1873 Springfield

[rfc123]

Hello everyone I am new to this forum. I recently aquired a 1873 Sringfield trapdoor with a serial number in the 149XX range. I am tryin to get as much history on this new aquistion as I can. If anybody can recommend where I can research this firearm and its history I would appreciate the assistance.

93339334

[Dan Shapiro]

"Trapdoor Springfield" by Ernst and Waite

[raymeketa]

Anybody have a SRS list that might show where those early rifles went?

Ray

[John Sukey]

Looking at the rear sight, it could be a 1879. They didn't change the date on the breechblock

[durt eagle]

It has the early style hammer and the high arch breech block, so that along with the low serial number puts it in the very early ones.
The book, 45-70 Trapdoor, by Poyer is also a good inexpensive source of a lot of information.

[Dick Hosmer]

It has the early style hammer and the high arch breech block, so that along with the low serial number puts it in the very early ones.
The book, 45-70 Trapdoor, by Poyer is also a good inexpensive source of a lot of information.

But it also has a later stock, and a later trigger, so there has been some updating. And of course no lookup is possible without the complete serial number.

[Mark Daiute]

There was no "Model 1879" designated by the Government. Do the senior members of this forum recognize a Model 1873 with the 1879 rear sight as a "Model 1879 Rifle"?

If they do then I'll know it's OK to start using that designation :^)

All the best,

Mark

[Dick Hosmer]

Mark,

"Model 1879" relates ONLY to the sights. Technically, a rifle in the 250000 range - for example - would be a "Model 1873 with the modifications of 1879". The official nomenclature was blurred, arcane, and inconsistently applied. There was an "1877 Carbine", but never an "1877 Rifle" or "1877 Cadet", though both exist, identical to the carbine, save the usual length and stocking differences.

The change to "Model 1884" REALLY only involved the sights, yet, THIS time the model name was changed. And, even though they changed the sights, they used the "Model 1873" blocks, for another two years, to exhaustion.

And yes, there WAS a "Model 1888", though it was ONLY the 100 positive cam rifles that were so marked - the use of the same term for the rod-bayonet rifles is ALSO "unofficial", just like "Model 1879", though there are SOME contemporary references to the RRB as such.

Hope that helped some - it's not straightforward. Plenty of people today use "Model 1879", and most collectors know what is meant thereby, but the army did not use the term.

[John Sukey]

And the rarest of the rare, one in 30-40, numbered alphabeticaly. About as close as I ever came was finding the breechblock for one.

[raymeketa]

There was no "Model 1879" designated by the Government. Do the senior members of this forum recognize a Model 1873 with the 1879 rear sight as a "Model 1879 Rifle"?

If they do then I'll know it's OK to start using that designation :^)

Mark

Use of the Model 1879 designation bothers me, for one. But what I dislike even more is the use of the word Trapdoor.

JMHO

Ray

[Dick Hosmer]

Did you, by any chance, sell it to Hayes Otoupalik? He bought "D", which I passed on a few years ago because the block was faked.