You've already made a decision, but thought Id mention some things that others looking may not be aware of.
If a single shot fan, the Shiloh and C Sharps Arms copies of the original 1874 Sharps rifles are both outstanding. Quite a bit more money than most others, but if you are a history buff, and like the old classics, its not a bad choice. I think some err by seeing them and immediately wanting to get all the fancy trimmings, and end up raising the price of the gun dramatically. Id tend towards a plain Business Rifle, which was one of the more common types on the frontier and being built from the earlier percussion guns. They were a 26 or 28" round barrel rifle with plain trigger (can be upgraded to a set trigger and a tang sight added). The military carbines would also be a usable hunting and general fun shooter. There are also some Italian copies of variable quality, some older ones had pretty ugly lines in the hammer and receiver.
Browning, and believe Winchester, had very high quality re-makes of the 1885 Winchester single shot (also known as the Winchester Hi-wall) in 45-70 and other modern calibers.
In repeaters, nobody has mentioned the Winchester 1886 type. I early became an 1886 fan, owning several originals, and then the Borwning versions. They make a 45-70 cartridge look small in the action, they were made up to 45-90 and 50-110 in the original versions, and many have them converted to those rounds today. The Marlin 1895 is a 336 action adapted to the 45-70 round. They work, just don't have the history and panache of the original large frame marlin 1895's or the Winchester 1886's. Winchester also made an 1886 XL (extra-light) rifle. They were 22" round barrel half magazine guns with a shotgun butt. Very nice guns. Some balk at the fact the Browning and Winchester re-makes of the older Winchester models were made in japan by Miroku. I used to be one of those, but after handling several, I got over it and have happily had various Winchester re-makes by Miroku over the years (1886s, 1892s and 1895s). The quality is nothing short of outstanding, both as to following the original lines of the guns, and in fit and finish.
I'm not very up top speed on current offerings in the market, and with the internet, about anything ever made can be found used. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a used example of anything I had an interest in. The Ruger No 3 I had years ago shot extremely well, but was a very light weight gun and kicked like a son of a gun with heavier loads. I don't hesitate to put a decent recoil pad on any gun that needs it, and I plan on using. Same goes for slings and receiver sights. I'll let the collectors worry about the value. My guns have little value to me if they don't work like I need them to.
Not sure why paragraph breaks aren't showing in the post, they do when I wrote and edited, but not in the actual post.
