Trapdoor Rifles

45Govt, Here's a bit of a rarity for you,...not the box itself, it's just a run of the mill 2nd pattern McKeever of Watervliet manufacture. However, it is unit marked to a cavalry unit. If you recall, McKeevers were originally intended to be worn in pairs with the M1874 Palmer Infantry brace equipme...

Very, very nice pieces. Thanks for sharing the photographs.

What a magnificent collection of Indian Wars/Spanish American War photographs. Thank you for sharing!

For this kind of field attire try What Price Glory.

IMG_2169 (1).jpg [/img] IMG_2161 (1).jpg IMG_2171 (1).jpg These are legitimate regular army unit markings. I have one exactly like it, in fact, I bought it from the same gentleman who owns the subject rifle. So far, I have accounted for eight M1866 rifles with this same marking made from the same m...

I spoke on the phone to Stephen McCartney this morning. Unfortunately, he does no have the original government load data for the forager loads. He did, however, suggest that you might look up the information on the loading kits that were issued along with the shotguns to the companies. He thinks tha...

Stephen's computer is not working at this time. He has access to the internet, but in a rather disjointed manner. I will tell him to check up on this site the next time I speak to him.

Rick T.

Thank you for sharing that photograph! That is an extremely nice photo!

Rick T.

I would have thought that as well, Tom. Of course, the only tool available at the time would have been the first pattern tool, and I am not the least bit convinced on how effective that particular tool was. I've never had to use one, so I don't know from personal experience, but it looks fairly crud...

On several occasions, including somewhat recently, our discussions included the head separation of early copper cased cartridges. Generally these conversations center around the legends of this issue as it pertains to the Little Big Horn fight. Additional discussion includes soldiers using leather l...