There is a Trapdoor rifle at the local gun shop that's been there for a while. The rifle is in okay condition and the rifling is a bit dark. Is $900 a good price? or should I try to haggle it down a bit?
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There is a Trapdoor rifle at the local gun shop that's been there for a while. The rifle is in okay condition and the rifling is a bit dark. Is $900 a good price? or should I try to haggle it down a bit?
$700 sounds better.
I'm a little surprised you found any trapdoor in any gun store for less than $1k. Most gun stores seem to think ANY trapdoor is made of gold or something.
The market isn’t what it used to be.
Condition, condition, condition....
And "rifling is a bit dark" isn't very helpful. You need to clean the bore first to make a good evaluation. But stop, wait a minute, if it comes up crisp and shiny, you have just made it more valuable for the seller - a bit of an own goal....????
So do what I do: This works if you take your cleaning gear to the shop - BEFORE you do any cleaning, agree a price with the seller for the gun as it appears now - with the get-out that you will turn it down if the bore turns out to be bad - then clean it - and make your decision.
If you are lucky, that darkness is just crud accumulated in the corners of the rifling.
At best, you have a pristine bore and a good buy. At worst, you have cleaned a bad bore for somebody else. I have experienced both.
It's quite surprising how often sellers don't take the trouble to clean their guns themselves.
Good luck!
Patrick
It depends on the condition, bore, and parts. For example, is the firing pin broken or not. Does it even move. Is the rear sight functional and have the correct screws. Is the cleaning rod correct or a reproduction.
Without pictures or a detailed description it is a toss up.
There was a 1873 trapdoor carbine that sold recently for over 11K on auction. This carbine had a magazine tube under the barrel (like a Winchester lever action).
When you opened the breech to extract the cartridge, there is a lifter installed (kind of like the M1886/93 Lebel rifle only very simple) that brings up the next cartridge
to load into the chamber by hand. Maybe someone could find a photo - really interesting
Prototype Tube-Magazine Trapdoor Springfield Forgotten WeaponsQuote:
Originally Posted by RCS
A link to an expose...
If it's just "OK" condition, I'd put it more in the line of $500-$600. But your OK and my OK might be two different OK's. I bought a fairly decent one locally for $500 two years ago.
You also need to know what model it is! There is a (very small, to be true) chance that it could be one of the desirable limited-production models - stranger things have happened. About ten years ago, a friend of mine (funny how we now call people we've never met "friends" - sign of these electronic times) bought a M1881 Long Range rifle (with the highly-visible Hotchkiss butt-stock) off the wall of a pawn shop in Florida, where it had hung for a long time, for 1/10 of its' true value.