rifles until 1881, when it too closed its doors. In 1983, Shiloh Rifle Manufacturing Company began to produce a line of modern reproductions of the legendary 1874 Sharps Rifle, featured in the 1990 Western film Quigley Down Under, starring Tom Selleck. Previously, the Sharps rifle reproductions were manufactured by "Shiloh Products Inc." founded by Len Mulé (pronounce Mull-A) in partnership with Wolfgang Droge. Len Mulé is considered the second founder of Sharps and responsible for its re-introduction into the modern era. The Sharps Rifle Sharps was issued a patent for his design of a breech-loading rifle on September 12, 1848. The deficiencies of the Hall rifle may have caused Sharps to adopt his new design. The Sharps rifle was designed with a vertical dropping block action, operated by a lever which also served as a trigger guard. The action was not only strong but limited the release of gases when the gun was discharged. Sharps' first rifle, the Model 1849, was manufactured by A.S. Nippes & Co. at Mill Creek, Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Despite not being the first breech-loading rifle, Sharps' was the first to be accepted widely and, with the onset of the American Civil War, the first to be produced in large quantities. The Sharps, in a carbine version, was the most widely used cavalry carbine by the Union Army. It was so successful that it was copied and manufactured by the Confederate government to arm its mounted troops. Sharps-designed firearms later saw extensive use in the American West as military and hunting weapons. They were highly regarded as target rifles and were used extensively in international shooting competitions through the late 19th century. The Sharps & Hankins 4-Shot Pepperbox Pistols One of the more common pocket pistols found in the "Old West" were the Sharps Pepperboxes. They are four-barrel, single-action pistols with a revolving firing pin. They come in .22, .30 and .32 rimfire, and their four barrels slide forward to load and unload. First patented in 1849, they were not made until 1859, when Sharps patented a practical pocket pistol design. These first model pistols had brass frames and fired the recently introduced .22 Rimfire metallic cartridges. The second model came in .30 rimfire. These pistols were made by "C. Sharps and Co", and are sometimes classified by modern collectors as a pepperbox. In 1862 William Hankins partnered with Sharps, bringing much needed