grandpaws 45 70

[sarge1]

I got grandpaws 45 70 should I shoot it with modern day ammo

[Hauptmann6]

I wouldn't. At least only low pressure stuff.

But I am not a gunsmith nor do I play one on TV. And I didn't sleep at a holiday inn last night. Take it to a good gunsmith and have it checked out.

[walkin' trails]

Definitely have a gunsmith check it out completely before even thinking about loading something in it. Looks like a pretty nice old gun.

[Butch]

Originally posted by sarge1
I got grandpaws 45 70 should I shoot it with modern day ammo
And it would be called a 'Trap Door Springfield' rifle, model 1884 or 1886 probably and it has a ramrod type bayonet.

I have one very much like it and I do shoot it, but I load my own ammo using a 50 grain Pyrodex pellet with lead bullets.

I'm sure there are folks out there that shoot their traps doors with smokeless powder loads, but I won't shoot them in mine, the gun is too valuable, it's just not worth the risk.

Do you know any more about the rifle's history? Like where/how/from whom did your grandpa get it?


;?

[HawkEyeEarl]

I reload for mine with smokeless xmr 5744 accurate powder.
This load is designed for 'weak' actions like the trapdoor.
There are loads in the accurate manual under the cowboy load section.
This gun is still used by some in cowboy shoots with black powder and smokeless powder.

In many reloading books they will have 3 levels of loads.
1 trapdoor and other weak actions
2 lever actions
3 ruger etc


I cast and load lead bullets 405 grains and load them to 1100 to 1300 fps according to the accurate manual.

I have loaded using unique powder, I vaguely recall.

Find a manual if you wish to reload. Look for WEAK action loads for Springfield Trapdoor.

I do not know the conditon of yours. However, there are many trapdoors being shot with blackpowder and with smokeless powder considered suitable for weak actions.

I use lead or lead with a small amount of tin. I prefer not to use jacketed bullets.

I sometimes find stores with ammo for weak actions. But I do not use the jacketed that is sometimes for sale.

Keep it clean. I enjoy my Springfield Trapdoor very much.

Earl

[Bill Powell]

By the time the model 1873 Spring field came along it was a scratch built gun. They had run out of musket conversions. I had one, made about 1883, and I shot everything I could find in it. Mine was a rifle. I also had a Ruger No.1 in .45-70. You could pack the powder in it with a mallet and it was safe. My brother had a model 1886 Winchester in .45-70 and I had a model 1895 Marlin in .40-65, and we shot modern loads in all of them, but no hot rod loads, except in the Ruger.

I've shot the old Siamese Mauser bolt action, I think 11mm, that had been converted to .45-70, and one guy I knew had a Martini action .45-70 conversion that he shot in the 1000 yard matches.

[MrMurphy]

I would only shoot blackpowder original pressure loads, and then only rarely.