The Model 1879 Springfield Trapdoor Carbine

By Garry James

By the time the Civil War ended, there was no doubt that the self-contained metallic cartridge was the wave of the future. With the successful, widespread use of the Spencer repeater as well as more limited employment of other arms, such as the Henry and Joslyn, the message was clear: The percussion muzzleloader and breechloader were doomed.

Other countries were also in the process of switching over, and the United States didn’t want to be left behind. With hundreds of thousands of rifle-muskets on hand, the obvious money-saving solution was to try to find some way to convert these arms to handle the more modern ignition system.

While some excellent newly made arms were submitted for testing, the prudent thing to do was to adopt a method …Read the Rest

Source:: Guns and Ammo