Trapdoor Rifles

A Williams receiver sight with a concave bottom works very well mounted just ahead of the receiver. I glued it with Loctite 380 Black Max. A good wack with a light hammer will knock it off after a little heat and the residue can be cleaned off with acetone or lacquer thinner.

I use a taper crimp die. My TD has a .463+ groove and I'm using a .464 500 gr government bullet to punch paper. I gave up hunting.

I shot one deer using the Gould in a Sharps. No pass through from a 50 yard shot. I recovered the bullet. It was cast 20:1. I've read comments from Mike Venturino that they tend to fragment badly on big whitetails. Mine exhibited some of that and it was probably 140 pounds live weight.

Good point about checking the bore for a reline. Some were left in the original 6 groove .52 cal while quite a few were relined to 3 groove .50 cal which makes for a much better shooter. When I bought mine I was specifically looking for a 3 groove. I mounted a higher front sight ahead of the origina...

You might want to check the firing pin. S&S Firearms and Lodgewood Manufacturing for sights. $1,800.00 sounds reasonable IMHO although sights could run you $200.00 or more.

I built a Gemmer TD on an '84 action. I tried to post a pic but I get an error message saying the board has reached photo capacity.

I have to go back to my notes, but 55 gr and a 425 gr bullet deep seated in a 50-70 case come to mind. This was the carbine load after the 50-45 Carbine/Cadet cartridge was discontinued. [/quote Tony, I tried your carbine load in my original '63 Sharps today. One big hole at 50 yds and a lot less t...

Thanks Tony.

I'm strictly black powder. I'm trying a Spencer type load. 50 gr 1 1/2 Swiss, wad column and Rapine Spencer bullet.

I seem to remember Tony Beck listing his .50-70 "carbine" loads on the old site. I could use the info. if anyone has it. Full house loads out of my Sharps carbine are becoming harder to tolerate in my old age.