My son and I went to the range yesterday with my 1873 trapdoor to see how she faired. I was relieved that the thing did now blow apart.:thup: Weather was beautiful at around 75 degrees with a light 5 mile an hour wind. I shot 100 yard and 200 yard targets. At first I did not hit paper until I lowered my aim. I managed a decent (for me) 8 inch grouping at 100 yards and most of my shots hit paper at 200 yards. I figure I will get better as I get used to the rifle. I was shooting Black Hills 405 grain loads which are very accurate. Overall impressions were good. Not too bad of a recoil due to the weight of the rifle. I initially thought the loading procedure would take too long between shots, but once you get a routine down, it goes pretty fast. My son was brave enough to shoot the trapdoor which you can see in the pic below. :dancingbanana: I also took my 1896 Krag out, which turned out to be a blast! :super: Pics are below.
Me finishing up my shot
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...IMG_2673-1.jpg
My son just shot
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...IMG_2681-1.jpg