TRAPDOOR SPRINGFIELD: THE UNITED STATES SPRINGFIELD SINGLE-SHOT RIFLE - 1865-1893. by Waite, M.D. "Bud" and Ernst, B.D - 1999

Highland Park, NJ: Gun Room Press, 1999. (215) pp, 11 1/4" H. B&w photographs, drawings, reproductions, tables. "The Civil War proved that the old-style muzzle-loading musket had inadequate firepower. New metallic ammunition, on the other hand, was a proven commodity. In the late 1860s, the army concluded that a breech-loader was needed. But what to do with the hundreds of thousands of leftover muskets? The answer was the conversion of the old guns through the use of the Allin Breech-loading system. The result was the TRAPDOOR SPRINGFIELD which was in use for more than 20 years as the standard U.S. Army rifle and carbine. (This book details) the steps taken by the Ordnance and War Department to design and manufacture the gun, as well as to set up open trials of comparable guns (and charts its) alterations and variations until its last year of issue." Book has light cigarette odour, small bump to the bottom corner of both boards, slight smalll bump at the top/bottom of the spine. Dust jacket has some edge wrinkling - mainly at the the top/bottom of the spine and flap-folds. light yellowing on the inside surface, a tiny chip at the top of the rear flap-fold.. Not Signed. Sixth Printing.. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good.