Springfield Model 1870 Trapdoor Rifle

About the Springfield Model 1870 Trapdoor Rifle

The Springfield Model 1870 Trapdoor Rifle is a single-shot, breech-loading service rifle produced at the U.S. Springfield Armory. A refinement of the earlier Model 1868, it retained Erskine S. Allin's hinged 'trapdoor' breechblock and chambered the metallic centerfire .50-70 Government cartridge, while introducing a shorter receiver, a new .50-caliber barrel and an improved rear sight. It was among the last U.S. service rifles built around the .50-70 before the Army adopted the smaller .45-70 Government with the Model 1873.

The Model 1870 marked the twilight of the big-bore .50-70 trapdoors. Even as it entered service, the Ordnance Department was already testing the lighter, flatter-shooting .45-70 that would define the Trapdoor Springfield for the rest of the century, making the 1870 a short-lived transitional arm prized today by collectors.

Springfield Model 1870 Trapdoor Rifle specifications

Roughly 11,000 rifles were made across two production runs between October 1870 and 1873; the later run featured a redesigned breechblock and a double-shouldered ramrod. The Model 1870 was quickly superseded by the .45-70 Model 1873.