This is a Harrington and Richardson Model 1873 Officer’s Rifle, the company’s reproduction of the Springfield Officer’s Model trapdoor, chambered in .45-70 Government. It is in excellent condition throughout and appears to be unfired: there is no powder fouling, carbon or brass marking anywhere in the chamber, bore or rifling. The bore is mirror bright and the rifle is mechanically excellent. The receiver, hammer, barrel band, trigger and tang sight carry their case hardened finish, the metalwork is scroll engraved as the pattern calls for, and the stock is checkered at the wrist and forend. The cleaning rod is present beneath the barrel. Serial 37xx. The rifle is offered as it is shown.
Harrington and Richardson built these rifles beginning in 1971 to mark the company’s hundredth anniversary, at a moment when the approaching centennial of the Little Big Horn had sharpened public appetite for frontier arms. The plan was a limited edition, but the rifle sold well enough that H&R expanded production the following year, and the company went on to build a dozen distinct trapdoor patterns before ending the line in 1986. The rifle they chose to copy was a pointed one. The Springfield Officer’s Model was not a service arm at all but a sporting-grade trapdoor built at the National Armory for officers to buy privately for hunting and target work on the frontier, turned out in small numbers between 1875 and 1885, and only 477 were ever made, which places the original among the more elusive American martial arms. The reproduction follows it closely, with a 26 inch barrel, a checkered wrist and forend, a cleaning rod carried beneath the barrel and a tang mounted aperture rear sight. On that last point H&R departed from the original deliberately: the Springfield rifles wore both a tang peep and a barrel mounted rear sight, while the H&R carries the tang sight alone.
Specifications
Manufacturer: Harrington and Richardson Arms Company
Model: Model 1873 Officer’s Rifle, reproduction of the Springfield Officer’s Model trapdoor
Caliber: .45-70 Government
Serial: 37xx
Action: Trapdoor breechblock, single shot
Barrel: 26 inches
Sights: Tang mounted aperture rear sight
Finish: Case hardened receiver, hammer, barrel band, trigger and tang sight
Engraving: Scroll engraved metalwork
Stock: Checkered at the wrist and forend
Included: Cleaning rod beneath the barrel
Bore: Mirror, no fouling or brass marking present, appears unfired
Mechanical condition: Excellent
Condition: Excellent throughout
