This was accomplished by reaming out the bore and brazing in a new. 58” caliber was considered too large, so in 1866 the arm was redesigned and converted to. The basic 'trapdoor' design lasted more than 25 years, but many gradual modifications resulted in steady improvement of the weapon. This 'Allin conversion' consisted primarily of removing the top portion of the rear of the barrel and replacing it with a hinged breech block, which soon was nicknamed the 'trap door.' Five thousand Model 1865 conversions were produced at Springfield, utilizing the older rifle muskets and retaining their. Allin, the Master Armorer of Springfield Armory. The system that was selected was a relatively simple one developed by Erskine S. Instead, the Ordnance Department was directed to convert the existing muzzle-loaders to a standard breech-loading arm. In 1865 the US faced the possibility of war with one of these powers: France had installed a puppet government in Mexico while the US was distracted by the Civil War, and many Americans believed war would be necessary to dislodge the French-backed Emperor Maximilian.Īt the same time, the usual postwar mood of retrenchment had set in and a penny-pinching administration was reluctant to scrap large numbers of usable weapons and initiate a costly replacement program. Also, it was relatively easy to ram more than one load into a muzzle-loader by mistake.īecause of these glaring defects, most European armies had already adopted breechloading arms. As a result, soldiers would frequently fail to ram the bullet fully down on the powder, so that the weapon burst on firing. Wartime experience had shown that muzzle-loaders were becoming obsolete: it was difficult to load them in other than a standing position, and as they became fouled from repeated firing, it became increasingly difficult to ram a cartridge home.

58” caliber rifle muskets of the Springfield pattern, most of which were still serviceable. At the end of the Civil War the US Government had on hand over one million single-shot, muzzle-loading.

1873 springfield trapdoor rear sight