Springfield Trapdoors

[Emdawg]

Hey guys! You know one gun that doesn't get a lot of attention? The Springfield Trapdoor. Mine is a 1884 Ram-Rod Bayonet Model. It was made in 1891, so it probably saw service in the Spanish-American War.

Anyways, mine has a unique feature. A pistol grip. It is steel and is checkered. Does anyone know much about these?

[Anubis Laughed]

Nice Springfield! I've seen a few trapdoors with pistol grips of various styles added on. Supposedly they were added on by military competition shooting teams for their practice rifles.

Others were civilian add-on's from circa the 1920's and on, after the trapdoors were sold off as surplus from the Federal Government and the various State Militias. became more widely available on the US civilian market.

The worksmanship on your grip looks very well done, regardless of if it was original military or not.

[IrishJoe3]

Very nice. Great rifle. I have an 1884 2 band, with a Buffington rear sight and normal cleaning jag ramrod. Used a removable civil war type triangular bayonet. They are nice rifles, unique place in American military history!

Oh, it shoots pretty good too ;-)

PS to add, mine is stamped 1884, but the serial number is of an 1873 series rifle. Who knows who shot and was shot by it.

[Emdawg]

Oh I have had mine for quite a while. It is a great shooter for its age. Even shoots those Remington Core-Lokts just fine.

[CEDaytonaRydr]

I wouldn't mind having one but I kinda want a Martini-henry first...

[TANK1135]

Oh I have had mine for quite a while. It is a great shooter for its age. Even shoots those Remington Core-Lokts just fine.

Are you reloading?? If not I wouldn't shoot modern ammo out of them they were made for black powder loads not smokeless.Here is a sight that you can get all the info you would ever need on the trapdoors.Sign on ae a member and you can go to the bulliton board to ask ??? if you do giv the whole serial # of your gun they take offense if you don't.There is a resident expert some where down south in CA on there.

http://www.trapdoorcollector.com/index.html

[Crusader]

I have one of the Cadet models of the 1873 (or 1878, don't think I ever figured it out). The barrel length is about halfway between the standard rifle and the carbine model that was produced.

Very cool rifle... I spent my childhood fighting off Indians and Yankees with it. I took care of that thing like it was my baby, even though I somehow managed to smash my cheek in the hammer when I was a kid (too small to hold the rifle properly) and sprayed blood all over it haha.

The only problem with it is that, over the years, my grandparents put some type of finish on it to protect the wood. I haven't had the chance to clean it up, but some day I will restore it to original wood finish.

[kendog4570]

Are you reloading?? If not I wouldn't shoot modern ammo out of them they were made for black powder loads not smokeless.Here is a sight that you can get all the info you would ever need on the trapdoors.Sign on ae a member and you can go to the bulliton board to ask ??? if you do giv the whole serial # of your gun they take offense if you don't.There is a resident expert some where down south in CA on there.

http://www.trapdoorcollector.com/index.html

THIS.
If you want to make real ammo for it get Pat Wolfs' book. http://4570book.info/ It's a bit of a hassle to get everything together for proper loading of the original Frankford Arsenal rounds, but it will make the old girl come alive. Touching off an M1881 500 grain load is something to experience! With the right ammo the sights make sense also.

Nice Trapdoor.

[Paulie Lugnuts]

Here's ours, its an 1884 series. My son bought it at a gun show in Alaska.

[Emdawg]

I understand the problem with using smokeless powder. In all my research I have never found a problem with using smokeless if the cartridges are loaded properly. Speaking of reloading I use Hornady and Lyman reload books and they have their own section for 45-70 Gov't that is for 1873 Trapdoors. Now you guys mught say that is for reproduction Ubertis and Pedersolis, but that is hogwash.

By the way, Remington loads their Core-Lokts to the oldest, weakest rifle that was mass-produced for that caliber. I hit my targets where I was aiming at 70 yards.


Nice rifle Paulie. I have been looking for one with the normal ram-rod for a while, but I get foiled when I get close to making a deal.

[Tom-ADC]

Mines a modern one a H&R Officers model the 100 year anniversary model and yes I do shoot it.

[Paulie Lugnuts]

The metal and bore are decent, the wood is just OK. Not as nice as yours. He got some ammo with it, but we're not sure its safe to shoot, so we haven't fired it yet.

[kendog4570]

I understand the problem with using smokeless powder. In all my research I have never found a problem with using smokeless if the cartridges are loaded properly. Speaking of reloading I use Hornady and Lyman reload books and they have their own section for 45-70 Gov't that is for 1873 Trapdoors. Now you guys mught say that is for reproduction Ubertis and Pedersolis, but that is hogwash.

By the way, Remington loads their Core-Lokts to the oldest, weakest rifle that was mass-produced for that caliber. I hit my targets where I was aiming at 70 yards.


Nice rifle Paulie. I have been looking for one with the normal ram-rod for a while, but I get foiled when I get close to making a deal.

It's not about black vs smokeless, or pressure. It's about proper bullet fit, alloy, lube, primer "time", and the way the powder charge is calculated and compressed in the case. All these things are critical to accurate performance the way it was designed. In fact, a full power M1881 500 grain cartridge develops approx 28000 PSI. Thats a bit more than the loading books show for the trapdoor loads. A properly breeched trapdoor will handle it fine.

Either way, enjoy that gun. They are neat.

[Emdawg]

It's not about black vs smokeless, or pressure. It's about proper bullet fit, alloy, lube, primer "time", and the way the powder charge is calculated and compressed in the case. All these things are critical to accurate performance the way it was designed. In fact, a full power M1881 500 grain cartridge develops approx 28000 PSI. Thats a bit more than the loading books show for the trapdoor loads. A properly breeched trapdoor will handle it fine.

Either way, enjoy that gun. They are neat.

Thanks. I do enjoy it. Mine just happend to like the new loads. Don't believe that is a bad thing. Accuracy is very good. No rattles. No extra kick.

[Emdawg]

The metal and bore are decent, the wood is just OK. Not as nice as yours. He got some ammo with it, but we're not sure its safe to shoot, so we haven't fired it yet.

Remington Core-Lokts should work just fine. Any cowboy loads should do fine as well. Just beware of most hunting loads. They are designed for 1895 Marlins or better.