Tidewater_Kid
New member
1884 Trapdoor (Rebuild)
I have been working on building up this 1884 trapdoor for months. It started on what I was told was a rusty pitted barrel attached to a decent breech. The outside of the barrel is badly rusted and pitted, but the inside only had rust damage in the first three inches. The rest looked like new. I decided to clean the last three inches and the see how it shot. After months of gathering parts, it finally came together. The stock was the hardest part as I just didn't want to pay what they are going for on eBay. I had a piece of a stock and decided to order a replacement section from S&S Firearms. The front piece came in although it was a nice piece of wood, it required many hours of fitting. The first set of pictures are when it was mostly done. The second set is after two coats of stain and one coat of BLO. I purchased a box of Remington Express 45-70 405 grain (Safe for all Rifles) and took it to the range. I was very please with how it shot and I was easily hitting the 12" gong at 100 yards with it. When I got it home and cleaned it, I was surprised at how much of the roughness in those last three inches was gone. I made up some lead 405 grain bullets and reloaded the Remington brass with 60 grains of Pyrodex RS. Back at the range, I was able to put 5 shots in 3 inches at 50 yards with the load. It shoots about 8 inches high. I had two groups of two that were touching. Needless to say, I'm not going to mess with the barrel anymore.
TK
I have been working on building up this 1884 trapdoor for months. It started on what I was told was a rusty pitted barrel attached to a decent breech. The outside of the barrel is badly rusted and pitted, but the inside only had rust damage in the first three inches. The rest looked like new. I decided to clean the last three inches and the see how it shot. After months of gathering parts, it finally came together. The stock was the hardest part as I just didn't want to pay what they are going for on eBay. I had a piece of a stock and decided to order a replacement section from S&S Firearms. The front piece came in although it was a nice piece of wood, it required many hours of fitting. The first set of pictures are when it was mostly done. The second set is after two coats of stain and one coat of BLO. I purchased a box of Remington Express 45-70 405 grain (Safe for all Rifles) and took it to the range. I was very please with how it shot and I was easily hitting the 12" gong at 100 yards with it. When I got it home and cleaned it, I was surprised at how much of the roughness in those last three inches was gone. I made up some lead 405 grain bullets and reloaded the Remington brass with 60 grains of Pyrodex RS. Back at the range, I was able to put 5 shots in 3 inches at 50 yards with the load. It shoots about 8 inches high. I had two groups of two that were touching. Needless to say, I'm not going to mess with the barrel anymore.
TK
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