Springfield Trapdoor

[Joe L]

Anyone out there ever mess with Trapdoors? I picked one up last week at a gunshow--absolute impulse buy but great shape w/cartouche (sp?). Is the .45-70 Govt off the shelf ammo safe to use or should I hunt up a specialty outfit?

[DaveO]

Hi Joe,

I have my great-grandfather's .50-70. I would absolutely NOT use modern ammunition in an older firearm. That breech is meant for the black powder cartridge. The modern smokeless factory rounds are way too hot. If you want to fire it (I don't recommend you do as it's pushing 150 years old and the Allyn conversion is not very robust), check with a good gunsmith. I'm sure he'll say the same.

You can load blackpowder cartridges, but there is a method to it and I am not well versed enough to try to explain the technique.

I cleaned mine up, put a period sling and cleaning rod on it, and hung it on the wall. It looks awesome.

Dave

[Lifer]

I have a .45-70. Wonderful gun and great fun to shoot. Wish I could still do it! When it comes to ammo, I used to reload mine all the time. Lyman makes a hand-held loading tool for it, too. The hand-held models are a little slow, perhaps, because you have to do each step for all the cartridges you plan to reload before changing the die and going to the next step.

The full name of the cartridge, in my case, is ".45-70-500 Gov't" which translates to a .45" bore, 70 grains of ffg powder, and a 500 grain lead projectile.

The .50-70 would be the same except for the .50" bore. It still pushes a 500 grain bullet.

[Joe L]

Thanks! Some good advice. I think I'll try to source a couple rounds around here. Don't want to get into reloading myself because after a couple rounds I'll put it away. Any more than that and with my luck I'd drop it down the holler or something similar. Thanks again.

[Lifer]

I think you'll enjoy firing it. I sure did...when I could still hold the thing up. If I tried firing it now, I'd have to do it from the prone position with a sand bag or from a bench rest. It'd knock me on my butt now, thanks to my muscular dystrophy!

Incidentally, mine is an 1865 Springfield. I also have an 1861 Harper's Ferry musket - percussion cap ignition, .69 cal, smooth bore - which would require the same shooting technique from me now.

[Nickathome]

If the gun is a modern replica then it can fire the modern 45.70. If authentic, then yes black powder only. He didn't say if the gun was a replica or not.

[nivek]

...looked her over.

"Reasonably Knowledgeable Individual", someone who can let you know what shape the chamber and locking block is in.

Be a pity to blow one of those wonderful old historical arms up, should it be an original, "One or two shots".

Many Trapdoors were rechambered/rebored into smooth bore shotguns.

Others were converted to military calibers for foriegn nations. Still ".45" but chambers will crack a straight walled 45-70.

If you gotta find the shooting of a Trapdoor, there are many reproductions out there. Reenactors and shooters can hook you up with the shootin's sans danger of popping your old gun.

Navy Arms Co.http://www.navyarms.com/ owns "Old Western Scrounger" http://www.ows-ammo.com/catalog/
One can find damn near anything ammunition-wise for older, obsolete calibers of all kinds, including the "low power BP loads" for your Trapdoor.

kL

[Lifer]

I know that you should never do it, and I strongly discourage it, but in my younger, more foolish days, I'd run a few .410 shotshells through my .45-70. They worked just fine and the extractor pulled 'em out okay. The paper hulls would swell a little, sometimes, so they weren't reloadable, but who reloads .410 shells, anyway?

[Nickathome]

Lifer;

Do you mean you shot .410 slugs through yours? I'd like ot think that's what you meant. Shooting birdshot through a rifled barrel though not harming the barrel will totally ruin a shot pattern to the point where you'd miss a target at 20 feet......

[HingsingM37]

I too am the proud owner of a Springfield 1884 45-70 trapdoor. I have never shot it. I am looking for a breech lock lever since mine was obviously fabbed by somebody. This always discouraged me from any attempt to shoot it. My oldest weapons are a set of 1777 Horseman's flintlock pistols made here in the Contenental US after the French versions.Only bummer is my dad thought it would be smart to disassemble and "clean one up". He lost a spring during this process. Thus decreasing the value by half...

[Joe L]

Don't know if you'll be in town or in Ky., but May 3&4 Richland County Fairgrounds host the Mansfield Civil War Show. Lots of rifles and parts so you might be able to find what you need for your Trapdoor and pistols maybe.

[Lifer]

Lifer;

Do you mean you shot .410 slugs through yours? I'd like ot think that's what you meant. Shooting birdshot through a rifled barrel though not harming the barrel will totally ruin a shot pattern to the point where you'd miss a target at 20 feet......

Yeah...I fired bird shot through the .45-70. Might explain why I missed the rabbit I was aiming at. I didn't think of it at the time, but the rifling probably sent the pellets flying in all directions.

[Lifer]

Don't know if you'll be in town or in Ky., but May 3&4 Richland County Fairgrounds host the Mansfield Civil War Show. Lots of rifles and parts so you might be able to find what you need for your Trapdoor and pistols maybe.

Replacement springs can probably be found at your nearest antique gun show. Tons of parts end up changing hands there. Another possible source is Dixie Gun Works, in Union City, TN. They've been dealing in black powder weapons (both antique and repro) for many, many years.

If all else fails, any competent gunsmith can fab one up for you. Those side-hammer locks are pretty low tech.