Trapdoor Rifles

Recently purchased a small lot of gun parts, mostly trapdoor. In the mix was a lock plate marked 1867 and thinner than a Civil War era lock plate. What kind of cobbled up Bannerman nonsense is this I thought to myself. Until I did a bit of research. It appears that I have a lock plate that somehow ended up in the wild from one of the 424 Cadet rifles produced that year.

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The date does not look to have been stamped by Springfield and it also looks to be placed incorrectly?? The lock plate should also be thicker. Here is a complete 1867 cadet rifle on GB.
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/1016322053

If anybody wants one, that's about as nice as you're likely to find; considerably better than mine.

The lockplate under discussion is a FAKE. It is a .45-70 plate, inscribed by Bubba (man. that guy got around!) The true 1867 plate is of a thickness between the CW and flat styles, but has a bevel similar to the former.

Man you guys are good ! Comparing it to the original in the GB link I can see several things wrong with mine. This is why I come here. Things I noted right away besides the incorrect thickness. The "1" dosn't have a line across the bottom. Numbers aren't perfectly aligned. Eagle is too close to the "Springfield" stamping. I'm sure there's more. The question is why someone would do this ?

nhbandit wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 6:28 pm Man you guys are good ! Comparing it to the original in the GB link I can see several things wrong with mine. This is why I come here. Things I noted right away besides the incorrect thickness. The "1" dosn't have a line across the bottom. Numbers aren't perfectly aligned. Eagle is too close to the "Springfield" stamping. I'm sure there's more. The question is why someone would do this ?

Easy answer - they were trying to fake an extremely rare model for sale to some novice. Either that or they had delusions. You have to do a LOT more to fake that model than change the lockplate. Perhaps they got caught . . .

And, yes I DO realize that my recent heavy "restoration" of M1882 28" TRB 197404 might be considered by some to be in that ballpark, but it was for my own enjoyment, I had the parts, including the properly numbered receiver, I will never sell it, and after I'm gone, there is enough wrong with it to make it clear to anyone that it is no virgin.

So the new title is "A blind squirrel trips over a stick and falls down a rabbit hole" lol. Thanks for clarifying what I have. I guess I won't be retiring any time soon..