1873 Trapdoor loads?

[Jbird45]

Hello all! Hope everyone is well.

I had been saving up for a .500 mag, but an acquaintance is offering me an 1873 Springfield Trapdoor .45-70. It is an old guy from the 1800's. I am a sucker for historical guns so the .500 may have to wait.

I see in my reload manual there are Trapdoor loads, but I am curious are smokeless Trapdoor loads safe in the old guns or is that for modern replicas like the uberti? I'm not opposed to loading black powder loads if need be but smokeless is easier to source where I live. If I do need to use black powder, is something like pyrodex an acceptable substitute?

Reloading for it is going to be easy. Convincing my wife to buy an old gun after I convinced her to buy a chassis rifle will be the hard part.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Jim Watson]

No guarantees, but Hodgdon starting loads of their extruded powders give BP velocity at 15000 CUP.
I think a 405 gr lead bullet at 1250 fps will serve well.
Ken Waters and my neighbor the gunsmith thought that sort of load was OK in 19th century rifles.
Ball ("spherical") powders are not as well suited to low pressure cartridges and I do not share the enthusiasm for Trail Boss in rifles.

Pyrodex was the first of the fake black powders and will do ok for casual use. Clean well, under the wrong conditions it is worse than black.

 

[BullRunBear]

Before thinking of a load, smokeless or black powder, slug the barrel. These old Trapdoors are fun but the bore can vary a lot. When I had one from the 1880s I only loaded with black powder but I have read that there are some mild smokeless loads that are safe.

Jeff

 

[Oldschool shooter]

I hunted with one for years using the factory Remington 405 round. Something similar will work well for deer and the average black bear. I took both with thst round before I retired the old timer.

 

[.455_Hunter]

Loads that duplicate factory "cowboy" ammunition will be safe in a good condition Trapdoor (make sure to assess properly). However, the hard cast flatbase bullet and small smokeless load will not have the best accuracy. Black powder with correctly lubed soft bullets that "bump up" to fit the bore are needed for higher accuracy.