Trapdoor Cadet

[Silver Creek Slim]

With all this talk bout trapdoors, I'll tell ya about the one I saw Tuesday evening. On the way home from the dentist, I stopped by the local "toy" store. While we were jawing, I noticed he had a trapdoor in the long gun rack. I asked him whose it was and he said it was his. He had just bought it at a gun show recently. So I went over to look at it. There was some gold paint sprayed on the hardware. He said that at one time someone made a floor lamp out of it. There is minimal damage to it: 3/16" hole widthwise thru the buttstock and a 3/16" hole in the buttplate. The caliber is .50-70 Govt. The bore it bright. The breechblock, that has 1873 on it, does not have a primer ring on it. It has a cadet length buttstock. The barrel is in the 28" range. It doesn't seem to have been cut off because the front sight is the correct distance from the muzzle. The lock plate only has "Springfield" on it without an eagle or a date. I think he said the serial # was in the 19,000 range. What do y'all think he got a good deal for $100? I offered him $200. He turned me down.

Slim

[Bull Schmitt]

Slim,

I saw the same rifle or its twin at an auction earlier this month:

http://www.proxibid.com/asp/Catalog.asp?aid=5827&p=14&srch=search%20this%20auction

Lot 322.

It was listed as 45-70 but another fellow and I looked it over and felt that it was probably a 50-70. The barrel was shorter than a regular rifle but the breech block was marked 1870. As I recall the lock was only marked Springfield with no eagles or other marks. The breech where the barrel is screwed in appeared to be about an inch longer than on my 1873 models. I cannot identify the exact model from my limited research but I am beginning to wonder if it was a Bannerman parts gun. It wasn't in good condition but the bore was bright. It brought $875.

Col Bull

[Silver Creek Slim]

Now that you said that, I remember him wondering if it was a Bannerman.

Slim

[River City John]

Yeah, but what wattage is it?

[Silver Creek Slim]

100w 

Slim

[Pitspitr]

If it is .50-70 the lock plate should be the civil war type thicker lock plate and the breech block would be marked 1870 or 1868. Slim, you could probably offer close to twice that much and still be ok. If the  stock wasn't drilled it could easily be worth  $800 as there weren't a lot of cadets made.

[St. George]

The chances of the dealer knowing precisely how many Trapdoors and Cadets were made is most likely on the high side, and the finding of a US-issued 'sleeper' on the rack of a gun dealer isn't happening, since the advent of the Internet.

Besides - if 'he' bought it for a C-Note - nothing says that the bargain gets passed on to the next guy.


Bannerman made thes lamps - as did pretty much every noted surplus dealer of the time - out of whatever spare parts on hand - and way back when - there were literally mounds of spare parts.

Later - the idea re-surfaced in all of the various gun magazines - showing how to achieve this decorative feat on your own, so that you too, could add to the manly ambience of your den.

My God - but what they ruined...

On the other hand - hindsight 'is' 20-20, after all - and no one ever saw the eventual rise in value of militaria, since at one time - there was so very much of it.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!