Springfield Model 1877 Trapdoor Carbine

About the Springfield Model 1877 Trapdoor Carbine

The Springfield Model 1877 Trapdoor Carbine is a single-shot, breech-loading cavalry carbine chambered in .45-70 Government. It refines the earlier Model 1873 trapdoor carbine, using Erskine S. Allin's hinged breechblock action that flips up and forward for loading, and was the first Springfield to carry a two-piece cleaning rod stowed in the buttstock. Fitted with a 22-inch barrel and a saddle-ring bar, it served as the standard mounted-arm of the U.S. Cavalry during the Indian Wars period.

The trapdoor carbine was the iconic cavalry arm of the post-Civil War American frontier, carried by troopers across the plains during the Indian Wars in the years following the U.S. Army's adoption of the .45-70 cartridge.

Springfield Model 1877 Trapdoor Carbine specifications

The carbine was issued with a reduced 55-grain blackpowder cavalry load rather than the 70-grain infantry rifle charge, easing recoil in the lighter arm.