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Title:	RIFLE, MILITARY -  U.S. RIFLE MODEL 1866 TRAPDOOR .50-70
Maker/Manufacturer:	ALLIN, ERSKINE S.
Date of Manufacture:	1867-1869
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 41
Measurements:	OL:140.9CM 55 1/2" BL: 92.7CM 36 1/2"

Object Description:

U.S. RIFLE MODEL 1866 TRAPDOOR .50-70
Manufactured by Springfield Armory, Springfield, Ma. in 1867 - Standard breechloading conversion of a M1863 Type II rifle-musket. Converted from .58 percussion muzzleloading to a .50-70 centerfire. Caliber reduced by brazing a tube inside the barrel. Three bands, spring fastened. Weapon has an overall length of 55 1/2" and a barrel length of 36 1/2". 52,299 M1866 Trapdoors were manufactured from 1867 to 1869, and one was manufactured in 1871.

Markings:
Lock: U.S./SPRINGFIELD w/eagle forward of hammer. 1865 rear of hammer.
Breechblock: Eaglehead/1866.
Barrel: 3 S.
Bands: U.
Buttplate: US.
Stock: Inspectors' marks: E.S.A., H.S.H. Rear of triggerguard: C.S.C. & N (twice).

1909 Catalog #0195 - "Musket. Cal..50. M'f'd 1865. Mod. 1865."

Springfield Republican, June 5, 1866 - "One hundred of the Springfield muskets which have been altered to breech-loaders, under the patent of Master Armorer E.S. Allin, have been practically tested for a month or two by United States soldiers in Virginia. The report at to their efficiency and value is very flattering. Mr. Allin has recently improved his design by still further simplifying one of its parts. It now combines great strength and utility with remarkable simplicity. The gun can easily be fired twenty times a minute, and it is unquestionably superior for actual service to many of the breech-loaders which the government is urged to construct anew, instead of making them from the old model, as the Allin gun is made."

Springfield Republican, July 24, 1867 - "The 'Allin patent fire-arms company' is a new organization of Norwich, Ct. and New York capitalists, who propose to alter muzzle-loaders into breech-loaders under the patent of Master Armorer E.S. Allin of this city. Their works will be located at Norwich, where they have leased the armory of the Norwich fire-arms company, and they expect to begin operations in a month or two, and as soon as possible carry up their production to 1000 guns a day. They have already made several contracts, among which is one with the Peruvian government for altering 30,000 muskets into breech-loaders. Many of the states of this country have muskets which they gladly get transformed into good breech-loaders at moderate expense, and the new company will doubtless find enough to do. They will at first let the making of several 'parts' to Norwich concerns that are not fully employed at present."

Springfield Republican, August 7, 1867 - "CUT-DOWN AT THE ARMORY - Orders have been received at the armory to reduce the production of the altered breech-loaders to 200 a day, and consequently a large number of workmen have been discharged. One hundred and fifty have already received their walking tickets and 100 to 125 more will be served likewise today or tomorrow. Here the decapitation will probably cease for the present though a further reduction is expected by and by. The War Department at Washington, not the authorities here, is responsible for this folly. A month ago order were sent on to crowd the daily production up to 500 guns. This has no sooner been done than the Washington whifflers order a reduction to 200 a day. The result is that hundreds of skilled workmen who have been attracted hither by the virtual promise of a permanent job, and many of whom have moved their families here at considerable trouble and expense, now find themselves, with scarcely a day's warning, thrown out of employment. If a private manufacturer should serve his workmen in this way, it would be considered a very shabby proceeding, and it is in this case. Just at the time when all other civilized nations in the world are equipping their armies with breech loaders, and just at the time when improved arms are needed to give efficiency to our Indian crusades, the United States ordnance bureau folds it hands. The milk in the coconut is the fact that Ben Butler is interested in a new breech loader, and is determined to foist it upon the government, and make it supplant the Allin gun, which actual service has shown it to
Springfield Republican, December 18, 1867 - "Defeated in his impeachment and repudiation schemes, Gen. Butler* now finds the firearm speculation in which he had embarked and on account of which the work in the armory of converting the old muskets into the improved 'Springfield gun' was suspended in August, also knocked in the head by the report of Gen. Dyer, chief of ordnance, to Gen. Grant, in which he unequivocally endorses the altered gun and goes on to say, - 'It is confidently believed that no musket has been converted into a breech-loader in this country or in Europe which is superior for military purposes to that which has been produced at the Springfield armory, and none equal to it in serviceable quality can be produced at less cost. All of the converted arms have been issued to troops, and nearly all of the infantry serving in the departments of the Missouri and Platte have been armed with them. Monthly reports have been received at this bureau from the commanders of companies armed with this musket, giving the number of arms in each company, the numbered rendered unserviceable each month, with the causes, the number of cartridges fired, the number of failures and the opinion of the officers respecting the arms and ammunition. The reports have been highly satisfactory and favorable to the arm, and furnish abundant evidence of its excellence and fitness for military service. The almost unanimous opinion expressed by the officers is, that the musket is simple, strong, not liable to get out of order, and extremely accurate in firing. Some officers have suggested slight modifications for the improvement of the arm, but the defects mentioned by them exist in the unconverted arm, and are in no way connected with the peculiar method of conversion."

Notes: Troop trials with the Model 1865 rifle disclosed several design deficiencies in both rifle and its ammunition. Corrective action consisted of the replacement of the rack-type extractor with an improved U-shaped spring extractor, which was compressed as the breechblock was closed. When the breechblock was opened, this spring acted against the rim of the cartridge case and expelled it forcibly from the chamber. The center-fire firing pin within the breechblock was retracted by a coil sping around its front end. It was also decided at this time to reduce the caliber of the rifle from .58 to .50, for use with the new .50 caliber cartridge that had been developed at Frankford Arsenal. The muzzle velocity of this round was about 1,240 feet per second.
The authority to develop and convert arms under this new system was authorized July 26, 1866 by the following message to General Dyer, chief of ordnance. "You are hereby directed to take immediate measures for the conversion of 25,000 Springfield muskets into breech-loaders of the best pattern, and for the preparation of an adequate supply of ammunition for them."

"Between 1867-69 Springfield altered 52,349 muzzleloading rifle-muskets, principally Springfield-made M1863 Type II arms, to this improved Allin system. First the barrels were bored smooth to .64 cal. Then a new steel sleeve of .50 cal. inner diameter was brazed into the bore and rifled as before. A slightly different leaf sight, pierced with two peeps, was substituted on a reversed sight base forward of the hinge." - Madaus

"The method of lining barrels was patented by Mr. Charles E. Bailey, foreman in the Water (Forging & Finishing) Shops. Having the patent, he allowed the Government to use it without charge. On December 24, 1866, Springfield was asked for the details of the process. E.S. Allin responded: 'The rifling is bored out and the barrel bored to the right size for receiving the bushing - requiring three operations - then it is counterbored 5 1/2" in the breech end to form a shoulder - which is .007" deep. The bushing have been turned, etc., as described below, is then put in, driven up to the shoulder - they are then brazed together at the muzzle - then proved with two charges, 280 grains of The bushing are rolled out the same as a barrel - then sawed in two - and each part rolled out to the proper length. After being annealed they are straightened and bored twice. The end milled off to the right length and a ring of babbit metal cast around the center to hold it - so it cannot spring in turning. Turning on each end up to the ring, the ring knocked off and the center turned - straightened again - turned whole length (except shoulder), straightened, then grounded to gauges - ready to put into the barrel. The cost of operation totaled $1.55875 (Springfield's cost accounting quite often was carried to a very small fraction of a cent.) It is now clear how the long shoulder retainer was used. In 1869, the shoulder was not used and the liner was driven into the musket barrel and brazed at both ends. The rear sight-hole was used for brazing the breech end of the liner. Evidence of braze in the sight hole is an indication of late barrel production.
It was reported that several rifles in the field had their liners work forward. This problem was isolated to arms of earliest production that were made with tapered liners, without shoulders, that were driven in, but not brazed. The problem was immediately remedied early in the production process." - Frasca

"The Model 1866 rifle was a simplified version of the 1865 pattern, chambering a new inside-primed .50-70 centerfire cartridge. A 'U'-spring extractor had replaced the flimsy ratchet mechanism of the original gun, and the original .58-calibre barrels had been reamed-out to .64 to take a .50-calibre lining tube. The method, suggested by Brevet-Colonel Theodore Laidley, was rapidly perfected in the Springfield factory and an order was given on 26 July 1866 to convert 25,000 rifle-muskets, half of them with varnished stocks and the remainder left plain.
The 1866-pattern Allin conversion, despite their shortcomings, came as a revelation to men used to nothing but muzzleloaders. Shortly after the Fetterman Massacre of 1866, men under the command of Colonel Henry Carrington, charged with establishing forts and strongpoints along the Bozeman Trail, were issued with some of the first 'Trapdoor Springfields' rifles to reach the West. On consecutive days at the beginning of August 1867, the new rifles showed their value.
The 'Hayfield Fight' occurred when a large Sioux war-party attacked twenty cavalrymen and six civilians, cutting hay near Fort Smith under the command of Captain Thomas Burrowes. A day-long fight repulsed the Indians, inflicting heavy casualties. Burrowes ascribed this largely to the new breechloaders, though (excepting one man armed with a .577 British Enfield) the civilians had a mixture of Henry and Spencer repeaters.
The .50-70 Springfields had proved their worth when the Indians, believing their decoy party had drawn the fire of the defenders, rushed home an attack in the mistaken belief that reloading was taking place. The speed with which the breechloaders could be fired improved the confidence of the soldiers in their weapons, and this composure in turn improved marksmanship.
The 'Wagon-Box Fight' of 2 August repeated the lessons of the Hayfield. A force of more than 200 warriors led by Red Cloud attacked twenty-six cavalrymen and four civilian wood cutters from Fort Phil Kearny, led by Captain James Powell. Armed with brand-new .50-701866-type Springfield breech-loaders. Powell's men took cover behind box bodies removed from the wagons.
The Indians pressed home attack after attack for more than three hours, sustaining heavy casualties in the face of withering defensive fire, before retiring in bemused disarray. Poor shots had reloaded guns for the marksmen, allowing one particularly well-practiced civilian to maintain a constant barrage by using eight rifles alternately.
A Board of Officers convened in 1868 to examine rifle requirements reported that a 'careful examination of more than 200 monthly reports oThe worst of the problems related to the original inside-primed cartridges, which jammed too regularly, could not be reloaded, and were prone to rupture owing to the absence of reinforcement in the case-head compared with the walls. The drawbacks of the regulation ammunition were clearly shown in the trials of 1872-73, culminating in the adoption of the .45-70 M1873 rifle, were many rival guns performed much better with commercial drawn-brass ammunition than with army-type copper-case patterns. Copper lacked the ability of brass to expand momentarily to seal the breech, then contract just as quickly to permit extraction." - Walter

"Cody (Wild Bill) has been credited with downing more than 4000 buffalo in eight months, mostly with the help of a .50-70 1866-pattern single-shot Trapdoor Springfield rifle nicknamed 'Lucretia Borgia.'" - Walter

There are reports that some .50 caliber Springfields were carried by volunteer units in the Spanish-American War.

"An Ode to the .50 Caliber Springfield, by Stan Nelson. Some time ago while reading Colonel Philip M. Shockley's informative little treatise, THE TRAP-DOOR SPRINGFIELD IN THE SERVICE, I was attracted by a statement in the last chapter, 'In Memorial,' as follows: 'The .50 caliber 'Allin Gun' received favorable mention for its part in the Wagonbox fight and for its power to kill buffalo, but no stanza or verse ever contained any reference to it or subsequent models.'
This struck a bell because I happened to know of a tribute in verse to the lowly Trap-door and, as a matter of fact had re-read it shortly before seeing Colonel Shockley's pamphlet. I heartily concur with the good Colonel's evaluation of the .50 and .45 caliber Springfield, merits and demerits alike, but it was a standard Army issue for fifty some odd years, and this extended tenure of service alone should have won it more attention than it has received at the hands of frontier writers in general and military historians in particular. Being interested in firearms as well as American history, I generally not any literary recognition of a specific arm and tab it for future reference. The few remarks about the Trap-door Springfield that I have read are mainly derogatory, but a few exceptions are to be noted.
In his excellent SIX YEARS WITH THE TEXAS RANGERS, James B. Gillett comments with admiration on the long range accuracy of a .45-70 Springfield which was used by one of the rangers to kill antelope for camp meat. According J. Evetts Halley in JEFF MILTON, A GOOD MAN WITH A GUN, old Jeff kept a .45-70 Springfield rifle handy and thought highly of its killing power. Elmer Keith, in RIFLES FOR LARGE GAME, tells of an old timer of his acquaintance who was a remarkable shot with an old Trap-door Springfield. In these instance one may readily infer that it was as much the man as the gun, for a rifle is only as good as the man behind it; but the point is, as Colonel Shockley has mentioned, that the old Trap-door could give an excellent account of itself in the hands of a skilled marksman, which the average trooper evidently was not.
To get back to the poem on the Trap-door, this verse is contained in a little book of grass-roots type poetry by Joseph Mills Hanson entitled FRONTIER BALLADS, published by A.C. McClurg and Co., of Chicago back in 1910. The author, Joseph Mills Hanson, also wrote several books on frontier history, the best of which is THE CONQUEST OF MISSOURI, a very good book and something of a standard work to 'Custeriana' fans, as it constitutes a practical biography of Captain Grant Marsh, who commanded the steamer, Far West, on the upper Mississippi and Yellowstone Rivers. The Far West, as some readers will recall, was the steamer that picked up Reno's wounded from the Little Big Horn battlefiery.
In his poetry, Mr. Hanson is admittedly closer to Captain Jack Crawford than he is to Robert Frost, but I like them both and for the benefit of Colonel Shockley and Gun Report readers everywhere, here is an ode to the Trap-door Springfield. (We will forgive the Buffington sights on Mr. Hanson's .50 Springfield).
'THE SPRINGFIELD CALIBRE FIFTY
I was wrought of walnut blocks and rolled rod steel,
I was hammered, lathed, and mandrelled, stock and plate,
I was gauged and tested, bayonet to heel,
Then shipped for service, twenty in a crate.
For I was the calibre fifty,
Hi! - dough-boys, you haven't forgot
The click of my tumblers shifty
And the kick of the butt when I shot?
I was nothing too light on your shoulder,
You were glad when you stacked me o'nights,
But I'd drill an Apach'
From the thousand - yard scratch
If you'd only hold straight on the sights - old sights!
My trusty old Buffington sights!
In oil-soaked chests at Watervliet I've laid,
I have rusted in Vancouver through the rains,
I have scorched on Fort Mohave's baked parade,
And caked with sand at Sedgwick on the plains.
For I led every march on the border,
And I taught every rookie to fight;
Though he'd curse me in close marching order,
Lord! - he'd hug me on picket at night
As he thought of the herd-guard at Buford
When Sitting Bull swooped within reach,
And 'twas every man's life,
It was bullet and knife
Had my cartridges jammed in the breech - lock breech!
In my solid block, hammer-lock breech!
It was I who lashed the Modocs from their lair
With Wheaton in the Tule Lava Bed;
It was I who drove Chief Joseph to despair
When I streaked the slopes of Bear Paw with his dead.
For I was most impressive -
The Springfield the infantry bore -
To redskins with spirits aggressive
That peace is more healthful than war;
I showed them on Musselshell River
And again, yet more plain, at Slim Butte;
They were plucky as sin
But they had to come in
When they found how the Springfield could shoot - shoot, shoot!
How my blue-bottle barrel could shoot!
I was Vengeance when, with Miles through trackless snow,
The 'fighting Fifth' took toll for Custer's fall;
I was Justice when we flayed Geronimo;
I was Mercy to the famished horde of Gall.
Oh, I was slow-plodding and steady;
Not hot, like the carbine, to raid,
But when he found trouble too ready
He was glad of his big brother's aid;
For sometimes he'd scatter the outposts,
Then wait, if the foe proved too stout,
Till, at 'Front into line!'
It was business of mine
While the infantry volleyed the rout - rout, rout!
While I cleared out the village in rout.
But those years had sped; long silent are my lips;
Not my sturdy grandson rules the host I knew,
And a drab-clad army trusts the five-shell clips
As of old the blue-clad held my one shot true.
Still, my dotage takes solace of glory
From my turbulent youth and its scenes.
As vivid with valorous story
As the isles of the far Philippines.
Though the steel-jacket smokeless is sovereign
And I'm proud of my name on his crest
It was black smoke and lead
When the skirmish lines spread
With the Springfield that conquered the West - West, West!
With the hard-fighting arm of the West!'" - The Gun Report, March, 1962.

LOAN HISTORY:
Army# 2348, SPAR-41 - Weapon loaned to Big Horn Canyon National Recreation Area, Fort Smith, Montana, in 1979 and returned in 1986. Weapon used for exhibit on Hayfield Fight.

References:
Ball, Robert W.D. SPRINGFIELD ARMORY: SHOULDER WEAPONS 1795-1968. Antique Trader Book. Norfolk, Va. 1997.
Clark, David C. ARMS FOR THE NATION. Scott A. Duff. Export, Pa. 1992.
Dorsey, R. Stephen. GUNS OF THE WESTERN INDIAN WAR. Collectors Library. Eugene, Or. 1995.
Frasca, Albert J. & Robert H.Frasca, Albert & Robert Hill. THE .45-70 SPRINGFIELD. Springfield Publishing Co. Northridge, Ca. 1980.
Frasca, Albert J. THE .45-70 SPRINGFIELD BOOK II. 1865-1893. Frasca Publishing Co. Springfield, Oh. 1997.
Madaus, H. Michael. THE WARNER COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO AMERICAN LONGARMS. Warner Books. N.Y., N.Y. 1981.
Walter, John. THE GUNS THAT WON THE WEST: FIREARMS ON THE AMERICAN FRONTIER, 1848-1898. Stackpole Books. Mechanicsburg, Pa. 1999.
Wenzel, Nikolai. THE FETTERMAN MASSACRE OF DECEMBER 21, 1866. Journal of America's Military Past. Vol. XXVIII. Spring/Summer 2001.
Wolf, Richard Irving. ARMS AND INNOVATION: THE UNITED STATES ARMY AND THE REPEATING RIFLE 1865-1900. University Microfilm International. Ann Arbor, Mi. 1981.

*Although we are not sure what Benjamin Franklin Butler (1818-1893) was up to here, we know enough about Butler to know it was probably no good. Butler, who was the Union military commander in New Orlean from May to December, 1862, ordered that all females of that city who insulted Union officers were to be treated as "common prostitutes." Although it is not widely reported, that statement almost led to British intervention on the side of the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis probably had good reason for ordering that if Butler was ever captured he was "to be hung as a felon."