The Trapdoor rifles, carbines and other variants continued to be issued and carried right up to the turn of the century, and modifications such as different sights, ramrod bayonets, etc. popped up from time to time.

The Trapdoor’s last moment of glory was during the Spanish American War when, in the hands of volunteers, it fought side by side with the modern smokeless powder Krag-Jorgensen repeating bolt action.

I have several Trapdoors in my collection, both rifles and carbines, and have fired them for years, using proper modern smokeless loads and replicated period black powder cartridges. Even though it had been perfected, the Allin action is still not the strongest single-shot ever made, and if you have an original Trapdoor, first take it to a qualified gunsmith for a going over and then never fire the gun with loads exceeding original chamber pressures of around 25,000 psi.

That being said, I have found the Trapdoor to be one of the most reliable and accurate military rifles of its type. In shooting comparisons with the French Gras, British Martini-Henry, German 1871 Mauser, Austrian Werndl and Model 1870 Remington Rolling Block, of the batch only the rolling block is as accurate and the Martini-Henry as fast to load.

While naturally the rifles are more accurate than the carbines, for sheer shooting fun, I’ll take my 1879 carbine over the lot of them. It’s handy, light, responsive and as accurate as it has to be for the uses for which it was originally intended. The buckhorn rear sight is not as technologically advanced as the later multi-adjustable Buffington, but it allows for rapid target acquisition and is simple and easy to use. To my mind the 1879 is the ne plus ultra of the Trapdoor carbines.