1873 Springfield “Custer Era” Trapdoor Carbine.

I’d hate to guess on how many of the “1873 carbines” out there are outright fakes.  Far far too many.  Finding an original at this point is getting very hard.  They’re getting better at faking them.  They really have their work cut out for them as so many of the bits are unique.  The stock, as an example, is pretty much impossible to duplicate.  Given what real ones are getting there is incentive to get better and the fakers are.  Without an expert appraisal it’s probably best just to ignore them.  The bulk of them aren’t right.  This one is.

Most of the parts are pretty specific and unique.  The hammer, lockplate, breech, breechblock, well pretty much everything is very specific on the early guns.

Shows use.  As they should.

A well used 1873 Springfield “Custer Era” trapdoor carbine.  Very hard to find.  They’d have been better served with Winchester levers but this is what they had.  A regression from the Spencer carbine in many ways.  So probably not the best choice of the time.  I think it’s cute though.  You won’t see many correct ones.