Model 1873 Springfield Trapdoor Experimental Magazine Rifle,Apparently this single prototype was off
Model 1873 Springfield Trapdoor Experimental Magazine Rifle,Apparently this single prototype was offered to US Army Ordnance as a possible repeating rifle for the US Army in 1877. The army had rejected many other repeating designs in favor of the single shot breechloading Trapdoor, so it is quite possible that the maker of the rifle was trying to utilized the army’s favored weapon.The maker of this rifle removed the cleaning rod and in its place inserted an 8 round tube magazine. Then a repeating mechanism was added to the breech. By working a lever in front of the trigger guard a cartridge was removed by spring mechanism from the magazine and placed on a rising block. The user would then insert the round into the breech by hand. In a way this rifle is technically not a repeating rifle, but a hybrid between a repeating rifle and a breechloader since the user still had to eject spent cartridges and insert new cartridges by hand.Unfortunately the US Army never showed any interest in the design, still shunning newfangled repeating rifles for older single shots weapons. This rifle is the only prototype known to exist. -- source link
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