Springfield Trapdoor question

Just picked up my Trapdoor, 1884, good condition, nice gun. w/bayonet, but the cleaning rod is busted in half.

My question, It shoots 14 inches high at 50 yards,quite a bit higher at 100, with 60 grains BP and a 405 cast bullet. This is using the peep sight at the lowest setting possible, lower than the flipped down sight.

I recovered 1 bullet from the hill and it appears almost devoid of rifleing marks, 1/3rd of the bullet is gone, however it mics out at .4485 I slugged the barrel and it shows good rifling but slugged at .449

Is there an easy fix to this, should I try sizing the bullets smaller? or is this normal?

Any ideas or suggestions.

How much higher at 100 yards is it than at 50 yards?

I'd guess it's probrably 26 inches or so at 100 yards, the bullet I recovered hit the very top of the berm, wasn't even on the backstop

The calculated sight correction for 26 inches at 100 yards, assuming the TD sight radius is about a yard, is .26". You need that much taller front blade. I have seen higher front sight blades neatly inserted in the old guns' sight bases. Needs careful work to look right. I have also seen a clamp-on affair that held a globe sight behind and above the original sight, but I don't know where the user got it. Dixie has something of the sort for a rifle musket but I don't know if it would fit a TD, or raise the line of sight enough to help. You might could modify one, they are only about $15.

I have never heard of a TD barrel as small as .449" but I am not a specialist in the field.

The combination of the bullet breaking up and the absence of rifling marks on the bullet even though the rifle has good rifling could mean that your bullets are too hard. Unlike cast bullets for high power rifles, bullets for that old gun should be about pure lead.

Jim

AH-HA! you are using the carbine 45/70 loading (405gr) versus the rifle load which was IIRC 475 or 500 grains plus you still neeed to use the 70 grains of BP and not the 60 grains. Your military sights should be scaled for the heavier loading. Also its not impossible that you have a bent barrel. They used the 405 gr in the carbine because the 500 gr gave too much recoil. Its a perfect world again, goodnight Saddam.

JJ welcome to the world of Trapdoors. Mine shoots over a foot high at both 50 and 100 yards also. I am in the process of rigging a clamp-on type of front sight extension. Be sure and check/post on www.trapdoorcollector.com