Hey people,
Picked up a pretty nice 1888 trapdoor on an auction (new years eve no one was on gunbroker lol). The exterior is rough, some roughness (not quite pitting but almost) on the barrel exterior but it's flawless inside. Paid $500 for it (I stole it I know).
I haven't checked headspace (don't have a gauge...) but I did the old two pieces of masking tape on the back of unfired cartridge test as a prelim and sure enough the action won't close. **Yes, I know this VERY ball-park, but I've used it before and then compared it against a gauge (granted in other calibers) and gotten pretty convincing results.**
Anyways, it seems this old rifle has passed my "field gauge test". Looks clean throughout. There are no competent, reliable gunsmiths who I trust in my area but the next time I head to see my folks I'll go see the family gunsmith-I promise. He says people are overly paranoid about trapdoors and that he has NEVER seen one fail that wasn't compromised by hot ammo.
Now the question: I have guys who have told me everything from "don't fire those guns without severely downloaded ammo" to "cowboy loads only" to "shoot whatever the hell you want through it, if the box says 'for use in all rifles' it's safe in a trapdoor". See poll above
Picked up a pretty nice 1888 trapdoor on an auction (new years eve no one was on gunbroker lol). The exterior is rough, some roughness (not quite pitting but almost) on the barrel exterior but it's flawless inside. Paid $500 for it (I stole it I know).
I haven't checked headspace (don't have a gauge...) but I did the old two pieces of masking tape on the back of unfired cartridge test as a prelim and sure enough the action won't close. **Yes, I know this VERY ball-park, but I've used it before and then compared it against a gauge (granted in other calibers) and gotten pretty convincing results.**
Anyways, it seems this old rifle has passed my "field gauge test". Looks clean throughout. There are no competent, reliable gunsmiths who I trust in my area but the next time I head to see my folks I'll go see the family gunsmith-I promise. He says people are overly paranoid about trapdoors and that he has NEVER seen one fail that wasn't compromised by hot ammo.
Now the question: I have guys who have told me everything from "don't fire those guns without severely downloaded ammo" to "cowboy loads only" to "shoot whatever the hell you want through it, if the box says 'for use in all rifles' it's safe in a trapdoor". See poll above
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