Me 'N' The Duke

Very Good Ed, I enjoyed that thank you for sharing.

Believe I'd have to break it out and run a few shots thru her.

Very nice. Good read too thanks for shareing.

I'd have to find some "reduced" loads and give her a whirl!

jbpmidas wrote:I'd have to find some "reduced" loads and give her a whirl!

Blackpowder.

I shot one of those once when I was 12. I shot it from a prone position. I remember it was awfully heavy compared to a modern rifle, and it was pretty painful to shoot prone. I was a lot lighter then.

Fortyfive70 wrote:I shot one of those once when I was 12. I shot it from a prone position. I remember it was awfully heavy compared to a modern rifle, and it was pretty painful to shoot prone. I was a lot lighter then.

To quote, in part, "Fortyfive70" who posted yesterday, at 3:53 pm,"...I was a lot lighter then", ummmmm, weren't we all?!?

Glad you enjoyed the article.

I did enjoy the article and want to see your follow-up if you ever decide to shoot that thing again.

Yes very nice I learn something new everyday.

Very fun read ... enjoyed much. Thanks!

My Dad had one that belonged to him and his brothers. It's unfortunately missing the rear sight, and some how a chunk was missing out of the barrel mid way down. I'm told they used to load it up with 410 shotshells for killing rats.

That's a great old gun. It's suprising how much they kick. I've got one like it made in 1885 that has been shot quite a bit. I've also got trapdoor rifles in .50-70 (mfg in 1870) and .45-70 (mfg in 1887) that I shoot. The recoil of the rifles is much less than the carbine. I don't hunt with these since they hit 12" to 18" high a 100 yards.

22lrfan wrote:That's a great old gun. It's suprising how much they kick. I've got one like it made in 1885 that has been shot quite a bit. I've also got trapdoor rifles in .50-70 (mfg in 1870) and .45-70 (mfg in 1887) that I shoot. The recoil of the rifles is much less than the carbine. I don't hunt with these since they hit 12" to 18" high a 100 yards.

Please share some pictures

[quote="Ed Hunter
Please share some pictures[/quote]

I'll take some and post them tonight. I'm having trouble getting decent photos. I've got to come up with a better, brighter place to take them.

Here are some photos of my three trapdoors plus my rolling block. Top to bottom they are 1870 manufacture in .50-70, 1887 manufacture in .45-70, 1885 manufacture in .45-70, and an 1879 Remington Rolling Block in .43 Spanish. The lock on the .50-70 is dated 1863. They used locks from Civil War guns on the early trapdoors. That's not the original rear sights on the two carbines. I've got the originals but they are more accurate with these. I deer hunted with the rolling block last year. That's the reason for the slip-on recoil pad and shell holder. It is painful to shoot without the recoil pad.[img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img]

Very, very nice.

Here's a URL you may want to checkout:
http://www.trapdoors.com/index.php

Thank you for posting them. Real braggin' rights.

Thanks for the link. I'm still experimenting with different powder charge weights and bullet weights to get the two rifles to hit close enough to point of aim to deer hunt with them. If I could get one to walk under my stand I guess I could always use the bayonet. That would definitely be classified as hunting with a primitive weapon!