Springfield Trapdoor Rifle 45-70

[Rulz]

Anybody got one? I just recently picked one of these up, trying to obtain all military rifle examples from the civil war on.

Haven't got any pics to show just yet, but it's an 1888 model, made in 1892 by the serial number and other markings (Samuel W. Porter cartouche, 1892). Came with an original pouch full of 45-70 black powder cartridges.

On the butt plate are the numbers "61", and below that "25th". That's the part I'm fuzzy on....

 

[Rulz]

My Model 1884 Springfield Trapdoor, made in 1892. I'm holding an old black powder 45-70 cartridge in my hand next to a .45 ACP round. The stock has all the correct markings, the barrel has all the correct proofs. Serial number on receiver matches the year on the stock. I'm in the process of buying a few 45-70 black powder rounds to try out at the range. Anxious to hear this old man roar.

 

[Dally1up]

Bet you feel that one.

 

[Rulz]

In more way$ than one...

 

[Dally1up]

Buddy of mine has shot one. He says you immediately realize why they changed it to a bolt action

 

[Rulz]

" In volley fire situations or in the hands of excellent marksmen, the Springfield Rifle could be hard-hitting an accurate out beyond 1000 yards. According to a 2003 Rifle magazine article, the military conducted volley fire tests in 1879 that showed the .45-70 cartridge could penetrate 1-inch of hardwood at a range of 3680 yards"

Damn.

They are set up for zero at 250 yards. Shoots 12 inches high at 100 yards. Kicks like a mule.

With the Henry available back in those days with the capability of 14-15 quick shots without reloading, the soldier having to carry around one of these big lugs with single shot fire probably felt like he got screwed lol...that is, if he had ever had the chance to own or use a Henry.

 

[TexasCowPoke]

That makes it sound like it was the sniper rifle of the day.

 

[Rulz]

Ok...a little range report.


I bought some Ultramax 405 grain low pressure rounds made for the Trapdoor rifle (and cowboy action shooting really) and took this baby out to the range yesterday.

I was really surprised at how soft shooting this gun was with these rounds. It had barely any recoil to speak of. I actually took a shot at my 8 inch spinner from 50 yards and hit it dead center once I figured out how low to shoot. I hit a paper target from a rest and it grouped about 1 inch with a 3 shot group. I don't have pics at this time, and really should load some up of the bore, it's really well preserved.

Overall, this was just an absolute fun gun to shoot. My wife even took a couple of shots, she loved it. It's not even every loud like I was prepared for, really a sweet rifle.

I would imagine things would be different if I have some of the 45-70 500 rounds they used in the testing as mentioned above, and I would bet they aimed like a howitzer to hit those targets at 3800 yards. The Buffington rear sight appears fairly complicated, but if I figured it out I think I could achieve some of the accuracy that is described online in various places. The marksmen using this gun back in the day really had to know how to dial in the elevation and windage for this cartridge on the long range shots.


Still, I own a Henry Original rifle in 44-40, and I would have to say if I were a soldier back in the 1870s, I would think I would have gravitated more towards the higher capacity lever gun in a battle type situation. The Henry is much more practical, but the US military at the time wasn't convinced of its abilities. Then of course came the Krag-Jorgesen 30-40 of 1893 with its bolt action, followed rather quickly by the Springlfeld 1903 chambered in 30.03 (which was quickly switched to the now well known 30.06 that the army used all the way up until the AR-10 in .308 and AR-15 in .223.

But I'm glad I bought this old trapdoor, I'm actually going to the range again tomorrow for testing of it and a m1903.

 

[Rulz]

So I started examining the 8 rounds of ammo that I got with this gun...UMC head stamped, "SH" which stands for "solid head", which means the rim and head of the case have went through a process that leaves the case strengthened significantly more so that other cartridges of the time. These rounds were probably made around 1900. They are loaded with a 500 grain bullet.

I'm starting to believe this may be some of the same ammo used in some of he later military testing that included a shot at 3800 yards that penetrated 3 one inch pine boards (and then apparently buried itself in the sand, this was done on the east coast). I know my original pasted excerpt above talks about trials in 1879, but I have read elsewhere this was done in 1898, which makes more sense to me since that was apparently when these 500 g UMC cartridges were first produced.

So...with that information coupled with some other info I have gleaned, I am thinking I might have 8 rounds of fairly powerful 500 g 45-70 ammo.

I'm still checking on all this, and I'd welcome any thoughts if anyone else is interested.

I'm not going to fire any of this, at least not any time soon. I just picked up 100 more rounds of 45-70 405 g Ultramax loaded for about 650 fps. Nice and slow and easy for the old gun, but still packs a pretty decent wallop. Hitting my spinner at 50, I was able to make it swing almost in a complete circle. My 44-40 Henry does that with 200 g rounds at 1200 fps. All velocities rated at muzzle.