Trapdoor Springfield
- Thread starter ligonierbill
- Start date
Mike Irwin
Staff
"The Springfield Trapdoors carried over from the muzzle loader service rifles, in that they came with a mold and reloading equipment.
Like today, if the soldiers of that era didnt shoot, it was because they wouldn't put in the time to shoot on their own."
For most of the post Civil War period up to the 1890s or so, training allocation was TWENTY rounds a year.
And no, troops weren't encouraged to practice on their own. Ammunition was a precious commodity in the post CW era given that military budgets were cut into the bone and stayed that way until the Spanish-American War.
As for reloading the spent casings, remember, for the first 12 to 15 or so years of the Trapdoor era, arsenal .50-70, .45-70, and .45 revolver ammunition was NOT reloadable because it was internally primed centerfire.
So it didn't matter one whit if the troops had bullet molds. They didn't have reloadable cases.
After modern centerfire ammunition was introduced, the military came up with the cost savings idea of collecting cases fired in training and shipping them back to Frankford Arsenal to be reloaded into more training ammunition.
As for "Army provided reloading kits..."
No. They were NOT general issue, and as far as I know, fewer than a dozen were manufactured at Frankford, and today supposedly only two are know to exist.
They were investigated as a way of giving isolated outposts an option for reloading ammunition in case they were lacking supplies, but were never issued.
So, sorry, but troops were not encouraged to hone their shooting skills on their own time.
Like today, if the soldiers of that era didnt shoot, it was because they wouldn't put in the time to shoot on their own."
For most of the post Civil War period up to the 1890s or so, training allocation was TWENTY rounds a year.
And no, troops weren't encouraged to practice on their own. Ammunition was a precious commodity in the post CW era given that military budgets were cut into the bone and stayed that way until the Spanish-American War.
As for reloading the spent casings, remember, for the first 12 to 15 or so years of the Trapdoor era, arsenal .50-70, .45-70, and .45 revolver ammunition was NOT reloadable because it was internally primed centerfire.
So it didn't matter one whit if the troops had bullet molds. They didn't have reloadable cases.
After modern centerfire ammunition was introduced, the military came up with the cost savings idea of collecting cases fired in training and shipping them back to Frankford Arsenal to be reloaded into more training ammunition.
As for "Army provided reloading kits..."
No. They were NOT general issue, and as far as I know, fewer than a dozen were manufactured at Frankford, and today supposedly only two are know to exist.
They were investigated as a way of giving isolated outposts an option for reloading ammunition in case they were lacking supplies, but were never issued.
So, sorry, but troops were not encouraged to hone their shooting skills on their own time.
Mike Irwin
Staff
"Only Gary Anderson (another Old Gun Crank) came close."
In my dealings with him I always found him to be just cranky.
In my dealings with him I always found him to be just cranky.
Okay, it's always been "common knowledge" that bison hunters, using those large charges would carry a convenient number of round, a ton of bp, caps,and some extra bullets and a mold. Maybe a few small ingots of lead. As far as possible, they would recover the fired bullets when skinning or butchering for food, and recast when convenient. They would reload the fired rounds after the shooting stopped
Loaded rounds cost money and were inconvenient to pack. Powder and recycled lead were an obvious solution.
Is this true?
Loaded rounds cost money and were inconvenient to pack. Powder and recycled lead were an obvious solution.
Is this true?
Not to change the subject, but similar to the Trapdoor being blamed for the Little Bighorn, the Krag suffered much worse from the same phenomenon in the Spanish-American War.
"We had a lot of casualties because we couldn't reload our rifle with stripper clips and the enemy could...it's not that we used bad tactics or anything like that."
"We had a lot of casualties because we couldn't reload our rifle with stripper clips and the enemy could...it's not that we used bad tactics or anything like that."
Forty years of shooting, handloading, listening to the cranks, after forty years I knowabsolutely nothing about things that weren't within my interests. Semiautomatic pistols or rifles. Various other things.
Gun rags are useless. It's never straightforward.
No matter who you are and what you know everyone has holes in their education and many things that just don't follow through.
Gun rags are useless. It's never straightforward.
No matter who you are and what you know everyone has holes in their education and many things that just don't follow through.