Remington-Lee 1885 Shortened to Trapdoor Length?

[John S.]

I have never heard anything remotely like that.

the markings on the stock tip may be some sort of rack mark, but not "cartouches."

Ships had very capable wood and metal working tools and sailors, fully capable of modifying arms racks or arms chests, and such alterations at the local level would not have drawn the wrath of superiors.

However, messing with arms provided by the Bureau of Ordnance was highly frowned upon, and cutting down a Remington Lee and getting the front sight affixed in the proper location, and adjusting diameter of the barrel to still fit the bayonets is pretty complicated work.

"Shortened to fit Navy racks" sounds more like a story made up by a seller trying to explain away defects caused outside of service use.

I would not be surprised if Bannerman and friends cut some down, or rebarreled with oddball barrels upon request, when presented with the dilemma or opportunity to salvage some rifles with badly boogered barrels.

Remember, all my advice comes with a full money back guarantee.I have never heard anything remotely like that.

Regarding USN use of trapdoors as line throwing guns, I have found no evidence to support that. The earliest USN line throwing guns I have found documented are .45-70 Model 1886 Winchesters obtained from William Read in Boston circa 1918. During WW2 the line throwing gun was the H&R single shot tip up shotgun based .45-70 Mark 1 Mod 0.

Trapdoor line throwing guns seem to have appeared on the market about 1918 from the Coston Company of New York, but aimed at the merchant marine trade, and met USCG requirements. It is POSSIBLE that USN also obtained and used some circa 1918-1945, but I have never seen a photo, manual, or anything to confirm USN use of the trapdoor line throwers. Only a few anecdotal mentions which seem to be long after the fact from clouded memories.

[Hammer]

Thanks, John. Of course, I have no idea other than what I read others talk about online. It may be it was Coast Guard ships that use trap doors as line throwing guns, and not USN that I had read about sometime back.

[Tom Trevor]

IN SRS a number of trapdoors with early 1940s dates are listed as" donated to US navy" Could these have been converted for line throwing use for the war?

[Dick Hosmer]

IN SRS a number of trapdoors with early 1940s dates are listed as" donated to US navy" Could these have been converted for line throwing use for the war?

Interesting thought! I've always wondered about those myself - hard to imagine what they would have been wanted for . . .

[Texcl2]

I trained at an old ww2 submarine base several months when I was young, I remember finding piles of spent .45/70 casings all over the place near the shore. I was told they were for the line throwing guns. I didn’t know they were from converted trapdoor rifles till much later in life. I do believe in later years the base was used by the coasties for training as well as the Marines and Navy.

[John S.]

"Tom Trevor wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2024 6:55 pm
IN SRS a number of trapdoors with early 1940s dates are listed as" donated to US navy" Could these have been converted for line throwing use for the war? "

I've asked for years if anyone can show one of those numbers is actually for a line throwing conversion, with no confirmation.

If if a LTG conversion, the USN could have been the collection point for guns actually destined for use by merchant ships as part of an armament package for the armed guard, or security details.
I believe that the USCG "Beach Patrols", such as along the Atlantic seaboard sometimes used trapdoors, but full length, not cut for LTG. Again, USCG is distinct service from USN, but wartime collection efforts may have places USN as the prominent agency while anything collected was spread around.

I will post a list of WW2 USN Contribution serial numbers some time and maybe we can find an answer.