Couple of trapdoors

[Lead Snowstorm]

Greetings all,

In the course of my US martial long arm collecting, I’ve acquired two Springfield trapdoors, representing the M1873 and M1884. Both were Gunbroker finds. I’ve been researching (before and after purchasing, to be sure!) on this site, milsurps, the trapdoor collector site...really all over the place. Wanted to see if the info I’ve collected is more or less accurate...I'm very new to this area of collecting.

The 1873 has, I believe, the updates of 1879. I found this one for $650 plus shipping. I’d posted a bit about the 1873 over on the milsurp forum but one question I still have regards finding the correct cleaning rod - I'm assuming I should get one of the M78 rifle rods I see at the trapdoor collector site? Also, there’s a fair amount of grime, including freezing of the sight ladder. I finally got the sight moving with some Kroil, but I’m wary of doing too much to these old rifles...what would y’all suggest as best practice for freshening these guns up? Finally - is there any meaning to the letter located underneath the V/P/eagle head/P, just above the woodline, just ahead of the receiver? On this one, it is a right-side-up "S."













The number is a bit hard to read, it is 237815.









I just received the 1884. It’s the 1888 rod bayonet version. This one was posted for awhile around $600 or so, then dropped to $550...and it turned out I wasn’t the only one following with interest. After a minor bidding war I got it for about $710 plus shipping...a bit higher than I told myself to go, but after getting it I’m kind of glad I did. The metal has gone pretty brown, and minimal case color remains on the underside of the door, but the bore is wonderful - just a bit dusty - and the auction pictures didn’t do the wood justice. It’s very, very dark, and the auction pics made it look black, but there’s a deep, rich red undertone. Again, not wanting to do much, but I think some judiciously applied Tung oil, following the CMP recommendations, will really highlight it. This one has a sidways "R" underneath the V/P/eagle head/P, and it looks like an "I" (or some incomplete letter) on the very top of the barrel just ahead of the receiver.































As I say, I'm pretty new to this area of firearms history, so any insights or suggestions are most welcome. Thanks all!

[Carlsr]

Looks like you have 2 honest unmolested trapdoors. Your 1873 with the 1879 buck horn sight just needs to be cleaned up some. Looks like it is missing the little tit at the bottom of the ladder that rests in the grove on the slide. I had the same on my 1873 with the Buck horn sight. You can find and replace the ladder as those are available, I replaced mine.
The 1888 looks to be in good condition also with nice crisp cartouche marks, you did well at that price! Al has a set of tools that go in the butt stock on http://www.trapdoorcollector.com They are hard to find and his go fast.
Clean them up and take them to the range, fun to shoot!

[JimF]

Just a little side note . . . .

That 1879 buckhorn sight was the first sight that allowed WINDAGE correction on a standard issue U.S. rifle.

In addition, later-on, some ordnance “repairmen” installed a pair of “gibbs” that NEGATED this most-useful capability on SOME ‘79 sights!

Check your sight for these tiny “gibbs” when you clean up the sight.

[Dick Hosmer]

Two very nice solid examples, which can be helped a bit by some LIGHT TLC! You did well.

As to the gibs, interesting point, but there are none on THAT rifle, as they do not show up in the photo. What is more important is that the sight appears to have its' original mounting screws.

[P51MUSTANG]

Some nice rifles. As others have said do some light cleaning especially on the 73 and they will be real purty….

[Lead Snowstorm]

Sorry to have been so long updating this thread...what with the holidays and following Mr. Hosmer's recuperation I only got back around to working on the 1873 a couple of days ago. I tried to post an update then, but it seems to have vanished into the aether...gonna try again.

Worked on cleaning off the grime on the breechblock...good news was some nice metal with some case colors underneath, bad news was some more active spots of rust. I attempted to follow Mr. Hosmer's recommendations of using a razor blade, as carefully as possible:

[Carlsr]

Looks good, now you need to shoot it!

[Lead Snowstorm]

Looks good, now you need to shoot it!

Done and done.

At least after just one range trip, I'm going to come down solidly in the buckhorn camp. I struggled to see the Buffington sights on the 1888, but the buckhorns just worked great. Also problematic was the hold-under with the 1888. It was shooting way high (as I had read to expect) but I also struggled a bit getting it on paper, using vertically stacked targets. The 1873 was actually just a tad high (and a smidge right) at 100 yards, and I could actually aim at the target I was wanting to hit, instead of holding way low.







The 1888 target was...embarrassing, so I cleverly didn't take a photo. This was 17 shots with the the 1873. I was holding way low for the first couple, and then realized it was shooting close enough to point of aim to get easily on paper, then the next 14 shots were all on target. As always, I am the limiting factor when it comes to accuracy...



Old and new:



Also tried to get artsy. See if these work.

https://imgur.com/szoYtRP.mp4

https://imgur.com/yvVkmWa.mp4

[Dick Hosmer]

Looking GOOD! Best thing is the bullets are not tumbling. Also, you would probably find that a single BLACK bull works best for sights on the old-timers. Far easier to see and less distracting.

[bruce]

Beautiful rifles! Wonderful post and thread. Artistic pictures are a pleasure! Sincerely. bruce.