Wandered in to LGS today on the way home and spied something out of place, leaning up in the corner. When I inquired as to what it was, the 1873 Springfield must have thought I meant for it to come home with me. It is too rough for anything except a kick butt wall hanger. I don't know if it started a carbine and got a long barrel, or was always long and received a carbine stock. It's poor barrel sits off center with sights at 11 o'clock. The end of the fore grip area has seen a little carving. Maybe it is a cut down stock. I know nothing about 1873 Springfields, yet. For $125, it was hard to leave sitting in the corner.

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Matthew Conrad

The stories that one could tell if It could talk.. Somethings just need to be rescued.

...William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody owned one...it was his favorite rifle...he named her "Lucretia Borgia"...she's sitting on his lap on the left side of the photo below...

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A Country Boy Can Survive

Rifles had a cleaning rod mounted under the barrel. Evidence of it will still be seen in a cut down rifle stock. Carbine stocks had a sliding trap door in the butt.

There is not a trap door in the butt plate, and there is a groove in front of the stock.

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Matthew Conrad

Apparently a cut down rifle but if your patient you can find a full length stock to restore it. $125 is an excellent price as is.
Jim

The rear sight of a carbine had a "C" stamped on the slide. The carbine sight was almost identical but had elevation marking adjusted for the lower velocities of a shorter barrel.

The rear sight looks like a 'Buffington Rear Sight'. A somewhat rare version of the types that were used on the Trapdoor.

It used a base and separate slide, the slide can ossilate back and forth for windage much the same as the later Krag and 03 sight.
An open sight blade on the slide w/a long vernier tang that can be picked up and used as a long range sight w/aperture. A lower triangular aperture on the vernier and a top open sight notch and tiny vernier aperture for long range. Them guys must've had good eyes!

There's a couple versions of the rifle Buffington. Also a Carbine Buffington for the Trapdoor. It's marked w/ a tiny 'C' on the top upper edge of the vernier as you look down on the sight.

TD Rifle Buffington sights can run $100 and up. Carbine versions easily $250.

I'd have been a customer for that old gal in a moment. Seems like it could be made into something enjoyable to shoot!

Don't mean to be off subject, but in this photo and other period photos cross draw seems to the preferred method of carry ?

Whats the story on the gas can?

I would have bought that one too!

I have a cut down .45-70 trapdoor rifle. Mine has the barrel cut as well. I filled the cleaning rod groove with a glued in wooden dowel. I sanded and stained it. Still need a proper carbine front sight.

"...William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody owned one...it was his favorite rifle...he named her "Lucretia Borgia"...she's sitting on his lap on the left side of the photo below..."

I believe that Buffalo Bill's rifle was an earlier .50-70 trapdoor. It was also called a needle gun, due to the long firing pin.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

You very likely have a Model 1884 Trapdoor with a shortened stock. The Buffington rear sight first appeared on the Model 1884. There are several slight variations of the Buffington sight which are difficult to distinguish from each other. Additionally those for a rifle usually have a small "R" stamp, and those for the carbine have a "C" stamp. You may be able to see a small cartouche stamped into the left side of the stock with a year date. If you look around, there are still lots of trapdoor parts available. It's easy to date the rifle from its SN. There are lots of internet sites about the Springfield trapdoors.

Buffalo Bill's famous rifle "Lucretia Borgia" was an early post-Civil War version of the Springfield trapdoor made for the .50-70 cartridge. When these were made obsolete by the Army's change to the .45-70 cartridge, the Army gave many of them away to settlers and frontiersmen (along with plenty of ammunition for them) for use in buffalo hunting (slaughter). There was a very good reason for this. Fewer buffalo = fewer Indians.

"It was also called a needle gun, due to the long firing pin."
The Springfield was never called a needle gun. That term refers to an entirely different early Prussian military rifle design called the Dreyse.

In actuality the Trapdoors were referred to by many as a needle gun. Not to be confused with Dreyse. I have seen the reference in several old books and writings refereeing to the Trapdoors as needle guns. It took some research as I was confused as well, thinking only the Dreyse was the gun the writings were describing. In Andrew Garcia's excellent book, 'A Tough Trip Through Paradise" written in the late 1800's, he refers to the Army needle guns.

Congrats on a great rifle!

I have enjoyed reading this thread, it has been very interesting, thank you all!

That is a lamp, made from an old boat fuel tank, that also followed me home from a sale. My wife hates it and has banished it to my office, which makes me happy. However, I need a better table to place it on.

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Matthew Conrad

...this guy is a pretty good off hand shot...he claims it is just good video editing...

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A Country Boy Can Survive

Pictures of sight and what is left of sn.

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Matthew Conrad

This is a Model 1879 rifle I found in my granddads barn when he moved from the homestead. He got it from Bannermans for $7.00.
It had been ignored for over 40 years, and was in rough shape.

I did a lot renovating and it's one of my favorite rifles today.


That feller shooting that 79 rifle is either a really good shot, or he's got a midget hidin' out there behind the targets with a ball peen hammer.

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Eccentric old coot

The OP shows that he is a true Marine ... he never left a man behind. You made a great save!

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Judge control not gun control!

While it is possible that some may have informally referred to the Springfield 1866 .50-70 trapdoor (or any of its several variants) as Needle Guns, it was never an "official" Army appellation. Perhaps the two most reliable and authoritative resources regarding the history of the development and use of the Springfield Model 1866 are Charles W. Sawyer's "Our Rifles" (1920) and Claude E. Fuller's "The Breech-Loader in the Service, 1816-1917" (1965). Neither mentions anything about the Springfield 1866 being called a Needle Gun. On the other hand, the Prussian Dreyse needle gun was named exactly that - "Zundnadelgewehr" meaning needle ignition rifle. The firing pin reached longitudinally through the cartridge to impact a primer at the base of the bullet.

The shooter isn't using surgically clean brass either. Way to go, you showed those "Cleanists" how to do it!

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S&WHF 366

Even though the stock has been cut down I think that is a fantastic deal for $125!

I would have bought it too.

It is my favorite as well. Especially with the longer barreled handguns of the time, like my 1860 Army clone.

I am well aware of the Dreyse needle gun. However, Buffalo Bill referred to his .50-70 trapdoor as a needle gun.

A Internet search gives these links:

buffalo bill cody & his needle gun - Yahoo Search Results

As S&W collectors, we use labels that weren't used in Springfield Mass either

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

The barrel band is installed upside down. The U stands for up, and should be facing the muzzle.

Thanks for the heads up, I will get that remedied.

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Matthew Conrad

Yes, it was a trapdoor, but Cody's rifle was a .50-70 Model 1866 Springfield Infantry Rifle, not an 1873. Here is a link to his original rifle in the Cody Firearms Museum in Cody, WY. https://centerofthewest.org/wp-conte...tia-Borgia.jpg

Cody shot over 1,200 Buffalo with this rifle while foraging for the transcontinental railroad crews in the late 1860s. It is the rifle that he earned his nickname "Buffalo Bill" with.

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Gunsmithing since 1961

works if mounted or seated I have found.