Iv'e recently been given the family's old "45-70" Springfield Carbine.   At some point in distant past someone converted it to a .410 shotgun configuration and had the barrel bored smooth as well as some other mods.



well it's been in the family for four generations and now it's mine.  So i've embarked on a journey to restore it to 45-70 configuration

Mailed the barrel and action off to Bob Hoyt to have it 'rebarreled to 45-70

I've been carefully rubbing the stock in 0000 steel wool and have started rubbing linseed oil into it.  






apparently the JSW Cartouche you can see is from Samuel W Porter.  In 1888 or 1882?



Now researching reloading 45-70 BP 405gn bullets.  I've a couple of cans of Goex 2F so i can afford to embark on this journey

That’s the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time.

Keep this thread updated as you progress with it.

I have an 1873 rifle that I shoot.  If you cast it's easy to get bullets.  I have a Lee 405gr mold which has worked well.  I pan lube with a beeswax and vegetable oil mix depending on the weather I plan to shoot.  You can use lower powder charges and corn meal filler and work up a load for accuracy.  For a carbine I think the load was reduced originally anyway.

I've got a couple of Wolf's books on 45-70s and handloading BP for Springfield 1873/1884s specifically

https://the4570book.com/


I plan on loading a 405 gn hollow base bullet i bought from Buffalo Arms on top of 55gns of FFg Goex.  I'll drill the flash hole w a #41 drill bit as Wolf recommends

I had the barrel relined by Bob Hoyt and am very happy with his work



now I'm in process of boiling old parts and then "carding" them on a Carding wheel i got from Brownells.  I relube them in old motor oil



Awaiting some stuff from Buffalo Arms before i start building 45-70 BP boolits.

Bobby Hoyt does excellent work. I’ve got an old M1866 rifle that was butchered at some point in the past. I need to get Mr Hoyt to make me an 1863 barrel in .50 cal so I can get to rebuilding this thing.

I have one that my Grandfather gave me back in the 80's. I have installed a correct Buffington rear sight since this picture was taken. I still need a correct front sight

Holy backwards trigger guard batman

It's always been like that. I'll have to check it out the next time I have it out of the safe

I have a suspicion that it is a rifle version that has either had the stock changed or chopped. The barrel is longer than the info that I've found on carbine versions.

It is a cut down stock. Now is it .50-70 or .45-70? The sling swivel should be on the front of the TG bow

Too cool!  I love .410 so much I may have left it !

.45-70

ETA: I corrected the sling swivel. Thanks for the heads up.

Nice carbine too bad someone converted it to 410. Nice to see you get it back to 45/70.
Carbine in decent shape ( that would be sometimes referred to as an 1890 model based on the buffington rear sight and protective barrel band for the sight, which would make this the last of the trapdoor carbines ) are pretty uncommon

Much lower production numbers than rifles, most subjected to hard duty on the western frontier far too often chopped up into sporters,more convenient length means often used hard after military service for hunting etc.

For reloading, honestly, following all the recommendations for black powder loads that mostly focus on accuracy loads isn’t necessary

For general plinking I simply used an old powder scoop made from a cut off shell case that held 60 grains, and scoop and dump into the case. I did use magnum primers, a commercial cast flat base 405 with BP lube did me just fine.

There were some trapdoors that were converted/made in the era for ‘foraging’ guns. I forget all the specifics though.

Model 1881 Forager shotgun.  20 gauge.



Rob

Last batch of metal to clean





Pretty grungy under there after all these years



The boil them to convert any rust and off to card the parts clean after they've cooled off





Then oil up the parts and reassemble the lock--and finally the gun itself





All i've left to work on is the Buffington sight.  I'm not gonna try taking that apart.  I will clean it as best I can as is and reattach




This is never gonna be a long range gun but with its newly lined barrel---and some competency on my part--it should be able to shoot Minute of Indian at 200+ yards.  So I will try to make my BP cartridges with some degree of precision.

I bet with a carefully loaded up .45-55-405 load that it will give acceptable accuracy, especially with Mr Hoyt’s top notch work.