As noted in post 230 of the single shot thread, I recently picked up a project grade Trapdoor to bring back to life. It's ugly, but the only functional issues I've found so far have been a stuck firing pin and a crack in the stock under the receiver but it does not go through the stock.
I've got it mostly torn down and generally followed the process in Mark Novak's video:
Someone has already been into this one so the screws came out without any drama. I did use Kroil on a few but I suspect they would have come out without issue anyway.
I haven't taken the sideplate apart yet but it doesn't look like there's going to be any cause for concern
Initially I wasn't sure if the firing pin was broken or just stuck. A little Kroil dribbled down the channel and light tapping with a punch broke up the years of schmutz holding it in place. I don't think it's bent but both ends look to have some deformation.
So what's the plan for this one? It's too far gone and modified for conservation or restoration IMO. Plus I'm a shooter, not a collector and I prefer carbines to rifles. I'm going to boil and card the metal to see just how bad it is then brown or rust blue it rather than leaving it in the white. The receiver and breech block will be cleaned up and I will try some of the color casing chemical options. They are too pitted to try and polish up for real CCH.
I will clean the stock using the steel wool method in the above video. I will repair the crack under the action but i don't think I'm going to steam out any dents. I'm going to clean up and reshape the fore end tip and fill in the cleaning rod channel. I'm unsure if I'm going to stain over the existing finish or strip the stock altogether and refinish. I do not want to chemically strip the stock so I need to research my non-chemical options.
If the bore is salvageable I might keep it as a .45-70 using light loads and so I can use a .22 conversion kit in it. If it's trashed, I might make it .22 only or it may get relined and chambered for .38 Special. I've been looking at falling blocks for such a project but that could be a cool option for this one.
Not sure what I'm going to do for sights. An idea I have kicking around the back of my mind is modifying a Marbles tang sight to use the rear receiver tang screw and drilling a hole for the rear mounting screw in the stock. Depending on the front dovetail size, perhaps a Beech front sight can be used or I can fill that dovetail and have another cut to fit a Beech. I don't think a Lyman 17A would quite fit the general feel I'm looking for but it's also not out of the question.
I'm not sure how fast this is going to happen. It's going to depend on my life and work schedules plus my level of motivation and budget at any given time but watch this space for updates!
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