Interesting Englishman.

The RCBS brass I used would only "hold" 116gr. 2f GOEX, lube wad and bullet, as you indicate, not a full 120gr.

The 120gr. load, ie: .45-120-550 was the load originally used in the Sharps 2 7/8" case. Christian Sharps never chambered a 3 1/4" case.

Bell's brass I also used in my .45 3-1/4" chambered rolling block. That brass held a full 122gr. 2F, lube wad and the base of my bore size, patched 580's, making it 'fixed' ammo. The Bell brass was solid base, but of less thickness than the RCBS brass, I assume.

What the capacity of these .45 3-1/4" cases being made today by Starline or others happens to be, I do not know.

Due to my patched bullets being bore-sized and of soft lead, they expanded to fill the grooves quite well, shooting into just over 1 MOA at 100 meters. I only shot to 300meters so cannot comment on the longer range accuracy of my rifle's R. Hoch barrel.

I have never seen a Pedersoli Sharps that even came close to matching the quality of a Shiloh Sharps in action and finish & I have seen a number of both of these makes, albeit, many more Shiloh Sharps than Pedersoli's.

I have never inspected a 'modern' C. Sharps rifle, so I cannot comment on their quality in comparison to the Uberti or Pedersoli rifles.

Prices are higher in Europe because they can be. Those same Pedersoli Sharps rifles sold here are cheaper than US made Sharps and this is due, quite obviously, to the Euro versions being of poor quality in comparison.

I will say this about 'some' Italian guns, though, - I own a model 1876 Winchester in .50/95 made by Uberti - it is superb and is of higher quality than that which the original 1876 Winchesters possessed.