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Old March 24, 2005, 12:06 AM   #5
faraway
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 21, 2001
Location: ne montana
Posts: 437
Might also consider using lead rather than jacketed bullets. For it's period the Springfield used fairly shallow rifling, and adding some 100 years of wear, they can have a hard time with the jacketed bullets. Also, these might be, in a small way, harder on the fairly mild steel used in these barrels.
Also the original load came in two forms...45/70 (about 55 loaded)/425-50 for the carbines, and 45/70/500 for some of the rifle varients. The infantry used to think it was a great joke to slip the rifle loads into the cav's cartridge boxes.
Other stuff...
Watch the condition of the spring under the firing pin. At times it'll break. And although the modern solid head cases don't give the extraction trouble of the old balloon headed cases...if there's any reluctance to extract..don't force the ejector, it breaks easily. Better to use the cleaning rod if you have to...
And might carefully remove the buttplate...a common practice during the period this weapon was in common use, was for the soldiers to put a slip of paper there with a name, or other information.
if it has the Buffington sight, watch it when putting it in and out of cases and the like...that sight is delicate and moves out of adjustment easily.
Congratulations on your new acquisition...always have regretted that mine was stolen. On loads used to use a 500 gr roundnose or picket bullet and about 60-65 grns of 2f. (didn't use pyrodex much as it seemed to be less accurate)
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