Springfield Trapdoor 24" Carbine

[Tom Trevor]

experimental carbine

[Sunray]

"...SRS reports this as rifle..." 99.99% sure Bubba got at that vs any Ordnance shop. Stuff got sporterised long before either W.W.
A net search for '98 CO C 3RD NC COL'D INF' returns a North Carolina U.S. Civil War Mounted Infanrty Regiment. Unless that Regm't became a National Guard unit, no way it had anything to do with a Trap Door. Might be some more info researching in that direction though.

[Dick Hosmer]

There are at least two possibilities:

(1) It is completely legit, with a number transposition in the SRS data - which is great but NOT totally infallible, as Frank Mallory was always quick to state. The extremely close bracketing by two 'good' numbers is at least suggestive of a possible error. I am ignorant as to whether 'colored' regiments were still referred to as such in the 1898 period.

(2) It is a reassembly (at a time and by parties unknown) using ALL of the proper and rare parts, of matching patina, which is NOT to be confused with "sporterizing" by Bubba, which implies cutting off the barrel, reshaping the wood, etc. That model cannot be faked from the scrap bin - you NEED the proper parts with which to work.