trapdoor 45-70 (sporterized--NOT by me)

[49FMarlin]

Found this in an antique shop, paid equal value of 10-1 1/2 lobsters for it,

stripped it, took the barrel to a gunsmith,
he's putting on a front sight for me,
bead blasting the barrel only, and re-crowning it,
he looked at it and said the rifle is fireable, and has nice grooves, equal to one he shoots,

I stripped the stock and was careful to leave the stamps,
i clamped it up and drilled and pinned the wrist and epoxied it all in place,
also took out a brass screw in the top of the wood where the lock goes, and epoxied the wood it was holding back in,

Ive decided not to re-blue the metal instead i oil-blued them,

as this isn't even a good original but a sporterized one, i decided to do what i wanted with it,
i did look up my numbers, and saw they made, 5000 carbines and 2500 cadets in my timeline,
so maybe it isn't a sport,
but anyways,

opinions welcome
john

[toot]

CODUOS, to you. a great job done by you. just go have fun with it. it wasn't even fit to be a hanger b4. thanks for sharing it with us!.

[Washington1331]

Great job. The stock came out great. I'd definitely be interested in seeing how your oil blue job comes out on the barrel.

[49FMarlin]

Great job. The stock came out great. I'd definitely be interested in seeing how your oil blue job comes out on the barrel.

Im using the Laurel Mountain barrel brown,, on the receiver and barrel,
I don't dare heat up the reciever, or the barrel, to oil blue it,
so its going to be a dark brown or a blue i can't decide what would look best, the time period puts it in blue, but i do like the brown of the black powder rifles,

[Washington1331]

I've found that cold bluing and then hitting it with fine steel wool will recreate a nice antique finish that you find on the nicer examples of antique trapdoors.

[49FMarlin]

I've found that cold bluing and then hitting it with fine steel wool will recreate a nice antique finish that you find on the nicer examples of antique trapdoors.

lol,,just swiped on the first coat of the laurel, looks like ill be boiling it in the bath for the blue,,,

is it a light blue or a darker blue? that your talking about?

[Mark Daiute]

what a great, fun, rifle that will be when done.

I look forward to photos of the completed rifle.

I would like to find a rifle like this for myself, would be fun and would be great for hunting here in Maine where shots are seldom more that 50 yards and the woods are thick.

[Washington1331]

lol,,just swiped on the first coat of the laurel, looks like ill be boiling it in the bath for the blue,,,

is it a light blue or a darker blue? that your talking about?

It's a decent dark blue. I find that it just looks a bit worn. I'll take a picture and post after I get home from work.

[Tom Trevor]

Based on the price of Lobster out here you paid WAYYYYY too much for it!!

[Washington1331]

Ok, here's a picture of the cold blue finish weathered with steel wool that I described in my first post.

http://i1367.photobucket.com/albums/r790/washington1331/Mobile%20Uploads/67A585EA-3B88-4153-A3CD-B51BFB996A62_zpst2clpbzn.jpg (http://s1367.photobucket.com/user/washington1331/media/Mobile%20Uploads/67A585EA-3B88-4153-A3CD-B51BFB996A62_zpst2clpbzn.jpg.html)

I had to have the front sight repositioned and after silver soldering it in place, I cold blued the barrel and finished with steel wool.

[49FMarlin]

Based on the price of Lobster out here you paid WAYYYYY too much for it!!

really ?
was 8.95 per pound here last week right out of my buddys lobstaaa boat

[StrawHat]

I have always wanted to sporterize a Springfield Single Shot rifle. However, as I get older, other things keep me from doing so. Yours looks like a cut down rifle and a good looking one.

Enjoy it.

Kevin

[49FMarlin]

OH MY GAWD this is FUN to shoot,

3 coats of laurel mountain, on the barrel, receiver and trapdoor.
all other metal has been torch/oil colored,

my firing pin is in 2-pieces,it tends to misfire,,,, I've got 2 new ones coming,

slugged at .458

cast my boolits out of Lyman #2 and fired one,(405 hb and 45 grains of swift)
dam i love this rifle,
no its not original, and i put a target front sight on it, and I'm wanting to put a peep on the wrist, as my old eyes can't focus on the sight it has,

its not a crack like my 30-30, but a sweet shoulder pushing BOOM

[John Allen]

It looks pretty good to me. At least you rescued it from being too over sporterized.