Trapdoor Springfield vs Sharps & other singleshots durability/toughness?

[Dov]

Wondering if anyone has any idea on relative toughness of Trapdoor vs other military single shots of that general era?

I'd think Rolling Block might be near top, but haven't yet owned any of these, one of the many things on my wish list to get is small collection of military singleshots.

[Jim Watson]

Toughness is an interesting concept I have not seen before. The Trapdoor action is not as strong as those others but it is adequate for black powder.
How many shots, how much rough handling, though?

[fatdog]

Wondering if anyone has any idea on relative toughness of Trapdoor vs other military single shots of that general era?

I'd think Rolling Block might be near top, but haven't yet owned any of these, one of the many things on my wish list to get is small collection of military singleshots.

I would think Sharps and highwalls are the toughest of that era. That design will certainly stand more pressure than others because of the falling block, in fact the highwall is still made or was still made for modern smokeless cartridges by Winchester until a few years ago and the Ruger No 1 is based on it I think.

I have seen the trap door of a trap door go up flying through the air at a cowboy match. This was being fired with black powder and the hinge pin broke. It was one of the reproductions, not an original. No one was injured but that is probably the least durable of the early cartridge designs which is why they are really only suitable for black powder or very low pressure "cowboy" loads.

When I was in to that CAS world I owned a pair of trap doors, a rolling bock, a Sharps and a Highwall. All great fun to shoot. I only used black powder loads in .45-70

[Jim Watson]

The Trapdoor hinge pin is not supposed to carry any firing load. I wonder if the cam to latch set screw used in one family of reproductions instead of a square shank joint might have slipped.

[awp_101]

I've messed a little with Rolling Blocks, tilting blocks (Martini Cadet), falling blocks (replica Sharps, replica 1885) and Trapdoors. I'm far more comfortable placing my face behind a falling block or tilting block than anything else. I don't believe any of them handle gas from a ruptured cartridge very well though.

The ASSRA Forum is a good place to poke around.

[psalms144.1]

I would not want to use a Trapdoor for any kind of serious shooting, even with blackpowder loads, given that there are Sharps and Highwalls available. The Sharps locks up like a bank vault - even the 160ish year old blackpowder-to-50/70 conversion cavalry carbine in my basement. It has obviously been used hard during its very long life, and it still locks up tight. I hardly ever shoot it anymore, just because I'm too lazy to load and clean up after black powder cartridge, but when I do, I never have any concerns about "hurting" the rifle.

Heck, even the old Remington Rolling Blocks seemed like they were built "stronger" than the Trapdoors.

[Dov]

Wasn't looking to shoot heavy modern loads in one.

Though strength of action is of interest, guess I was thinking more how they stood up to use and abuse by troops in the field.

IDK why but the Martini actions and trapdoors appeal to me.

It's probably Ross Seyfrieds fault at least the Martini's and falling blocks.

[Dov]

gah now I can't unsee the typo for thread title and can't edit it

[awp_101]

gah now I can't unsee the typo for thread title and can't edit it

Report it and a mod can fix it.

[TGS]

The M1869 Werndl is generally held to be the most robust rifle of that era. The factory demonstration involved throwing it out of the upper stories of the OEWG factory (Steyr) multiple times onto concrete and then shooting it.