The Springfield Model 1870 was one of the rifles which used the trapdoor breechblock design developed by Erskine S. Allin.

[1] Note: Springfield Model 1870 may also refer to the Springfield rolling-block U.S. Navy rifle, employing the Remington Arms Company rolling-block design, and manufactured under a royalty agreement with Remington, for use by the United States Navy as a shipboard small arm.

[1] The original trapdoor Springfields had replaced only the firing mechanism, and had used a barrel liner to reduce the caliber from .58 to .50.

In this version the rear sight was moved up so that it was about half an inch away from the receiver.

The trapdoor mechanism is stamped with the year 1870, and the lockplate is stamped with the year 1863, indicating that this rifle was originally produced as a Model 1863 rifled musket and was later converted as part of the Model 1870 manufacturing.