1873 trapdoor carbine

[Crawdaddy]

I just bought this off GB and was hoping to get some feed back on the rifle and deal I got.

I paid $566 for this 1873 trapdoor carbine. I have never owned one before.

I plan on using 30 grains of 4198 and a 460 grain boolit. Same load as my contender uses.

Here is the sellers description:

ONE NICKEL NO RESERVE AUCTION*** Here's another US Springfield Armory model 1873 45-70 trapdoor, but this one is a carbine. It has what looks like a 22 inch long barrel. Overall length of the carbine is 41 inches long. There's an eagle head and crossed arrows up near the model stamp. The wood does show a crack on the left side near the receiver. There are a couple spots of wood that look to have been repaired. One is right at the top of the stock near the rear tang of the receiver. The other you can see in picture number 19. The barrel shows some rust with the heaviest spot shown below in a close up. The action is still nice and tight. The front sight is missing its post. The rear sight is a large ramp style sight. The bore looks decent. It does show wear and some light pitting but it's not terrible. Still a very shootable bore

Here are pictures.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7314/13460445954_1cfb0d42ff_o.jpg

[MtGun44]

Real carbine or cut down rifle?

Bill

[Crawdaddy]

Battery went dead will post more pics tomorrow
Hopefully real

[smokeywolf]

Crawdaddy, congrats on your purchase. I usually don't go above the midrange trapdoor pressures.

They're sweet shooters.

smokeywolf

[elk hunter]

If it's a real Carbine there should be a sling bar on the left side of the stock opposite the lock and the rear sight should have an "R" stamped on the side of it. If it's real you got a bargain. Would suggest that you shoot carbine loads, which were 45-55-405 rather than the later rifle loads which were 45-70-500. Carbines are light enough to get your attention if you choose the heavier rifle loads.

I predict you're going to like it, a lot.

[Crawdaddy]

Sorry- Ipad battery went dead and couldnt work off an iphone.
Here are more pics



100718

100719

100720

100721

100722

[Scharfschuetze]

From the phots, I think that it's a cut down rifle.

The fore end looks wrong for a carbine to me and the spliced wood running lengthwise in front of the band is probably there to fill in the old cleaning rod channel that the rifles had. As Elk Hunter suggests, take a picture of the left side adjacent the action for the carbine sling bar and ring and we can probably confirm this. Also, what is the diameter of the barrel at the muzzle. Cut down rifles have a larger diameter at the muzzle than the carbine barrels. Carbines often go for at least three times the cost of a rifle.

From the photo it's hard to say, but I think that you have one of the original "high arch" breach blocks that were on the 1873 rifles and carbines until updated with the "low arch" breach block in the late 1870s. Given the "high arch" breach, your tumbler may be a two notch tumbler. Count the clicks and let us know if it's a two or three click tumbler.

The rear sight looks to be one of the versions of the 1878 or 1879 sights. They are my favorite sight on the old Trapdoors.

If you want to post your serial number (Xs for the last two digits) I can probably find the year it was made in my reference material.

Cut down or not, they are great shooters and I also have a cut down rifle in my collection of Trapdoors. The Lee 405 grain hollow base boolit at 1100 fps will duplicate the original carbine load in them.

[Crawdaddy]

s/n 3420XX

Gun hasnt arrived yet but when it does I will measure the barrel diameter and count clicks.

Probably a cut down as there is no sling bar.

Given the above. Is this an ok deal? Moot point I guess, but curious.

[junkbug]

If the bore is good, that is a fair price for a cut down rifle. I would pay that much for the one pictured.

[John Allen]

The barrel looks to long for a carbine. That said have fun. The trapdoors are my favorites.

[Larry Gibson]

Still a good price these days for a "shooter", especially if the bore is good.

Might add if there is an "R" stamped on the left side of the sight base and the top rear of the ladder then the rear sight is a rifle rear sight. A carbine rear sight will have a "C" in both locations. The carbine base will also have range graduations to 800 yards whereas the rifle base has range graduations to 600 yards.

Larry Gibson

[Scharfschuetze]

Looks like the receiver was made in 1886 according to two different sources (Poyer and Navy Arms) and that would mean that the receiver was originally a Model 1884.

[Larry Gibson]

If it was made in '86 it wouldn't have the '79 rear sight but would have a Buffington M1884 rear sight.

Larry Gibson

[Scharfschuetze]

That's what I thought too and why I checked two different sources for the year of manufacture. I'll bet it was rebarreled at some point with an older barrel as the two sights won't interchange between the two models but the barrels should. With what looks to be the high arch breach block in the receiver, it may have been a parts gun. If indeed the breach block is a high arch, then it should be marked "1873." If the breach block is from an 1884 rifle/carbine it should be marked with an "1884" even though made in 1886.

While my serial number records don't reflect a month of manufacture, it was probably made in late 1886 as the last recorded number for that year was 346,775 with a total of just over 40,000 Trapdoors made in that year.

Perhaps a weapon from the Bannerman's surplus business?