BLACK POWDER
The painting Old Glory by Western artist Cameron Blagg depicts a rawhide-repaired Sharps carbine converted to .50-70 caliber.
SALUTING 'A GRAND OLD VETERAN'
In praise of the .50-70, our first military centerfire cartridge. STORY AND PHOTOS BY MIKE NESBITT
A
s Americans, we need to honor all of our veterans. Without them, we wouldn’t have any rights at all, particularly the right to free speech and,
perhaps most importantly, the right to keep and bear arms. To neglect and forget our veterans is to neglect and forget our heritage. So, to honor an old veteran and to discuss some of its heritage, I want to talk about the .50-70 cartridge and some of the people who used it. This isn’t
about what the .50-70 is doing today, because it is still active among black powder cartridge shooters, but instead how it was used in the 1860s and 1870s. ONE FAVORITE STORY involves Colonel Forsyth, who was in command of several mounted cavalry troopers americanshootingjournal.com 93
