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Sharps-Borchardts were just too late to have an impact, I reckon, but they're surely a great design. I've had a couple over the years, but they just don't quite "fit" in my mad schemes. Only US military Winchester SS rifles I know of are the Low Wall Winder muskets in .22 short, but I haven't really been paying attention. Again, they were probably too late for US military consideration (1885), besides there simply was no real interest in upgrading to anything that came from outside the Armory system until that newfangled "smokeless" powder fad came along!
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Got to shoot the USID carbine today! Not the best bullets(old store bought single lube groove 405gr I had languishing about), but it was enlightening to operate the action in a live fire situation. Feeding was so smooth you couldn't feel the round going into the chamber. Extractor didn't work at first but freed up after a few rounds.
Bore was a bit rough, so it tended to need cleaning every three rounds or it would miss a 2 foot sqare target at 100 yards. If you didn't worry about hitting anything its strangely satisfying to operate. "Boo-coo" smoke and fire and shell cases flying aboot, interrupted by the annoying manual cocking operation.
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BTW, the Army trials Keene is still for sale, and recently reduced in price. PM me if you're interested and I'll get you in touch w/ the parties involved. I'm not making anything on the deal, just think it ought to find a good home.
I ended up w/ the USID carbine, I reckon that's all I can handle!
Done been sold, it has.
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