proper military repeater and/or single shot rifle to go with a schofield

[chain blue]

will that about sayes it all.  I want to shoot a schoield in a military class at the next match, but what is or would be the correct rifle. in a single and a repeaterThanks

[WaddWatsonEllis]

A Trapdoor Springfield or a Sharps comes to mind ...

Or perhaps a Spencer for a repeater...

Of course a Marlin will take standard Schofield shells ... the rest would be .45-70 or .56-50

[Pitspitr]

...Or maybe a military Remington Rolling block.

[FTrooper]

"Historically" speaking...if you are dealing with a M1875 Schofield, if you are talking regular army your choices are really as follows:

Carbine: M1873 Trapdoor variations.

Rifle: M1873 Trapdoor variations.

That is really about it until you get into "experimental" arms (mostly repeaters).  The problem is that most of them are bolt actions (like the Hotchkiss and Remington Lee) and are not allowed in certain "non military" categories.  There are some exceptions that work.

1.  alot of officers were known the carry lever action Winchesters of various types.

2.  There IS a M1870 Spencer Rifle that was issued in very limited numbers in 1876-77.  This has a barrel between the length of the carbine and the civil war rifle (what civil war folks would call a "two-bander".  Its basically the same barrel found on M1870 rifles (Remington, Springfield, Sharps, Ward-Burton) and can easily be made by a good gunsmith from the current reproductions.

Just some ideas.

Chris Fischer
F-Troop

[chain blue]

Hummmm a 5 inch schofield 45 lc and emf sharps saddle ring carbine 45-70, sounds like a winning combo

[Drydock]

In the GAF, If you want to use a 5" Schofield, then your options are rather wide open, as a 5" would be a private purchase officers weapon.  Thus you could use any US Milspec longarm from 1875 to 1900, including limited issue and experimental weapons.  

You could not pair the 1875 Schofield with an earlier weapon, say like an M1868 trapdoor, but a later weapon like a Krag would be fine.

You could not pair it with a Spencer I'm afraid.  The best pairing with a Spencer would be one of the cartridge conversions, or perhaps a Russian model S&W, accepted in lieu of a #3 American.

[Books OToole]

If you do some research on specific units you may find some interesting facts.  When assisting Windy City Joe on his NCOWS 'Originals' impression we discovered that the 7th Cav. did not get their trap-doors until early in 1876.  So, they still were carrying Spensers through 1875. [They probably would have been better off at Little Bighorn with the Spensers.]


Books

[Drydock]

THat is true.  But for our purposes we date everyhing by the official adoption date of the rifle.  It reduces the amount of chaos that tends to develop around adoption dates and the often scattered dates of issue to various units.

[US Scout]

If you do some research on specific units you may find some interesting facts.  When assisting Windy City Joe on his NCOWS 'Originals' impression we discovered that the 7th Cav. did not get their trap-doors until early in 1876.  So, they still were carrying Spensers through 1875. [They probably would have been better off at Little Bighorn with the Spensers.]

Books

Good point for those in the GAF who want to carry firearms associated with a specific unit at a particular time.  Some regiments also carried more than one long arm and/or pistol at the same time.  In researching the 4th Cavalry for 1874, I learned Spencers were predominant but some still carried the Sharps; and most carried the Colt Richards conversions but the percussion Colts (and some Remingtons) were still in service.  However, in late 1875 almost the entire regiment was equipped with the 1873 Springfield and the 1875 Schofield, which is pretty much what they carried during the Sioux War.

A 5" Schofield would be a private purchase and likely carried by an officer rather than an enlisted man (and the issue pistol was only carried for a few years).  Chain Blue might ask himself what time period he is portraying before selecting a rifle as that will have considerable impact on what his options are.  Without further information, I'd suggest one of the Springfield trapdoors variants.

US Scout
Brig Gen, GAF

[chain blue]

I know I sak a lot of question but, which gun is faster handling the sharps carbine 45-70 or the trapdoor carbine 45-70

[Drydock]

Owning both, I would rate the trapdoor slightly faster, mostly due to the spring loaded ejector.  The Trapdoor also has a tactical advantage, as it operates from the top, making it handier when prone or shooting over obstacles/from cover.

[Grapeshot]

What about a Winchester 1876 NWMP styled carbine in .45-75 or .45-60?

[Drydock]

You could not use it in our Milspec classes, in which I believe he is interested.  Great Militia class weapon though!

[chain blue]

I went with the 1873 trapdoor in 45-70 and a 1875 5 inch schofield revolver. Now as an enlisted man I can use a  private purchase weapon?

[St. George]

In short - no - there was no provision for an enlisted soldier to carry a private-purchase weapon at the time.

Officers did - but they could purchase theirs from the Army as well as from Smith & Wesson, and they would've been the long-barrelled model, just like that in general service.

The short-barrelled Schofields came about after the guns were declared surplus, and sold off to outfits like Schuyler, Hartley and Graham, were refurbished, had their barrels shortened, were generally nickel-plated (though not always) and were sold to the public, or to firms like Wells Fargo and various Railroads for use by their guards.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!