1892 M1884 Springfield Trapdoor with family provenance

I picked this up on Saturday. It is a very late M1884 Springfield Trapdoor made in the fall of 1892, and is the type with a combination cleaning rod bayonet. The butt trap doesn't have a cleaning kit - it holds two emergency rounds! Bore is great. Rifle has the Buffington rear sight.

The owner's great grandfather, one Clarkson Cortright, a farmer from Middletown in upstate NY, joined the 12th NY Volunteer Infantry in 1894. Springfield Armory documents this rifle by lot (one number per crate of 20, or non-book) as made in the fall of 1892, and records this particular crate as issued to the 12th NY Volunteers. Evidently Clarkson returned from service with his trapdoor. It was handed down three generations to the current owner. It was last fired by the owner's father in 1958. Very clear SWP/1892 cartouche, and (V)iewed and P(roofed) marks.

It is wearing my original M07 sling until my reproduction M87 Trapdoor sling arrives. I've also found and ordered the missing front sight cover. The rifle also came with a M73 bayonet that had been ground down to fit after removing the sight cover; that person not realizing that the cleaning rod doubled as a bayonet. I will be getting a notarized letter from the former owner attesting to the family connection and the Springfield Arsenal documentation shortly. Cartridges load and eject flawlessly. Pics aren't that great; it's been raining for the last four days.

This is my first trapdoor. It also came with 20 rounds of semi-jacketed c. 1958 Remington .45-70 (pictured), and 40 once fired Kleen-Bore brass. Would the Remington ammo be safe to use to try a couple of rounds out of it?

T.

A brief unit history:

The 12th New York Volunteer Infantry served stateside during the Spanish American War, but was sent to Cuba after the war as part of the occupation forces for the island.

The 12th New York Volunteer Infantry was mustered into service on May 13, 1898 at Peekskill, New York. At the time of muster in, the unit consisted of 43 officers and 978 enlisted men. Initially, the unit was first sent to Camp Thomas at Chickamauga, Georgia. Conditions in this camp were terrible. It was overcrowded, unsanitary, and disease-ridden. To stem the losses, the camp was eventually broken up and the troops relocated. The 12th New York became part of the Third Brigade of the Third Division of the Second Army Corps in September, 1898. Eventually, it was sent to Lexington, Kentucky, which is where the unit appears in October, 1898. Santiago had fallen on July 17, and all fighting had ended on August 12, 1898, so the unit did not see action. The war formally ended on December 10, 1898, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

The unit may have been sent back to Americus, Georgia before being sent to Cuba as part of the occupation force on December 30, 1898. The 12th New York arrived in Cuba on New Year's Day, 1899. It served in Cuba until March 22, when it returned to the United States, arriving on March 26, 1899.

The unit was mustered out of service on April 20, 1899 at New York City. At the time of muster out, it consisted of 46 officers and 945 men. During its term of service, the unit suffered from high losses. Twnety-three enlisted men died of disease, one man died as the result of an accident, and one man committed suicide. Forty-seven additional men were discharged on disability. Ninety-one men deserted!

From: http://www.spanamwar.com/12thNewyork.htm

It's wearing my old M03 sling until a reproduction M87 trapdoor sling arrives.

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Sight hood came in from Ohio today. It was a little loose, so I shimmed it with a little corner of a bore patch. Almost done - waiting on the M1887 sling. I'm also having 40 rounds reloaded with the brass that came with it, so I hope to have a range report in a few weeks.

T.

Sling arrived and we're all set; waiting for my reloads to arrive so I can try it out.

T

And that would be the 72" sling...?

I didn't measure it; it could be. It's the M1887 which was also used on the Krag-Jorgensen.

Took some quality pics today.

T.

Nice, nice, nice. I'd love to have that rifle. The sling looks good, I've been contemplating buying one for my Krag and now I can see how it would look.

Sling is from WorldWarSupply.

Leather Springfield Trapdoor Sling M1887

T.

I have them on my desktop...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by majspud

It also came with 20 rounds of semi-jacketed c. 1958 Remington .45-70 (pictured), and 40 once fired Kleen-Bore brass. Would the Remington ammo be safe to use to try a couple of rounds out of it?

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NO repeat NO

Never try to shoot jacketed :eek:nitro-charged :eek::eek:ammo in an original blackpowder rifle. Once may be too often!

Warnings as to max. pressure in Trapdoors can be found in the:
Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook
Sierra Rifle Reloading Manual
Hodgdon Data Manual
Vihtavuori Reloading Manual

The Remington 405 grain jacketed factory load is perfectly safe and is intended for use in Trapdoors and other original BP rifles in that caliber. However, I recommend finding a new box since you have no idea how the old stuff made in 1958 has been stored all these years and it could be dangerous in any rifle if the propellant has degraded.
Most all load manuals that offer 45-70 data have a specific section for Trapdoors and other old BP rifles of the same age and weakness featuring loads for both lead and jacketed bullets propelled by smokeless powder. If it wasn't safe they wouldn't publish it.
There is some controversy surrounding the use of jacketed bullets in BP barrels, it's said they will wear the barrel out pretty fast and I tend to agree to a point. With a few exceptions modern .458 diameter jacketed bullets have a very thick jacket of varying hardness designed for hunting dangerous game and they shouldn't be used in old ''soft'' BP barrels, IMO. The Trapdoor specific data for jacketed bullets found in all manuals is for use with bullets that have a very thin soft copper jacket. IIRC, the jacket of the Remington 405gr bullet is only .020'' thick and often gets cut through by the lands as it passes down the bore. I've shot several deer and found the jacket still inside after it had peeled away from the core which kept going and exited the other side.

I have 40 brass cases of the same vintage off in CA being reloaded now by Ten-X with a black powder substitute; I assume some type of Pyrodex, and 500gr flat points.

T

Found two of three pieces for the butt trap; a M88 broken shell extractor and M79 combo take down tool.

T

Found a reproduction wiper tip. Fits and functions fine, although a little loose with a 30cal patch.

T

It is true, you can shoot commercial 45-70 smokeless ammo in a trapdoor. The right stuff, though, is a case full of 2F black powder driving a bullet cast from 1:20 tin:lead alloy. These are very accurate rifles. It makes sense to use the ammo they were designed to fire.

Good luck!

jn

It is true, you can shoot commercial 45-70 smokeless ammo in a trapdoor. The right stuff, though, is a case full of 2F black powder driving a bullet cast from 1:20 tin:lead alloy. These are very accurate rifles. It makes sense to use the ammo they were designed to fire.

Good luck!

jn

Ammo should arrive Wednesday. My 1870/1887/1915 Italian Vetterli should also arrive Wednesday; if so, we'll have a double range trip Wednesday.

T

It's been five months, surgery, and two auto wrecks since I've been shooting, and it was a beautiful day to do it. Granted, I've not shot for five months, but my club has changed the target system. Instead of re-bar frames and thick cardboard insert squares, we now have a Nylon line stretched across the berm with targets suspended from binder clamps and cardboard box sides. Easier to use, but today the wind was blowing and the targets were swinging towards and away from me so I had to try to time my shots between swings.

I brought my two new antiques; an 1892 M88 Springfield trapdoor, and an 1884 Brescia M70/87/15 Italian Vetterli. Both rifles had not been shot in ages; the M88 in 1957, and who knows when the Vetterli was. Both have great bores. I shot 20 rounds from each at 100 yards; commercial reloads for the trapdoor with black powder substitute and 500gr flat point bullets and a box of prvi partizan 6,5 Carcano. Both rifles were stiff from non use, but got slicker as they warmed up, and no problems with either. It took four rounds to find how and where to set the sights (ladder down, and low on the paper) for the Springfield. I had moved the rear sight two notches left at first, but as I finished left, I put it back to center at the end. After 20 rounds the shoulder was a little sore. The Vetterli was harder to figure out with its odd rear sight. Turns out it shot about one meter above POA, so I had to aim at the ground under the target to hit center. It took the first 12 rounds to do that, and I hit 6 of the last eight afterwards. Recoil was very light; between a 22 and a M1 carbine.

It is personally a lot of fun for me to take out the real old ones from time to time. Happy shooting.

T

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