Need some help identifying an 1873 trapdoor. Serial number appears to place in in 1882, but what marks should I be looking for. Barrel has no grooves but it does shoot nicely. Who could help in NE OK? Need to put value so I can sell it.
it could be a bannerman special?
There are lands and grooves present , it sounds to me like its leaded and powder fouled . Trapdoor Springfield rifles have VERY shallow lands and grooves because they were designed that way and come from before jacketed ammo was a thing. They do their best work with soft cast lead bullets, I have owned numerous 1873 and 1884 Trapdoors which were capable of two moa to moa performance when fed the right ammunition .
Giving that rifle a good cleaning will greatly help the accuracy... My current trapdoor was so heavily leaded and powder fouled it took me a week to get it clean but when I did it came to life in the most spectacular way .
give me a shout later and I will see what I can tell you about the rifle .
Thanks
You need to find a good book or a very knowledgeable person. Identifying if it's all correct is as hard as a 1911 or M1 garand or harder. Several breechblocks, several sights, lot of field alterations. You name it, it's been done.
If a Cadet model the numbers made from the whole run of rifles was 1 in like 20 was a Cadet. To me the Cadets balance the best. Now, the Cadets didn’t see service out in the West or Indian Wars or down in Cuba so they are normally in ntge best condition over all out of the rifles, carbines, and cadets. They generally are the best shooters too. I’ve read that there were some of the 1873s that were turned into smoothbores and sold to farmers for foraging guns.
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North East OK
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- Sale Price: 250$
