Hunting red stag with an original M 1873 Springfield Trapdoor rifle

The Model 1873 Springfield Trapdoor was an excellent military rifle firing self contained cartridges. The first modern rifle of the US Army and a legend among today’s black powder shooters. Today it is considered obsolete because of the black powder loaded cartridge, while it is still capable of accuracy and energy enough for killing any European big game. Here is my story about this iconic part of history and the ballistics performance of its black powder loaded cartridge. Please support us at For buying Capandball Civil War cartridge boxes, cartridge formers, authentic powder measures, rubber arsenal label stamps and US arsenal Stadias: or the Capandball webpage: