Thank you for a well-presented and informative little gem. And the bonus of a close-up of the rifle at the end was terrific. Great stuff!

Custer didn't have a Spencer at the Little Big Horn or a 1873 Springfield Carbine. GAC carried his Remington Rolling Block Sporting Rifle at the BOTLBH. If it ever turns up, it worth be worth millions.

I remember John Jobson from Sports Afield showing Spencwer carbines as being used at the little big horn. A lever broke them down for cleaning,& the natives hitting this lever,thought they were broken,& discarded them. It was tested by Abraham Licoln himself toward the end of the war. They claimed to have Custer's rifle,selling for $3,000 back in the 60's.???

The front barrel band would not have had a sling on the underneath. The rifles did, given that the infantrymen would have had a sling from the trigger guard to one of the bands. The carbines have the saddle bar on the side with the saddle ring (as shown at the end of the video on the opposite side of carbine).

Great presentation. The newer Mills belts were made of cotton canvas -- and improvement in design. The older "leather" Mills belts were said to be made of leather scraps and pasty residue was said to stick to the "copper" cases and they would in turn stick in the breach rendering the carbine unable to eject and useless after several rapid reloads. Brass would later replace copper in the making of cases too.

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!

Your barrel band is correct. There would not have been any slings hooks attached to it, as it was not meant for marching infantry, but for mounted cavalry. They were tied onto the trooper's saddle via a leather strap.

"Man at Arms" had an excellent article on the specific, period documented, peculiarities of the exact lot of carbines used by Custer.These small variances were unique to 7th Cavalry and to none others.Before investing $10,000 to establish irrefutable provenance of gun it might be best research that article.Hope yours is one of those!

This is beyond cool!

Steve, why does the Custer period serial number range of Springfields extend to pre-July, 1876? The General Terry-led column of the Great Sioux Campaign that included Custer and the 7th Cavalry departed Ft. Abraham Lincoln on May 17, 1876. Considering the distant location of the fort near present-day Bismarck, ND and the centralized distribution system of the U.S. Army at the time it is highly unlikely that Springfield carbines manufactured after April of 1876 could have made their way into the hands of the troopers of the 7th prior to the June 25th, 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn. A more accurate range would stipulate rifles manufactured pre-May, 1876.

I have the same exact gun from my great grandfather but serial number is 410000 range is it worth anything?

Custer had a rolling block sporter in 50-70 buy this time now that would be a real find. not that the trap doors not

i have one documented to the 3rd cavalry on the rosebud battlefield i have the papers and its a custer range carbine

The sad thing is, there was nothing wrong with the guns...but the ammo stunk on ice! The copper case rounds they had warped in the barrels, causing jams; if the cases had been brass, I think Custer's chances woulda been better; 'course, if he'd had lever guns like the NAs, his chances woulda been REALLY good...

montana

Talk about indians, I saw photograph of bunch of Geronimo's warrior (and Geronimo himself) carrying lot of Trapdoor carbines. What model is it, and how they got it? Is rhere any of them existed today?