45-70 Trapdoor

[alfajim]

Hi all, new to the forum. I am building a 45-70 trapdoor from parts from the 1883-1884 era. So look to connect with other trapdoor owners and shooters.

The barrel is in very good condition with well defined lands and grooves. The edges of the lands are sharp with a nice shiney bore. The only bad part of the barrel is the muzzle it is pretty rusted for the first 1/2" to 5/8" so may not be usable. Will work on cleaning it up to see.

I was at first going to shorten it to 30" but after browsing the forums I would like to keep it as long as possable so 32" if I can and keep the original front sight.
I have the Buffington rear sight is this good enough to use for long range or will I have to get one of the tang rears like in Quigley?
Any other advice or suggestions from other trapdoor owners be appreciated.

Jim

[JReed]

As far as barrel sights you are not going to find anything better than the Buffington. If the barrel wont clean up and it wont shoot you can always look at getting it lined

[alfajim]

Again this is for all the trapdoor folks. What success have ya all had with the trapdoor on medium and long range shoots and best loads for doing so?

I was reading on one of the trapdoor history sites about the long range rifles and is was stated that the barrel for those guns was a 1-20 six groove barrel and a few at 1-18. They were also rechambered at 45-80 and some were loaded as 45-75 in the 45-70 case. So does anyone know the actual length of the chamber on the std. issue rifles? In Pat wolfs book it is cautioned to use 2.105 cases for absolute length, can it be fudged some?
If I want to take a cast of the chamber what do I use to do so and what to use to take a plug of the barrel?
I am most likely going to stick with the Buffington rear sight so should I keep the original front sight or go with a hooded or globe style one? I may put a tang sharps one on later if I set aside enough funds, they are as much as I paid for all the parts for this gun, "wow!"

Jim

[JReed]

The issue rifles had a 3 groove 1:22 twist. The chambers were cut a touch long so they could be fired dirty in combat. You can do what I did with my rolling block, take a 45-90 case and trim it a little at a time until it chambers my rolling block has a Springfield chamber and will take 2.2" case. The 500gr Gov bullet shoots great in the slow twist I use it out to 500 regularly with good results. Both Lyman and SEACO make a copy of it. Try the stock front sight out for awhile. I have fired a few trap doors with the buffington sight and the original front sight. It is an accurate combination capable of very good accuracy out to 500 and beyond.

[Gussy]

A good machine shop can counter bore the rifling out of the muzzle's rusted area and it will still look original. I had that done on a ML once and it was one of the best shooters I ever had.

[Lumpy Grits]

Why not just have the barrel re-lined?
Gary

[alfajim]

Why not just have the barrel re-lined?
Gary

Gary with the exception of the first little bit inside from the muzzle the rest of the bore looks to be like brand new. The barrel appears to have been used very little there are only faint barrel band marks on it and the bottom of the barrel is perfect with good color.
My initial thought was to shorten it to 30" and remount the front sight so it duplicated the Cadet barrel so the rear sight marking would work the same.
I also got a shortened stock to fit the shorter barrel and it still would look original at first glance.

Jim

[Lumpy Grits]

It will still look the same on the outside, with only a barrel reline.
Gary

[alfajim]

It will still look the same on the outside, with only a barrel reline.
Gary

Actually a barrel reline is more than I wanted to spend on it as they are expensive. I am in this just a little over $400 now before having all the pieces re blued and some work done on the stock.
It will never be a collector piece I am doing it for a shooter for fun I really like the looks of these things and shooting BP with a good one appeal's to me and maybe for less $$

Jim

[Lumpy Grits]

You can do the reline your self.
Get the stuff need'd from Brownels.
Gary