Anyone tried out the Uberti trapdoor?

[jon_norstog]

I was surfing and came across these. Probably old news to most people on the list.

http://www.uberti.com/firearms/springfield-trapdoor.php

Good old Uberti! They have a six-groove barrel and unknown twist rate. At the price of the Uberti you can probably pick up a pretty decent trapdoor rifle, and maybe an OK carbine. Just curious as to whether there are any advantages to the replica?

jn

[broom jockey]

The only advantage would maybe these rifles can fire modern 45-70 loads, ie: smokeless powder. But, as you said, a person can buy a really nice original trapdoor with all the cartouches/stampings, etc. for that price. I bought an M1884 rifle in original excellent condition for less.

[Michaelp]

You guys hit it spot on-the prices of many repos rival that of originals-i suppose they are safer.

[sdkrag]

Years ago there were reprodctions (I believe H&R) that were actually less safe to shoot than the originals. They have an extra screw in the breech/firining pin area that would back out and created the possibility of the breech coming open. I would rather shoot my old reliable original. Loading up this weekend for the annual reenactment. I expect to fire 50-150 in this years rifle march. I actually saw an H&R fall apart duing the match a few years ago. Guy lost some of the parts in the grass.

[DocCasualty]

I'm no expert but looked into this a little bit. First, you can get a nice original Trapdoor rifle for less than half the price of one of the repros. Maybe tough to get one with that pristine of a stock but otherwise quite nice and very shootable. I do believe that both the Pedersoli and Uberti are made by Pedersoli and marketed under the different names. Here's Pedersoli's info and they list a max chamber pressure of 18,000 cup. http://www.davide-pedersoli.com/uplo...UNS_MANUAL.pdf You can shoot smokeless powder .45/70 Government/Trapdoor loads in the repro and originals, though I don't believe the repros are designed for, nor is it recommended to shoot higher power loads in them either. I think the limiting factor there remains the trapdoor design, not modern metallurgy. While they may be able to withstand a little more than the originals, not sure that would be a wise choice.

My casual look at true US Springfield Trapdoor carbines suggests that their prices are more in line with the the repros and it may actually be cheaper to buy a repro than an original, though I personally haven't explored that market to any great extent.

[Griff Murphey]

Why make these?? Maybe there is a market for buying a bunch if trapdoors at once... Say, for a movie or cadets or reenactors such as military units. The cavalry reenactor ACDU Army guys at Ft. Hood use H&R carbines, I have been told.

[Bill D]

National Park Service is forbidden by regulation to use original CW/IW weapons for their living history and open display programs. Soooooooo......... They buy replicas. The NPS order by its self makes it worthwhile for Pedersoli to tool up for them and also explains why they are so expensive. The NPS is spending your money so they don't really care what they cost.

[DocCasualty]

National Park Service is forbidden by regulation to use original CW/IW weapons for their living history and open display programs.

Any idea what the story/history behind that is?

[Bill D]

Something about protecting the originals they have. The head ranger at Fort Larned, Kansas told me that story when I used to do living history over there. They had a bunch of .50-70 breach loaders which were kept in the rifle racks in the barracks as they would have been during the 1867-69 time frame that they portray. Several years ago, someone broke into the building and took a number of the rifles during the night when the old post was not occupied. The rifles they got were the replicas so I guess their thinking was sound.

[DocCasualty]

I guess that makes sense looking at it from the perspective of preserving historic artifacts. They'd be subject to quite a bit of abuse too, especially if they were doing multiple demos per day.