This survey of period newspaper articles reflects the changing role of the Springfield Model 1881 trapdoor shotgun, from a military arm, through surplus use, and evolving into a collector’s item. From providing utilitarian value as a hunting tool to providing intrinsic value as a collector’s item.
Yep, Springfield Armory produced a limited number of shotguns using the breech-loading action developed by Erskine Allin.
Now we get to the good stuff – reconciling the authoritative sources to recklessly draw our own conclusions! Did these guns see wartime service?
We’re going to take a tour through time and watch how the iterative improvement of research from dedicated collectors over the years has evolved our understanding of the Sharps New Model 1859 Navy Carbine.
Now for something different. I want to have some fun with this article and imagine we saw this gun on a table and had to identify it ourselves. These guns crossed the continent over 150 years ago, and nobody really knew their story until a few years ago.
The Springfield Republican, hometown paper to Springfield Armory, published an editorial criticizing the Evening Post’s missive. It’s titled “Arms for Infantry”. I find it makes a pretty compelling argument.
Under Major General Schofield’s board, there were 34 distinct rifles submitted for review. This list would serve as a fine collection today by any measure.
Reprinted here is an editorial from The Evening Post on September 22, 1870, in which they criticize the government’s lack of progress on selecting a new breechloading design for the military. Enjoy!
The Government needed a new battle rifle — a standard design — and you were welcome to throw your hat in the ring. And not just you, but you, me, and our grandma in a tree: “all persons”, “from any quarter whatever”.
The only thing missing is a sub-sub title like “In which it is revealed how awesome Mr. Allen’s contribution to firearms history really was.”
Wow, thanks for the comment, Tom. Your rifle, it seems, would have been manufactured in the first half of 1882,…
My forager has the serial number 91. It was purchased in the 1930's by my grandfather. It was a mail…
Hey cool, thanks for the comment, Mike! Congrats on finding one. I would also assume no patch box in the…
This was a great source of information. I obtained a Navy Sharps in the 44k range, with both EF and…