MODEL 1865 SPRINGFIELD TRAPDOOR: HISTORY OF THE TRAPDOOR SPRINGFIELD EP01

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The Springfield Model 1865 was an early breech-loading rifle manufactured by U.S. Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was a modification of the Springfield Model 1861. It was later replaced with the Springfield Model 1866.During the U.S. Civil War, the advantage of breech-loading rifles became obvious. The rifled muskets used during the war had a rate of fire of 2 or 3 rounds per minute. Breech-loading rifles increased the rate of fire to 8 to 10 rounds per minute with the additional advantage that they can be easily loaded from a prone, rather than standing, position, reducing the rifleman's visible cross section and thus vulnerability to counter-fire. As the Civil War drew to a close, the U.S. Ordnance Department requested prototypes of breech-loading weapons from arms manufacturers all over the world.

After considerable testing, the prototype developed by Erskine S. Allin of the government-operated Springfield Armory was chosen for its simplicity and the fact that it could be produced by the modification of existing Springfield Model 1863 muskets. These modifications cost about $5 per rifle (around $73 adjusted for inflation), which was a significant savings at a time when new rifles cost about $20 each (around $292 adjusted for inflation). Patent No. 49,959 was issued to Erskine S. Allin on September 19, 1865,