A Tribute to Sharps40

 I started this journey a long time ago and then life pulled me away from working on guns. What led me back to it was people like Sharps40. 

His typical medium is the Ruger Blackhawk single action revolver, over the years he has built quite a few of them. I posted some of his work years ago with some other custom Blackhawks, since then he has added to his assemblage and I thought I would include all his work to date in one post.

We'll start with one that inspired my Old Model Blackhawk Project.

People had told Sharps40 that you cannot put a Colt grip frame on a Ruger Blackhawk....well Sharps40 is not the kind of person you tell something like that to....he'll just prove you wrong.

He called this project the 1860 Army Blackhawk

This particular Blackhawk is a new model, the list of modifications include the aforementioned 1860 Colt Army grip frame with custom bloodwood grip panels which was a project all in its own. If you didn't know the 1860 Army Revolver was a .44 caliber cap and ball firearm. It was built on the frame of the 1851 Navy, but with a larger grip to help manage the additional recoil.

The other mods to this Ruger include:

• Barrel was shortened to 5.1" and re-crowned
• The base pin was modified to allow cylinder removal
• The front of the cylinder was given a "black powder chamfer"
• The frame was "flat topped" to mimic the old models
• A stainless Bisley hammer was polished and jeweled
• A steel ejector rod housing was installed on the shortened barrel
• A Storey "bullseye" ejector rod was installed
• A new ramp front sight in a dovetail
• Matte rust blued finish

The remaining project are in no particular order.

This next one also included a custom grip frame....he called it the Tiffany Blackhawk. The grip frame was originally intended for a Colt Single Action Army tribute to the Civil War, combined with a modern Uberti trigger guard. The two were mated and then adapted to work with the Ruger's action.

The remaining mods included

• Barrel shortened to 4" and re-crowned
• New dovetailed front sight
• Ejector rod housing from a Colt copy made by Armi San Marco
• Colt style crescent ejector rod

This next one is a 3-screw old model that has an NC Ordnance brass grip frame (styled after the Colt Lightning grip frame), thus giving it the nickname Ruger Lightning. The grip frame was designed for a Ruger New Model Blackhawk, so Sharps40 did some custom work to make it work on the old model. 

The other mods include:

• Barrel shortened to 3.5" and re-crowned
• Ejector rod housing shortened
• Modified base pin
• Chamfered cylinder front
• Thinned loading gate
• Custom brass ejector rod, mimicking the shape of the grip frame
• hand made curly maple grip panels
• matte rust blued finish

This next one he called the New Model Old Model or Rusty

It started life as a New Model 50th Anniversary Flat-Top Blackhawk

The mods include:

• Barrel shortened to 3.75"
• A new front sight was dovetailed into the barrel
• A modified Vaquero Montado ejector rod housing was installed
• A Bisley trigger and hammer installed, both had their mating surfaces polished and the hammer is jeweled
• A custom hammer strut base was built to replace the factory lock
• Bearpaw Amboyna burl wood grips were installed
• A two-tone rust blued and browned finish was applied 

This next one had the strangest name of all: Thasunke Khoiphani, which is the name of a famous Chief of the Ogala Souix tribe.

This one started life as a standard 3-screw .357 Blackhawk. The mods include:

• Colt 1860 Army brass grip frame adapted to fit the Ruger
• Barrel shortened and re-crowned
• Steel ejector rod housing with custom shim to make barrel & ERH flush
• Custom brass horse head front sight
• GP100 rear sight blade
• Crescent ejector rod
• Custom grips

This next one started life as a New Model Blackhawk in .45 Colt. He originally called it the "Undecided Project", then gave it the moniker The Gentleman's Workhorse.

Project modifications include:

• Barrel & ejector rod housing cut down to 3.5"
• Base pin modified to allow cylinder removal
• A Ron Power grip frame was modified into a Birds head
• Scalloped recoil shields
• Top of the frame "flat topped"
• Custom ejector rod button
• Super Blackhawk Hunter rear sight
• Custom front sight made from a buffalo head nickel
• Handmade Bloodwood grip panels
• Matte rust blued finish

This one was built for a relative of Sharps40 that needed something for self defense, but suffered from Arthritis. So the mods were designed with her special needs in mind

The mods include:

• Barrel shortened & re-crowned 
• High Viz front sight dove tailed into barrel
• Modified stainless base pin
• Stainless Bisley hammer with thumb attachment
• Crescent ejector rod
• Hogue rubber grips

This next one is called the .45 Sheriff, it started out as a New Model 45 Convertible (with cylinders in both .45 Colt & .45 ACP).

This one was designed from the beginning to be a concealment gun with no onboard ejector.

Mods include:

• Barrel shortened to 2 7/8" and re-crowned
• Custom front sight made from a buffalo head nickel
• NC Ordnance Colt Lightning style brass grip frame
• Bisely Hammer & Trigger
• Modified base pin
• Scalloped recoil shields
• Cylinders given a "black powder chamfer"
• Two tone rust blued/browned finish

Another compact gun was this one named Mr. Belly Gun. The gun was a standard 3-screw 6.5" Blackhawk

Mods include:

• Barrel and ejector rod housing shortened to 3.5", barrel re-crowned
• Customized base pin to allow for ejector travel
• "Flat-Topped" frame
• New Model Blackhawk stainless grip frame modified into a round butt and adapted to work with the 3-screw trigger
• Custom front sight made from a buffalo nickel
• Smoothed barrel (no roll marks)
• Bullseye ejector rod
• Scalloped recoil shields
• Cylinder given "Black Powder Chamfer"
• Loading gate thinned with a back cut
• Custom grips made from Afezelia Xylay wood
• Matte rust blued finish

This next one is the only one in 44 Magnum that I have seen Sharps40 build, he called it The Pack Horse.

The gun started as an old model/3-screw Super Blackhawk, the list of mods includes:

• Shortening the barrel to 3.6" and giving it his signature re-crown
• A rifle barrel banded front sight with brass faced patridge blade
• A New Model Bisley Grip frame
• A SBH Hunter rear sight
• Brass accent rings on front sight and erh
• Lanyard loop
• Matte rust blued finish

I hope you enjoyed this post, if you would like to know more about Sharps40's work, you can see his posts on the outdoorstrader.com website.