Featured Gun: Springfield 1873 Trapdoor Rifle for Sale!

The Springfield Model 1873 was the first standard-issue, breech-loading rifle adopted by the United States Army. The gun, in both full-length and carbine versions, was the primary rifle of the United States Army from 1873 to 1892. According to the National Museum of the United States Army, The 10th Cavalry, stationed in San Antonio at Fort Sam Houston, was among the first units to receive the new rifles in the spring of 1874. By 1875, the M1873 began to replace the Army’s stocks of older rifles. Cavalry units armed with the Sharps carbine were re-equipped with a carbine version of the M1873, which had a reduced barrel size of twenty-two inches. It fired a variant of the .45-70 cartridge, the .45-55, with a reduced powder charge of fifty-five grains as opposed to the normal seventy grains.

The Springfield Trapdoor and other single-shot rifles would be rendered obsolete by magazine-fed bolt-action rifles in the late nineteenth century, specifically, the Krag bolt-action rifle. In addition, the invention of “smokeless powder” had rendered rifles using black powder obsolete. Though it was phased out of service, the Springfield M1873 remains an icon of the American West.  With its retirement came the end of an era.  Today, it remains a popular weapon for gun collectors in the United States and around the world.

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