My guess: Someone wanted a shiny rifle.
1873 Trapdoor Question
I recently bought an 1873 Springfield trapdoor. The auction said that the bore was pristine (It is) and the rifle is in good working order. It also said that there was no finish on the rifle. When I recieved the rifle, I found this not to be true. It appears that it is nickle plated. I removed the barrel from the stock and the finish looks as good as the the day it was done. There are areas where the finish has come off but this is really no big issue. My question is has anyone seen a trapdoor like this before? I am new to the trapdoor scene and have only seen the blued rifles. This rifle is in great shape and I have a range day next week so I have loaded some BP rounds with 405gr RNHB bullets. Comments?
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From your pictures it appears to be in the "white", can not tell if it is "nickle" plated. My guess is that someone wanted a pimped up presentation model. Do not get me wrong, actually quite a few Military Academies used gussied up Trapdoors for drill and parade uses. I actually have one too, from the Southwest Military Academy in Austin, Tx. Theirs was obtained thru a donation by a guy named Douglas MacArthur. The Alabama State Armory converted left over rifles to "Academy" rifles, of which the iron was converted to either being highly polished in the "white" and a few were "nickle" plated, this is the one on top below:
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