Trapdoor Springfield

[13Echo]

Just bought an 1884 Model Trapdoor Springfield. The old warhorse is a revelation. The fit and finish that is still evident on this rifle is really first class and worthy of a fine sporting rifle. The trigger guard still shows a finely done polish job and still retains some of the the beautiful, pale, sky colored, fireblue. The barrel and receiver are dark but also show evidence of an expert polish job and the blue that is still there is dark and deep and even. The block no longer has visible case colors but all corners and edges are clean and sharp. There are no tool marks visible on this rifle, anywhere, even on the inner lockwork! The inletting is very well done with no gaps. The overall finish was very well done with all surfaces perfectly true and all corners sharp, but still obviously very well and carefully polished. When this rifle was new it must have been striking with the red brown walnut stock, deep, dark blue receiver and barrel, fireblued trigger guard and barrel bands and the color case hardened block. The old girl shows 120 years of wear but Springfield Arsenal took pride in making her and she is still a handsome rifle. It's hard to imagine a finer rifle for cast bullets than this old Springfield.

Jerry Liles

[45 2.1]

How about a shooting report now?

[Buckshot]

............Jerry, I agree with you. Pretty amazing the work that they did back in those days, before stamped sheetmetal and injection molded plastics, eh? Everything began as a few hunks of metal and a piece of wood. I have an 1884 also, but have to admit it's been rebarreled with a new one.

...........Buckshot

[Linstrum]

Hi, Jerry, Your rifle sounds like a really nice one! One of the virtues of this web site is the relative ease of posting photographs compared to what it used to be like. If you ever get a digital camera, be sure and take a picture of your rifle so we all can see what you got!

That fire blue color really is beautiful compared to most other bluing types we see on modern guns. Nowadays the only places you ever see color as deep and bold as that are on carpet tacks, alarm clock springs, and drill/lathe chips from carbon steel (I used to have a collection of colored spring-like lathe turnings mounted on white cotton backing in a little 4"x5" desktop-size picture frame that was quite striking). It doesn't necessarily have to be done with heat, though. I haven't done it this way myself, but they say it can be done cold using green oak leaves and maybe a pinch of salt. The oak leaves and salt are boiled into a "soup" and then the part to be cold blued is submerged in the soup for a week or so, being taken out every day and scrubbed with steel wool to get the brown rust removed that also forms. Like I said, I haven't done it myself, but I read where trappers used to cold blue their new traps this way before using.

Yeah, when are you going to run some rounds through the old gal?

[13Echo]

Just got the new Lyman mould for the 500gr Govt Bullet for the Springfield, and I already have cases and Goex FFG Blackpowder. With a bit of luck I'll get to shoot her this weekend. As for pictures, the rifle is pretty dark from age and patina and has little contrast between the metal and wood. I'm not sure I'm good enough with any camera to do her justice, but I'll try and I'll post pictures if successful.

Jerry Liles

[Linstrum]

Just got the new Lyman mould for the 500gr Govt Bullet for the Springfield, and I already have cases and Goex FFG Blackpowder. With a bit of luck I'll get to shoot her this weekend.


All right! Good luck with your new equipment and supplies!



As for pictures, the rifle is pretty dark from age and patina and has little contrast between the metal and wood. I'm not sure I'm good enough with any camera to do her justice, but I'll try and I'll post pictures if successful.

Jerry Liles

Yeah, the photos for sure can be a bit difficult at times. I use a canary yellow sleeping bag as a background to put my rifles on to photograph them when they are dark complected. I use a forest green bed sheet as the background when the object is light complected. I turn on more lights in the room when it is dark complected as well. I don't go into a big deal with it like a commercial photographer would, I just use what's at hand that is quick and dirty, and ity usually works

[Char-Gar]

You have a great rifle. I bought my first Trapdoor in 1960 for $25.00 and have not been without one since. Currently I have a matched set (rifle and carbine) 1881 (fiscal year) production. Both are truly primo.

Be sure and slug the bore. The groove specs on these rifles are all over the place. It didn't make much difference in the days of soft lead and black powder, but becomes important is you want to shoot smokeless loads.

[grumble]

For taking close-up pics of things indoors, a flash or strobe will illuminate dark spots well, but you'll get a lot of glare and washout. The cure for the problem is to take a piece of 2-ply toilet paper, and separate it into two pieces. If you hold it up to a window, you can almost see through it. Tear off just enough to cover your flash and tape it in front of the flash lense. It will "soften" the light from the flash and reduce or eliminate most glare. This works especially well on digicams because they sample the light and adjust the exposure time/flash accordingly.

[13Echo]

Grumble, I have no intention of using anything but soft lead and blackpowder in the old gal. I haven't slugged the bore yet but it is on my list of things to do. Charger, I wish I had had the money and the sense to buy some of the old Springfields, among other things, I would see at gunshows in the 60s. They were a bit more than a teenager or young soldier could afford, even at $25, besides I was too stupid to realize just what they were. Too soon old and too late smart, I guess. Linstrum and Charger, thanks for the tips on photography, I have bounce capability on the flash for my old Olympus OM2. I'll try the diffuser and the bounce off a white background and see what comes of it.

[KCSO]

As long as you use black and soft lead the military bullets will slug up and work just fine. I shoot both the 406 and the 500 HBRN and they will throw 3" groups in trapdoors with bores as large as 460. Somewhere I have a letter from Ned Roberts that came from Ken Warner and it talkes about Ned polishing and lapping the bore of his trapdoor with a bullet on a cleaning rod and wood ash.

[13Echo]

Well I cast up a bunch of bullets for the Trapdoor in my new Lyman 457125 mould. This is THE .45-70 Govt bullet. I'm rather pleased with the quality of the mould. It is tight, properly vented, the sprue cutter is the new, thick type, and it came perfectly flat. I did have to clean the edge of the cutter a bit and that is all the prep it required other than a thorough degreasing. It gave good bullets almost immediately and the bullets are smooth and sharp, almost as nice as the best lathe cut moulds. Cast out of 30:1 alloy the base band mikes at .459 and it is round to less than I can measure with calipers. This is much better than my 4 year old Lyman Postel mould which still shoots pretty good out of the Sharps. I'll panlube some tonight for loading tomorrow. Think I'll load a few for the 45-90 also. A bullet this good looking just has to shoot.

Jerry Liles

[Char-Gar]

KCSO.. I recall reading an article written by Adolph Neider many, many years go, about when he was an Infantry private in the U.S. Army. He took a bullet on a cleaning rod and polished the bore of his Trapdoor with wood ash from the Company stove.

[moodyholler]

13ECHO, I have a Rapine 460500 GOVT mold that throws .461 bullets if bore is oversize like mine is. I can run up some for you. Enjoy that trapdoor but beware, They are addictive. I have had as many as 11 at one time and currently have 5. moodyholler

[13Echo]

Moodyholler, check your PM.