Springfield Model 1873 Officer's Rifle

About the Springfield Model 1873 Officer's Rifle

The Springfield Model 1873 Officer's Rifle (formally introduced as the Model 1875 Officer's Rifle) was a deluxe, privately purchased sporting variant of the standard 'trapdoor' Springfield, built on the same .45-70 hinged-breechblock action designed by Erskine S. Allin. Intended to give US Army officers a high-quality hunting and target rifle in the service cartridge, it featured a shorter 26-inch barrel, a checkered half-stock with pewter forend tip, fine sporting sights including a tang-mounted peep sight, and a single-set trigger. Only a few hundred were made, making it one of the scarcest and most desirable of all trapdoor Springfields.

Far rarer than the rank-and-file trapdoor, the Officer's Rifle was a status symbol an officer bought with his own money, complete with checkered walnut, a pop-up tang peep sight and a hair-trigger set mechanism, blurring the line between issued service arm and gentleman's sporting rifle.

Springfield Model 1873 Officer's Rifle specifications

Officially designated the Model 1875 Officer's Rifle but built on and grouped with the Model 1873 trapdoor family. Approximately 477 produced 1875-1885. Distinct from the standard springfield-trapdoor-1873 infantry rifle.