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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!
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!
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