Ok, my first .45/70 Pietta Sharps. I bought it for BP shooting but I've been using some smokeless hand loads recently. My problem? It's got a tang mounted sight. With any load over 1000 fps the tang springs back on recoil and wacks my forehead. I've taken to wearing a band aid on my eyebrow just for protection. It's got a 13 1/2" length of pull (normal) but with the tang sight up it's only 6" or so from my head when I fire. I've got some Trail Boss loads (at 1000 fps) that are fine but they sound more like the result of too many beans than a serious load. I see only one option and that's to pad the stock at least 2" to get my head farther back. Am I the only one with this problem or is there a solution I'm missing?

With heavy bullet loads in my .45-90, I would normally hit the tang sight during recoil. I have since removed the tang sight and gone with a receiver sight for most of my shooting. I love the looks of the tang sight, but it interferes with loading and thumb placement, as well as getting knocked during recoil.

Interesting to read both these posts. I'd often wondered about such a possibility, simply looking at the placement of those sights.

With my .45-70's I've never had a problem. With larger calibers like .45-110 and .50-140 I've occasionally had the eye cup hit my glasses if I'm shooting off of sandbags on the bench. Off hand, or off of shooting sticks (sitting) I've never had this problem.

Some people wear a hat and just use the brim of the hat, rather than their head, to intercept the sight.

Chris.

I guess I should have been more clear, it is just off the bench that this happens. I guess because I lean into the stock more. I've taken to lowering my hat brim too, but then my hat gets knocked around. Guess that's better than blood flowing in my eyes. I haven't tried sticks mostly because I'm still working up a load I like. I just haven't heard of this complaint before but I couldn't believe it wasn't a pretty universal problem.

Like ChrisL, I usually wear a hat and the hat brim hits the sight. With some of my heavy smokeless loads, the recoil will knock my glasses off as well!

+I have a 45-70 Quigley and have never been hit with the sight.

I have a 45-70 Sharps (quigly) and have shot some good loades but never got hit with sight.

Ive got a Pedersoli 45-70 and wearing a hat helps with heavy loads. I get a light tap from the sight.

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Evenin' gents. First time post. Been lurking a while and thought I'd register and get my feet wet.

I had a 50-140 Sharps with a tang sight. When I loaded it up full house, that sight would smack my eyebrow. After five or six shots, either sitting or with crossed sticks, I was bleeding too bad to see what I was doing. Tried shooting glasses but it would knock them off my head too. I finally gave up and sold that cannon.

Had a Shiloh "Business Rifle" in 45-120 with a straight stock and with that thin wrist on that thing, I'd bust my bottom lip with my middle finger if I got in a hurry tryin to bust a goat.

Still kickin' my butt over selling that thing too. I've moved to the big city and shootin ain't as easy as it was when I lived way out in the boonies.

BIG guns are fun.