Trapdoor with threaded muzzle

[Ralph G. Briscoe]

Screen Shot 2023-10-07 at 3.18.49 PM.jpg (38.8 KiB) Viewed 1857 times

This is my 1884. Has anyone seen this before? I'm wondering if it for an experimental bayonet, line thrower or ?

Thanks

Ralph G. Briscoe

[Dick Hosmer]

New to me - and, for the life of me I cannot think what it would have been for! Bayonet? No - WAAAY too slow to attach. Silencer? WHY, ferhevvin's sake. Grenade launcher, or line-thrower? Probably the most likely but still way out in left field. Interesting though. Thanks for sharing.

[John S.]

Absolute hard NO for anything line throwing related.

My vote is for some sort of decorative purpose. A lot of old guns were converted into lamps with some sort of base or legs cobbled together, and usually the wire was run up through the barrel and lamp hardware (socket and provisions for a shade) added to the muzzle, usually stuck into the bore, not he outside. Lots of variations exist, depending on whatever the maker or Bubba had on hand and their imagination and gun-butchery skills.

Another option would be to thread the muzzle and attach it to the floor, ceiling or wall with a heavy metal plate threaded to take the muzzle. Perhaps as decoration over the bar of a veterans club, hung out in front of a gun shop, or just because Bubba thought it would be cool.

IIRC, there is a photo in one of Al's books of him at Springfield Armory with one of the staff holding a trapdoor rigged up for a crazy long barrel length for ballistics tests of some sort. (Again, IIRC) this was done by connecting several barrels with large threaded hex nuts maybe 3-4 inches long on the outside of the barrel sections.

Remember, trapdoors were once considered basically worthless old curiosities and surplus dealers got very creative in finding ways to turn cheap obsolete old junky guns into something that would sell for some purpose, totally unrelated to any historic interest or even usefulness for shooting purposes.

[Tom Trevor]

John is probably right about the lamp. From the picture the threads look to be pipe threads. Have a professional gunsmith check the barrel and chamber for a drilled cord hole or remove barreled action from stock and check it yourself. . the SPRINGFIELD TRAPDOORS face book page has a picture of a drilled barrel and the shell fired in it that one is at least above the stock line. That would be one surprised shooter to be sure. Also check the stock for a plugged hole in the wood where the cord might have exited.