Trapdoor Rifles

Goodmorning everyone. I tencently picked up a first model 1873 with the stepped up rear sights, long wrist, 2 position hammer and no VP markings on the barrel. Unfortunately the stock has been sanded but is otherwise in serviceable shape. Where can I find information about these? I eventually would like to sell it as I probably won't shoot something this rare.

They are scarce, but you seem to have hit the high points of the ID; what else can we help you with?

Carbine or rifle? Serial number (especially if carbine)?

Gunbroker and Guns International are probably the two biggest on-line sales outlets. Our leader, John Spangler, runs Oldguns.net - he might handle it for you.

It's low...among the first batch of rifles. I don't even know how to judge this rifle! SN 4282. would appreciate a more trained eye to take a look. I bought off a kid mostly to save it as he intended to cerakote it and shoot smokless!
I can take more pictures later

Well used, but no updating that I can see. Yeah, gotta be VERY early as they ran a block of carbines right out of the gate. If I were you, I'd keep it . . .

Perhaps I will keep it.....

It doesn’t look like a carbine to me, the serial is early but condition is fairly poor. As a rifle I doubt the early number would make it a particularly monetarily valuable gun, I think condition is more important but maybe I’m wrong. Can we see full side profile pictures. Both sides? A neat gun none the less.

Texcl2 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 8:08 pm It doesn’t look like a carbine to me, the serial is early but condition is fairly poor. As a rifle I doubt the early number would make it a particularly monetarily valuable gun, I think condition is more important but maybe I’m wrong. Can we see full side profile pictures. Both sides? A neat gun none the less.

No, it's not a carbine, but must have been made just afterwards*. As to condition, when you get into the doldrums of the later, dirt common, cookie-cutter guns, yes, condition IS king for many people, but the earlier ypu get, condition gives way, at least partially to originality. That rifle is very scarce in its own right, in fact, it should not even exist - somehow missed the 1879 recall (and apparently any subsequent contact with the government as well).

There was no standard carbine in 1873. (the 1870 trials arm had not been adopted, and the frontier army was making due with a mixture of Sharps, Spencers, Starrs, etc.). So, the first thing run at SA was a large batch of carbines. That is a very early rifle and well worthy of further research.

Gotcha, I guess in my mind I lumped it in with the other early models, which don’t seem to carry much of a premium. I’ve had several early correct rifles over the years, none that early though. Seems like most were state marked, I guess those must have missed the re-builds. I always valued them a little lower since the sights were not as good as the later models but I always had more of a shooters mindset as the rifles were very common ( and cheap) when my father and I started collecting them in the 80’s and 90’s. The recall was for rifles under serial number 50,000, correct?

Yes, though WHY (other than it being a nice round number) they picked that is anyone's guess. No features changed at that point. As a very picky collector as opposed to a shooter, I have always gravitated towards guns with limited production features, rather than whether the sights were as good as a later model. Both ideas are valid, and condition is alway nice, but the rarer the gun, the more expensive it will be if minty. Then there is history - what appeals to one more in a 1873 "Custer period" carbine, a pristine specimen that never left its barracks in Connecticut, or one that is virgin as to features, but looked like it was in a bar fight? I'd take the latter - in fact I have one!

I'd be happy to disassemble and take any pictures of this early gun to anyone interested it further.