Sharps’ Rifle fame and William Hankins. While Sharps was a gifted firearms designer and had learned the trade of gun building and design from John Hall while Sharps worked at the Rifle Works at Harpers Ferry, he did not have any ability to manufacture his designs, particularly not at scale. His earliest guns were built for him by Asa Waters of Mill Creek, PA. Waters manufactured the Model 1849 and Model 1850 Sharps’ Rifles. However, Sharps found the Philadelphia area a hard place to raise capital to expand the business, so in 1851 he relocated to New England and entered into a manufacturing arrangement with the longtime Vermont gunmaking firm of Robbins & Lawerence, formerly Robbins, Lawrence & Kendall. Sharps had had a tumultuous relationship with his early “partners” Samuel Robbins and Richard S. Lawrence almost since the beginning of their time together.  He established the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company in Hartford, CT. with the goal of taking the manufacturing in-house as the company grew. Initially Sharps provided technical and design support while the Vermont firm made the guns, and Sharps marketed the guns through the Hartford based company he had established. However, by 1853 the relationship had soured so thoroughly between Sharps and Lawerence in particular that Sharps abandoned the business and started a new company on his own in Philadelphia, C. Sharps & Co. Interestingly, the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company would continue without Christian Sharps for more than two decades and it would be around 1855 before the arms the company produced would be made in Hartford, rather than Windsor, VT. The mainstay of the new C. Sharps & Co. product line was a series of four-barrel derringer pistols, but they also offered a percussion dropping breech single shot pistol, a dropping breech percussion single shot “pistol rifle” and a tip up percussion pocket revolver. In 1862 Sharps partnered with Hankins to form a new company and to continue to produce the derringers but also added some new items to the product line. These were the Sharps & Hankins rifles and carbines that have been variously referred to as Model 1859 or 1861 Rifles and Model 1862 carbines. Since Sharps & Hankins did not use either designation, the discussion is not particularly relevant.

The initial long arm the firm produced was the Sharps & Hankins Naval Rifle, which was a breechloading single-shot metallic cartridge rifle that was chambered for a .52 caliber rimfire cartridge. The action was covered by US Patent #32,790 of July 9, 1861. The design consisted of a sliding barrel that moved forward on the rails of the frame when the operating lever was lowered, making the chamber accessible for loading and unloading. Lowering the lever and making the barrel slide forward also actuated the extractor, which removed the cartridge in the chamber. In some respects, this was a upscaled and logical extension of his pepperbox design which utilized a smaller and simpler sliding barrel action. The rifle had a 32 ¾” round barrel that had three bands that secured the forend to it. A saber bayonet lug with a somewhat unique guide key was mounted under the barrel to allow the rifle to accept a brass handled saber bayonet. The lug was installed with a small space between it and the guide key, almost as if the addition of the key was a last-minute design change, resulting in the key being installed separately, instead of being machined integrally with the lug, as was the common method for keyed lugs. The rifle was equipped with an elevation adjustable leaf rear sight with multi-detent sidewalls to allow precession distance adjustments. The front sight was a Barleycorn arrangement with a German silver blade in a steel base. Sling swivels were installed on the middle barrel band and along the toe line of the stock at the rear of the triggerguard tang. A fixed firing pin was mounted on the face of the hammer, and a small sliding safety was mounted on the top rear of the frame to the left of the hammer. The rifles were iron mounted with the exception of a brass buttplate and were finished with blued barrels, bands and sights, with the receiver, lever and hammer color casehardened. Markings were simple and minimal, with the left side of the receiver simply marked in four lines: 

SHARPS

&

HANKINS

PHILADA

The right side of the receiver was marked:

SHARPS

PATENT

1859

The patent date in the marking references Sharps’ original patent for the sliding barrel system used on his pepperboxes, which he obviously considered his 1861 patent to be an update to. The only other markings were the serial numbers, which were struck into the upper receiver tang. The Naval Rifles were the first of the Sharps & Hankins longarms to be produced and fall roughly in the 1 to 700 serial number range, with 600 of those rifles being sold to the US Navy, as mentioned above. An updated version of the longarms were introduced during 1862 with a floating firing pin in the frame, and these guns were made in more variations. They included the Navy Carbine with a 24” barrel that was covered in leather to protect it from the corrosive salt air and sea spray, a 24” barreled Army Carbine made without the leather barrel covering and a shorter 19” barreled Army Carbine. In total about 8,000 carbines of all variants were made by the firm, more than ten times the number of rifles produced. Of those 6,686 of the Navy Carbines were acquired by the US Navy, 200 of the 24” cavalry carbines were acquired by the Army and an additional 1,000 of the 19” cavalry carbines were purchased by the Army as well.

This Sharps & Hankins Naval Rifle offered here remains in VERY GOOD condition. The gun is clearly marked on both sides of the frame;

SHARPS

PATENT

1859

on the obverse and 

SHARPS

&

HANKINS

PHILADA

on the reverse. The upper receiver tang is serial numbered 481. 

The rifle retains some minute traces of blue on the barrel bands and rear sight but otherwise has an attractive and mostly smoothly oxidized brown patina on the barrel and furniture. The receiver has a mottled brownish gray patina that hints at the original color casehardened finish, with the operating lever, upper and lower tangs and hammer all showing a mottled brownish patina with some minute faded traces of dull colors. The receiver shows some light surface scratches where someone tried to clean some of the patina to make the markings more visible. They are well stamped and clear, but the dark patina obscured them to some degree. The receiver is mostly smooth with only some scattered oxidized surface roughness on the obverse below the standing breech and hammer, about the size of a large thumb. The balance of the gun is almost entirely smooth as well, with some freckled areas of oxidized surface roughness and some tiny, scattered areas of pinpricking. As mentioned, the adjustable tangent rear sight which was covered by US Patent #32,899 issued on 23 July 1861, retains some minor traces of its original blued finish, but otherwise has a patina matching the barrel. The brass butt plate has a mellow golden patina that is quite attractive. The six-groove bore of the rifle is in about GOOD+ to NEAR VERY GOOD condition. The bore is dark, dirty and heavily oxidized with scattered pitting. The pitting is most notable in the last few inches closest to the muzzle. However, the bore retains very strong, deep and crisp rifling. The rifle retains the original sling swivels on the middle barrel band and in the toe of the stock, and the original saber bayonet lug and guide key. The action of the rifle remains fully functional. The barrel moves smoothly when the operating lever is lowered and the operating lever locks the action closed as it should. The hammer locks crisply into both the half and full cock positions and the trigger functions correctly as well. The sliding safety is intact and operates as it should as well. The wood of the gun remains in about VERY GOOD+condition and is solid and free of any breaks, cracks or repairs. The wood shows no signs of having been sanded and the wood to metal fit is quite good. The wood does show scattered bumps, dings and mars from handling, use and storages, as well as a few minor surface scuffs and marks. The condition of the wood matches the condition and appearance of the rifle very well.

Overall, this is a very attractive, 100% complete and correct example of a relatively rare US Navy breechloading rifle. With only 700 of these rifles made and only 600 being acquired by the Navy, these are not rifles that are commonly encountered on the collector market. This is example is a very solid gun that is quite attractive, displays well and although it shows real world use, does not show any abuse or real damage. The gun is in tremendously better condition than they are usually encountered in and has clear markings and a crisp action. These rifles are fairly uncommon and are often missing from many Civil War naval collections. This would be a fine addition to any serious 19^th Century US Navy collection, as well as any collection of 19^th century US military cartridge or breechloading rifles.