I rarely go to gun shows anymore. I dunno, they just don't get me all that excited and I rarely seem to buy much. However, just for the hell of it I decided to go to the Puyallup show today.
I started my fun acquisitions before the show started, meeting marcusp323 for some powder.
Then at the show, I found two things on the same table that caught my eye:
The top one is a Springfield Trapdoor, Model 1884 in .45-70. The price was $300 . . . I mean, c'mon, that's practically GIVING it away. The bottom one was listed as a "Springfield 1847 .58 caliber" on one tag and a "1874 Brown Bess" on another tag. I didn't know what the hell it was, but it was in pretty good shape and the asking price of $350 seemed reasonable . . . I offered $300, and he accepted. $600 for the pair.
The Trapdoor was made in 1892. It has what looks like a giant Philips screwdriver where the cleaning rod should be:
After getting home and getting online, I realized that that is a "ramrod bayonet," designed to be extended when shit gets real. Here it is in the extended position:
Seriously?!!!
Anyhow, yeah, that's cool.
The Trapdoor has some pretty good pitting all over, but it looks to be fairly sound. I'll definitely shoot it. It has some markings on the stock, which I assume are unit markings of some kind . . . ?
Did I mention it was $300?!! Try finding one for twice that . . . .
The other gun, as it turns out, is a Springfield Model 1842 musket (smoothbore) in .69 caliber. It has a manufacture date of 1847. Here's a pic of the lockplate; the "SPRINGFIELD 1847" mark is clearly visible behind the hammer, but you can't see it in the his photo due to the angle:
I'm
pretty sure that this musket is a reproduction. It's in pretty good shape. I suspect that it's a repro that has been defarbed, which means that the "modern" markings were removed. There is a small serial number on the side of the barrel, which was my first clue. I found some other features on the gun that indicate this, too. But damn, it's hard to tell for sure.
And last but not least, I came across a couple of .50-cal ammo cans with ammo . . . 480 rounds of 8mm Mauser for $70, and 320 rounds of 8x56R for $65. Yes please.
The 8mm Mauser ammo (on the left) is dated 1940, and is from Yugoslavia. The 8x56R ammo is Austrian, per the seller. I pulled out a couple of boxes and that appears to be true. One box (not the one with the label on it) has the headstamp with the Nazi eagle; another had a slightly different headstamp. Both were from 1938.
I still need to learn a lot more about both of the guns and the ammo . . . if anyone has info to share, please do!
Oh, and then I capped it all off by buying the SKS Sporter that was advertised here on WaGuns . . . my first Chinese SKS: