Springfield Model 1870 | |
---|---|
Type | Breech-loading rifle |
Place of origin | United States |
Service history | |
In service | 1870–1873 |
Used by | United States |
Wars | American Indian Wars |
Production history | |
Designer | Erskine S. Allin |
Designed | 1870 |
Manufacturer | Springfield Armory |
Produced | 1870–1872 |
No. built | c. 11,350 |
Variants | Carbine |
Specifications | |
Length | 52 in (1,300 mm) |
Barrel length | 32.6 in (830 mm) |
Cartridge | .50-70-450 |
Action | Trapdoor |
Rate of fire | User dependent; usually 8 to 10 rounds per minute |
Feed system | Breech-loading |
Sights | Iron sights |
The Springfield Model 1870 was one of the rifles which used the trapdoor breechblock design developed by Erskine S. Allin. The Model 1870 was a minor improvement to the Springfield Model 1868, and retained most of the Model 1868 rifle features. [1]
Note: Springfield Model 1870 may also refer to the Springfield rolling-block U.S. Navy rifle, employing the Remington Arms Company rolling-block design, and manufactured under a royalty agreement with Remington, for use by the United States Navy as a shipboard small arm. [1]
The trapdoor Springfields had originally been designed as an inexpensive method of converting Springfield Model 1861 and Springfield Model 1863 rifled muskets into breech-loading rifles, which dramatically improved their rate of fire from about 2 to 3 shots per minute to about 8 to 10 shots per minute. [1]
The original trapdoor Springfields had replaced only the firing mechanism, and had used a barrel liner to reduce the caliber from .58 to .50. This barrel liner proved to be unreliable in the field, and later trapdoor Springfields, like the Model 1870, abandoned the barrel liner method and used newly manufactured barrels instead. [1]
There were two versions of the Model 1870, which differed slightly from each other. The first version was produced in 1870 and 1871. The rear sight was improved, and the receiver was shortened to create the Model 1870 receiver. The rear sight on the first Model 1870 was almost against the receiver. 1,000 of these rifles were manufactured. [2]
The second version was produced in 1872 and 1873. In this version the rear sight was moved up so that it was about half an inch away from the receiver. This version also featured a double shouldered cleaning rod, which differed from the first Model 1870 that had used the Model 1868 rifle's cleaning rod. The second version Model 1870 also had a long high arch on the underside of the breechblock, which differed from the first version which had a shorter arch identical to the Model 1868. 10,000 of the second version were manufactured. [2]
A shorter carbine version was also produced in 1871. Approximately 350 of these were manufactured. [2]
The Model 1870, the carbine version as well as both versions of the rifle, used the .50-70-450 cartridge. [1]
Wild Bill Hickok, the famous gunfighter, used a variant of the Model 1870. The "Hickok rifle" has a 29.625-inch (75.25 cm) barrel, which is longer than the carbine version's barrel and shorter than the rifle version's barrel, and also has a Kentucky rifle style sloped butt. The trapdoor mechanism is stamped with the year 1870, and the lockplate is stamped with the year 1863, indicating that this rifle was originally produced as a Model 1863 rifled musket and was later converted as part of the Model 1870 manufacturing. The name "J. B. Hickok" was carved into the stock using a sharp knife. Hickok was buried with this rifle in 1876. However, when he was reburied in Mount Moriah in 1879, someone removed the rifle from his coffin. [3]
In firearm designs, the term single-shot refers to guns that can hold only a single round of ammunition inside and thus must be reloaded manually after every shot. Compared to multi-shot repeating firearms ("repeaters"), single-shot designs have no moving parts other than the trigger, hammer/firing pin or frizzen, and therefore do not need a sizable receiver behind the barrel to accommodate a moving action, making them far less complex and more robust than revolvers or magazine/belt-fed firearms, but also with much slower rates of fire.
In firearms terminology, an action is the functional mechanism of a breech-loading firearm that handles the ammunition cartridges, or the method by which that mechanism works. Actions are technically not present on muzzleloaders, as all those are single-shot firearms with a closed off breech with the powder and projectile manually loaded from the muzzle. Instead, the muzzleloader ignition mechanism is referred to as the lock.
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The term Springfield rifle may refer to any one of several types of small arms produced by the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts, for the United States armed forces.
The Remington M1867 is a rolling-block rifle that was produced in the second-half of the 19th century. It was the first rifle using metallic cartridges to be adopted by the Norwegian and Swedish armies. Nominally, it had a caliber of 4 decimal lines, but the actual caliber was 3.88 Norwegian decimal lines or 4.1 Swedish decimal lines (12.17 mm), and it fired a rimfire round with a 12.615 mm lead bullet. The 12.17 mm caliber was chosen because the Swedish army had approximately 30,000 new muzzle-loading M1860 and breech-loading M1864 rifles in 12.17 mm caliber in stock, rifles that were suitable for conversion to M1867 rolling-block rifles. With the exception of the first 10,000 rifles and 20,000 actions, which were made by Remington in the US, all Remington M1867 rifles and carbines were made under license in Norway and Sweden, by Kongsberg Vaapenfabrik in Norway, and by Husqvarna Vapenfabriks Aktiebolag and Carl Gustafs stads Gevärsfaktori in Sweden with the two Swedish manufacturers producing about 80% of the weapons.
The Peabody action was an early form of breechloading firearm action, where the heavy breechblock tilted downwards across a bolt mounted in the rear of the breechblock, operated by a lever under the rifle. The Peabody action most often used an external hammer to fire the cartridge.
The Springfield Model 1863 was a .58 caliber rifled musket manufactured by the Springfield Armory and independent contractors between 1863 and 1865.
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The .45-70, also known as the .45-70 Government, .45-70 Springfield, and .45-21⁄10" Sharps, is a .45 caliber rifle cartridge originally holding 70 grains of black powder that was developed at the U.S. Army's Springfield Armory for use in the Springfield Model 1873. It was a replacement for the stop-gap .50-70 Government cartridge, which had been adopted in 1866, one year after the end of the American Civil War, and is known by collectors as the "Trapdoor Springfield".
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The Springfield Model 1866 was the second iteration of the Allin-designed trapdoor breech-loading mechanism. Originally developed as a means of converting rifle muskets to breechloaders, the Allin modification ultimately became the basis for the definitive Springfield Model 1873, the first breech-loading rifle adopted by the United States War Department for manufacture and widespread issue to U.S. troops.
The Springfield Model 1868 was one of the rifles which used the trapdoor breechblock design developed by Erskine S. Allin.
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