Pedersoli Springfield Trapdoor Carbine

Recent research for an illustrated talk on the Battle of the Little Big Horn caused me to re-acquaint myself with one of my favourite firearms actions: the Springfield Trapdoor. I usually have one single shot rifle in my cupboard – at the moment it’s a Sharps repro – but I’ll have to see if I can justify adding one of these carbines to the fold. To my knowledge the only people making a copy of this gun today are Pedersoli of Italy, although some time ago I did hear that Uberti had one on the blocks, but as yet it has not materialised. If they eventually do come up with the goods they will have to be at the top of their game to compete with the Pedersoli which is, as usual for their products, a quality piece of kit.

Strong, Simple, Efficient

Some years ago I owned an original infantry version of this rifle and it was not hard to see why this action was chosen by the United States military as their standard breech loading rifle for so many years. During the American Civil War cartridge arms had proved their worth and at the end of the conflict it became obvious that this was the way forward for military small arms. Cost was going to be a consideration in the development of any new system as the Union had poured vast amounts of money into the war effort and the rebuilding of a nation left limited funds for the re-equipping of a peacetime army, albeit much smaller in size than had been needed in the previous four years. The solution was seen in the hundreds of thousands of perfectly serviceable muzzle-loading muskets that were now sitting in Army warehouses. If they could come up with a method of converting these arms to a breech loading configuration then the expenditure would be much reduced.

The idea was put out to tender and a number of individuals and firearms manufacturers submitted their designs to the Ordnance Department, and the eventual winner came from the pen of Erskine S. Allin, who was the master armourer at the Springfield Armoury. The cost of the conversion using Allin’s invention would be about $5 per gun cheaper than starting from fresh with a new rifle, a not inconsiderable sum when one takes into account the number of weapons involved. Allin’s design was to simply remove part of the barrel at the breech and replace it with his ‘trapdoor’ system, which closed and locked the breech when a cartridge was inserted. The idea was simple – a major requirement for arms distributed to troopers – strong and, once the ammunition had been sorted, very efficient.

Calibre Considerations

First examples in 1865 used the original barrels from the muzzle loaders and were chambered for .58 rimfire ammunition. The following year the calibre was changed to .50 rimfire by inserting a sleeve into the 36½-inch barrels, the latter being shortened to 32½-inch in 1868. In 1873 with the monetary situation a little easier, the Army made the decision to standardise the small arms calibre to .45 centre fire, with the resulting rifles, and carbines, having new barrels chambered for the .45-70-405 cartridge, generally known back then as the .45 Government, more commonly today simply termed the .45-70.

Cavalry Arms

The carbine version of this rifle had a barrel length of 22-inches, as does the Pedersoli reproduction, and it was this weapon, along with a Colt .45 Single Action Army revolver, that Custer’s troops carried at the battle of the Little Big Horn. The aforementioned .45-70 ammunition problem is often cited as a major factor in the defeat of Custer’s command and it is certainly true that the copper cased ammunition was sometimes prone to separation on ejection, leaving the major part of the case in the breech while the head was torn off. Excavation on the Custer Battlefield, however, would seem to indicate that the problem was not nearly as bad as it is projected, with comparatively few examples of broken cartridges being found. The guns themselves could not be examined as they were picked up and carried off by the Indians as they overran the 7th Cavalry positions.

That the single shot Trapdoor Springfield was a satisfactory weapon for both infantry and cavalry is evidenced by the fact that it was not until 1892 that it was replaced by a repeater in the form of the bolt action .30-40 Krag Jorgenson rifle. Doubtless the simplicity of the action was a major factor in the longevity of the rifle, along with the fact that Army staff felt that troops might “waste” ammunition given a multi-shot rifle.

As Good As It Gets

I cannot think that I have tried a Pedersoli product that was not a well-made and accurate reproduction of an earlier firearm, and this carbine is no exception. The proportions of the gun are almost perfect and it feels well-balanced and easy to handle, unlike some of the longer barrelled arms which can feel ‘front heavy’. The one-piece walnut stock, the left side of which is fitted with a bar and ring for the trooper’s sling, is very plain but nicely finished with all of the cut-outs and edges quite sharp. Wood to metal fit is very good.

The trapdoor itself is casehardened with the rest of the metal being black, a gloss on the barrel, hammer and butt plate and a little less shiny on other parts. The tip of one screw has been left white (as can be seen in the photograph) and interestingly this same screw was white on the last one of these I tried. This would be an easy DIY touch-up if it bothered you.

The rear sight is graduated in 100 yard increments up to 1200 yards, with the first 500 being steps in the ‘wings’ of the sight and the remainder on the tip up portion in a ladder configuration. Front sight is a fixed tapered blade on a block which is soldered to the barrel. My use of the rifle was limited to 100 metres so I cannot comment on the Army figures quoted, which were a range of one thousand yards, possible hits (presumably a man-sized target) out to 600 yards and an effective range of 300 hundred yards. With the rear sight raised or lowered the sight picture is nice and clear and I have little doubt that an accomplished user could achieve these results.

Operation is nice and crisp with a strong main spring and a smooth trigger pull with only a hint of creep. The trapdoor opens very easily via the spring loaded lever on the right side and locks up like a bank vault on closing. As the trapdoor is opened an ejector engages the rim of the case and pushes it rearwards, and if you do this smartly enough it hits the small stud which will flip it out of the action.

Loading

All but the newest of shooters will be familiar with the system of cartridge denominations and know that the ‘70’ in .45-70 refers to a powder charge of 70 grains of black powder. A large number of today’s leisure shooters will doubtless use smokeless powder in these reproductions purely from the cleaning point of view. For those who have not tried the ‘Holy Black’ I would strongly urge you to give it a go – it’s not nearly as dirty as you may have been led to believe.

My first shooting with the Pedersoli was done with a charge of 12.5-grains of Trail Boss powder behind the standard 405-grain lead bullet. Recoil was easily manageable, the gun performed faultlessly and if those paper targets had been Indians, every one of them would have been taken out of the fight. Of course I had the luxury of knowing that they were not shooting back and weren’t going to get any nearer!

I cannot use one of these old time guns without reverting to black powder and I always have a few rounds of the various calibres loaded in my safe. When these carbines were originally issued to the Cavalry it was soon found that the 70 grain powder charge, initially intended for the longer, heavier infantry rifles, was quite a stiff handful in the lighter guns. So the load was dropped down to 55 grains, making for a more comfortable experience. I cannot say that I noticed any difference in the recoil but the groups did open out slightly, but there would still have been a lot of dead Indians out there.

I had read somewhere that a trained trooper could manage 12 rounds plus per minute with one of these carbines, so I just had to give it a try. Even on the relatively relaxed atmosphere of a shooting range, keeping the shots on the target, my best effort was only 10 in the 60 seconds. Funny how your hands don’t seem to function as well when you know there’s a clock running!

Conclusion

This carbine is nicely put together, attractive and never missed a beat; a little short and light for serious long range target work, but will gives endless hours of enjoyment out to the longer distances available on some military ranges.

The example under test is a ‘shop soiled’ gun having been used for a previous magazine review, hence the minor dings seen in the photographs. It could be a bargain for someone if it is still available by the time this article goes to print.

PRICE: £995.00*
DISTRIBUTOR: Henry Krank (01132 569163) www.henrykrank.com