1884 springfield trapdoor?

[DeadWood]

Have this in the family collection and always wanted to know more about and if able to shot safely?

Seems to be in very good condition for age.

Who has or knows about these and send me in the right direction!!?

[smkummer]

You are probably in the right spot. I just loaded and shot a 1884 trapdoor of my friends. We loaded the recommended amount of trail boss powder and it worked great. To my knowledge, any 45-70 sold over the counter is trapdoor safe unless it would specifically state to NOT shoot it in a springfield trapdoor. Although it originally shot blackpowder, the smokeless loads today are the way to go for easier clean-up. A loacal gunsmith should be able to tell if is safe. good luck

[Bullshop]

Do yourself a big favor and buy the book from Mrs. Wolf, (Loading Cartridges for the original 45/70 Trapdoor Springfield) or something close to that. Its cheap, maybe about $15.00 by now.
One other thing, PROMISE!!! you will never shoot jacketed bullets through that soft steel barrel. I have seen too many of those great old three groove barrels that look like smooth bores from using factory ammo with jacketed bullets. Safe pressure maybe so but detrimental to those wonderful old barrels.
BIC/BS

[montana_charlie]

If you buy the Wolf book, you can scratch out the lines where he talks about drilling out flash holes, and using magnum primers. Both of those practices have been found to be 'unhelpful'...
CM

[NickSS]

You need to know one thing about the buffington sight that should be on your rifle. When the sight is laying down it is zeroed for 260 yards with Government Ammo (500 gr slug pushed by 70 gr of black powder at around 1200 fps) This means that it will shoot high 9like right over the top at 100 yards and also at 200 using this sight. Factory ammo is loaded to the ballistics of the 1873 cartridge (405 gr bullet at 1350 fps) This will also shoot high. The only way to get them to shoot to the sights is to raise the sight and use the peep sight at its lowest setting then aim at six o'clock. All this info is in the Wolf book on shooting the springfield. Enjoy your rifle they are really fun to shoot.

[405]

Oh ya, nice rifles. One thing not mentioned so far is that usually they need fat bullets for smokeless or soft bullets for black powder. First thing to do is of course clean it really well. Then slug the bore. With odd groove number it can be a real bugger to get an accurate reading. Plenty in archives about it. May have groove diameter exceeding .460"

If it has the issue front and rear sights then as NickSS says, they'll shoot so high as to be impractical for most shooting. The easiest way to lower the POI is to remove the front blade and replace with a taller one. Since they are pinned-in easy to change out. Just fashion a piece of sheet metal for taller front. Even certain coins can be shaped to work. I changed both mine out. Between .320-.450" from the top of the barrel to the top of the front sight should yield a usable POI with the Buffington peep set at lowest setting.

[omgb]

I got one of these old gals to shoot after a buddy couldn't hit a barn with it. I slugged the bore and found it was 462. I had LBT cut me a mould based on my bore slug. I loaded it first with BP and got a nice group at 100 yards the size of my fist. I then loaded 5744 and got the same size group. 19th century sights, 53 year old eyes, I'm satisfied the gun shoots better than I can shoot it. FWIW, the BP load used Whitelightening lube, a cardboard .030 wad over the powder charge, 65 grains of 2F GOEX drop tubed into the case and compressed .125". I used Win standard large rifle primers too. The bullet was a 560 grain LBT flat nose. I don't recall the 5744 load but it was mild.

[rockrat]

I also have an 1884. I use a 420gr PB group buy mould boolit over 5744. However, I also seat a 45cal .030 wad on top of the powder, then put GRITS (not instant) in the case to the point where I have to compress it about 1/8" when seating the boolit. Kind of like loading black powder, no airspace. Shot to shot variation dropped and groups were about 2" @100yds. Really good for these 56yr old eyes. Oh yeah, it shot about 8" high at 100yds IIRC

[boommer]

I have a 84 and bore slug out at .461 a thousand rounds ago. The lee hb 405 bullet mould that I have drops them at .461 at 30-1 so I've been pan lubing. I got the mould late last fall and have not had much range time with this bullet to compare it to the 500gr Gov load that ol'e Trappy liked. The one day windy and cool and the other 20 degress ,but I was able to get nice 6" group at 200 and that load was just out of loadings of ww cases, WLR primers ,60gr Swiss 1.5 no card, no comp except what little it got on bullet seating. NOT bad for the conditions and first loading with that bullet design.
Really like that Trapdoor not the most accurate rifle I own, but there is something about shooting history.

[DeadWood]

book is now $30.
http://www.the45-70book.com/The-Book-3rd-Edition-by-Spence-Pat-Wolf

wouldn't say it is cheap? but is it worth it???

[powderburnerr]

it is a good book and has a lot of information on shooting the trapdoors with arsenal equivelant ammunition. arsenal equivelant is the operative word here . while some choose to disreguard his writings and findings , he researched and developed a replacement for the round the military used to shoot in these rifles , the unaltered rifles fired in the book with his ammunition shoot well and to the sights on these rifles .. it is not a book on target shooting. but a very good insight on military ammunition for the trapdoor , it also has cleaning , troubleshooting ,repair , how to use the sights and the tools needed to work with these rifles .it is worth the price , I have three copies I bought the last because it can be layed on a desk open with out breaking the binding....Dean