What's wrong with this Trapdoor?

Good evening,

A long while back I picked up a Springfield trapdoor rifle on GunBroker for a song. The seller was consignment for an estate and hadn't any info. Nevertheless, it looked good in pics so I got it.

Well, something just ain't right. I've added a couple pictures if anyone can tell me what they think the problem is. I can't find many chamber pics online, but those I find show me this is aint right. Initially I thought it was a gnarly bur because it wouldn't chamber.

Endoscope:

Attachment 292940

Looking inside:

Attachment 292941
Attachment 292942

I'm assuming there is no salvaging this, which is tragic because the bore is great..

Thanks in advance for any insight!

Apply some heat and see if it melts? Maybe someone attempted a cerrosafe chamber casting and failed miserably?

Looks to me like maybe it was done intentionally to make it in-operable. Almost looks like a weld.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hawkenhunter50

Looks to me like maybe it was done intentionally to make it in-operable. Almost looks like a weld.

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That would be my guess also. Demilled for a display or parade rifle.

Take the barrel off, put it in a lathe, turn the majority of the "weld" off then try the proper reamer. I think it could be fixed. What have you got to lose?

JMHO

-Ron

Get a chambering reamer and clean it out!

Rent a Chamber reamer.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...f2717aabb6.jpg

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It was de-milled by gouging the chamber with an oxy-acetelene cutting torch. I think they came from a military school as all of them I've seen have had near mint bores. I've repaired quite a few of them. The barrel generally unscrews with no problem and there is no damage to the receiver. I cut off the bad part and sleeve the chamber with a piece of barrel back to the original length and rechamber. The sleeve is shorter than the chamber so there is no gas pressure on the joint. The brass case seals it. off. The trapdoor I broke several national records with was done this way. When repaired it will be as good as new and the repair won't show. PM me if you want me to fix it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I agree with this as a fix. I have repaired several chambers with this fix also.

Jedman

Deadeye has it that is how ai was taught to do it.

I'm no trap door expert - after 60 years of shooting, I just purchased a trapdoor as it was always on my "bucket list" - that said . . . .

The trap door that I purchased I got from a member here. During the transaction, he said that when he got it thee was something funky with the chamber - I'm assuming from his description it may have been due to pitting (?) but the bore is in good shape and should be a good shooter. He told me that he sent the barrel to Bobby Hoyt and he "sleeved" the chamber on it - so may be something to keep in mind with your particular issue if necessary. Once I heard that Hoyt had sleeved the chamber on the one I bought, I had no problems with the purchase as I know the quality of Hoyt's work.

One has to remember that at one time, the Tis were just "old guns". BP cartridge shooting was not in vogue and many people were concerned that someone may put in a modern smokeless load and blow the gun up and hurt themselves - I'm old enough to remember when trapdoors were a dime a dozen - just goes to show how things have changed. When I started shooting rifled muskets at a very young age, they were "old guns" and I remember a number of folks being concerned that I was going to get hurt because they were "so old" - my Dad was one of them. A lot of people looked at the trap doors the same way so in one way or another made them so they wouldn't shoot.

Might take a little work but you should be able to put that trap door back into good shooting shape and have a lot of fun with it.

Before using a reamer,check for hard spots which will ruin the reamer .....if weld or oxy cut has been applied,hard spots are likely..........Id be using a small boring bar ,at least for the first cut

Thanks for all of the replies and info all. I'm gonna send it to Deadeye Bly for the fix.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ilcop22

Thanks for all of the replies and info all. I'm gonna send it to Deadeye Bly for the fix.

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Deadeye is a good feller. Doubt you'll be dissappointed.