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#1404 Springfield 1879 “Trapdoor” rifle, SN 106XXX (1880), caliber 45/70/500 with VG bore that should easily clean to about “Fine” (an 8 on a scale of 10) and a solid, tight action. Standard military configuration with 32-1/2” barrel and all correct parts for this variation, breech date, etc and the only arsenal upgrade being the 1883 Buffington windage adjustable rear sight. (..I do have a Model 1879 rear sight that I will gladly swap if the interested party would rather have the older style sight.) The metal is nice smooth metal with fine markings, 70-80% coverage and 40% density of plum blue-brown remaining. The wood is decent with the only serious deficit of mention being the “R&M” stamping and initials in the buttstock (of which I haven’t a clue as to what these might mean). Otherwise, only the usual bumps and bruises from 120+ years of use and storage …and it has a very dim SWP inspectors cartouche. These rugged and very reliable Trapdoor Springfields were the mainstay military long arm from the end of the Civil War up to the mid-1890s when they were phased out by the Springfield-Krag bolt action repeater. Even then, they were used in both the Spanish-American War and also as secondary defense and even as training weapons as late as World War 1 …and yet to this day, they are still great shooting and very accurate rifles with a very hard-hitting black-powder round. They very rarely have mechanical problems, and on the rare chance that they do break some small part in the action, most parts are very easily obtained from several parts dealers. Consequently, they make a fine rifle for the beginning shooter of Big-Bore black powder competitions. $795

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