The Goose
NES Member
I don't know what possessed me to buy this rifle, other then impulse. I thought it looked cool. It is an 1873 Springfield Trapdoor 45/70. It is a legitimate antique, but that is the only legitimate thing about it. It may have been made as a hobby/project out of scrap parts or it may have been made to deceive for profit. The rifle is made to appear to be an Indian capture carbine. It has neither an Indian provenance nor is it a carbine. It is a cut down rifle. Someone actually did a very good job of putting this together. There are over a hundred old tacks set into the stock. The butt plate has been removed, as was customary. They made very good hide scrapers. The wrist has been thinned for easier grasping on horseback. The serial number dates the action to the so called "Custer Era". So the assumption might be that it was captured at the Last Stand. If that were true it would be worth a bundle. The good news for me is that the seller labeled it a recreation (bubba'd) and so the price was commensurate (cheap). Tight and perfectly functioning action and good bore, a shooter. I wanted to load up some 45/70 that would be as close as possible to the original. I turned to Spence Wolf's book on the subject. I cast some Lee 405 gr hollow base bullets using a fairly soft alloy and lubed with SPG. Per Wolf's advice I enlarged the flash holes in the brass. I also acquired a special expander plug to more easily seat the .460 bullet. I loaded 55 grs if Goex 2f, the original Army carbine load, through a drop tube followed by a slight compression using a compression die. A .030 wad, a grease cookie, another wad and then seated the bullet. Finally a taper crimp. The next warm day it is off to the range. I will let you guys know how it goes. I bet it will garner some attention at the range.
