The rifle; an original Sharps 45-110 falling block had come into Jim's possession a dozen years earlier fulfilling the Schenectady, New York native's lifelong dream to own this classic American firearm. While Jim's antique gun collection contains a number of impressive weapons, the Sharps is special. Manufactured in the mid 1860's in Connecticut, this rifle had served select Union cavalry regiments and a handful of state militias during the civil war. While Christian Sharp's company did not get the big military contracts awarded to Remington for its rolling block rifles, it was none-the-less, immensely popular with the troops.

Following the Civil War, New York City gun trader, Herman Boker bought thousands of the rifles from the army and sold them to France where they helped turn the tide in the Franco-Prussia conflict of the early 1870's. A military entrepreneur, Boker then bought them back and contracted with the original manufacturer, Sharps, to convert them to shoot cartridges; an innovation that was taking hold throughout the firearms manufacturing industry. Jim Martin's very own Sharps went through this conversion and was chambered for the 45-110 case. The largest of the family of 45 caliber bullets fitted to the converted rifles, the round measured 4 inches from tip to primer.

With its enhanced velocity, knock-down power and accuracy the 45-110 was soon making history again in the hands of commercial buffalo hunters on the American plains. Jim has traced his well-traveled rifle to Wyoming where in the early 1880's the great northern herd of American bison met its demise to satisfy the growing international demand for the ultra tough leather rendered from the mighty animal's huge hides. We all remember the scene from the 90's film "Dances With Wolves", where the troop of Indians top a rise to view the skinned carcasses of thousands of buffalo scattered across the plains.

While the annihilation of a 100 million buffalo in scarcely more than a decade has not been treated kindly by historians nor should it be; the role of the Sharp's rifle, which enabled a single hunter with his team of skinners to process over 100 animals a day is a detail well recorded. Towns like Johnstown and Gloversville, New York became important hubs for leather processing. In Europe the leather was sought after for military applications such as belts, bullet pouches and saddles while in America a very different product was cut from the thick hides. In fact, history might well be rewritten if it weren't for the discovery that leather belts made from bison robes were an ideal choice for the drive mechanisms of the newly invented manufacturing equipment driving what history would later dub our country's industrial revolution.

The Sharps 45-110 with a 508 grain paper patched bullet and backed by 105 grains of black powder has a muzzle velocity of 1400 feet per second and could drop a 1000 pound animal at distances in excess of 800 yards and while Jim's moose was only an 80 yard shot the accomplishment was significant.

Jim explained, "While the gun is a century and a half old, the impact of its butt plate slamming your shoulder does not diminish with age."

As he reeled backwards from the bone-bruising recoil he heard Lenny say, "You knocked him right off his feet! I've never seen a grown moose go down like that; Ever…"

For Jim Martin, a retired veteran of a 20 year career as a police officer and who at age nineteen had carried a different rifle through the swamps of Viet Nam, it's about the history.

"Every time I pick up my Sharps, I feel I am holding a piece of America, I feel I am part of a history that is still evolving."

You know what Jim? We think so too.