Springfield Rifle

“Indian Wars era military rifle. Powerful and accurate, but slow to fire and only holds a few rounds.”

–In-game Description

The Springfield Rifle is a weapon featured in Red Dead Redemption.

Acquisition

It can be purchased at the Thieves' Landing Gunsmith for $300 with neutral Honor. Additionally, the price is reduced to $150 with low enough Honor.
The player can unlock the Springfield Rifle for free by completing Gaptooth Breach hideout.
Additionally, this weapon is available on the raft during the Irish mission "We Shall Be Together in Paradise".
The player may also acquire it off of dead bodies in "The Assault on Fort Mercer".

The player receives it after saving Ridgewood Farm from an Undead outbreak.
- Alternatively, the player may come across a Springfield during a Stranded Camp or a Bolter Banquet in which the weapon can be found next to one of the dead bodies.

The Springfield Rifle is unlocked upon reaching rank 13.
The Springfield is carried by the Walton's Gang snipers at Twin Rocks, and by a few Banditos at Rancho Polvo.

This rifle is a powerful weapon, with a single torso shot often killing a target that would otherwise require multiple shots from a repeater or handgun. As it is available early in the game, this makes it ideal with Level 1 Dead-Eye Targeting, although care must be taken at short range due to its limited ammo capacity and rate of fire.
Using this weapon against more than five targets can be dangerous, because after each shot Marston stays standing for about three seconds, and it is easy to die in that time at later levels in the game.
It should be noted that while firing this weapon from cover, Marston will have to cycle to the next shot before he is able to return to his cover position.
Always remember that the player may only have a four round capacity for the player's rifle, so act carefully when there are more than four enemies to deal with, but also remember with the high damage that the player might not have to shoot or mark the same target twice.
This rifle is very useful to unlock the Xbox 360 and PS3 sombrero avatar award, due to the good accuracy of the rifle.
This weapon has the fourth highest damage for Rifles/Repeaters.

The Springfield Rifle is based on the real world Springfield Model 1873 "Trapdoor" Carbine.

In real life the Springfield Model 1873 "Trapdoor" Carbine was a single-shot, breech-loading rifle.
To reach the ammo capacity of four, Marston holds each bullet in between his fingers.

Anyone shooting out of cover with the Springfield Rifle will stay standing until they have finished reloading the weapon, afterwards they will pop back into cover.
After using the Springfield for a while, the player's first shot causes them to pull the action very slowly both in singleplayer and multiplayer.
In multiplayer, the Springfield is popular among NPC gang members who defend the many gang hideouts across the map. Players often refer to Springfield wielding NPCs as "snipers". Sniper NPCs are a leading cause of player deaths in gang hideouts. Some infamous sniper NPCs are Link Huston (Twin Rocks), Slink Bradshaw (Fort Mercer), Gus Ballard (also Fort Mercer), and Fletch Hillard (Gaptooth Breach).
In the Gunsmith description, it states that the rifle dates back to battles with Native American tribes; this is correct, since the various models of "trapdoor" Springfield were the US Army's standard-issue rifles from 1866 to 1892, the period of the Indian Wars.

The Springfield Rifle can be used to unlock the following Trophies/Achievements:

	BULLSEYE 20 gamerscore Bronze bronze Get 250 headshots in any game mode.

	THE GUNSLINGER 5 gamerscore Silver silver Get a headshot while in Expert Mode in Singleplayer.

	LONG ARM OF MARSTON 20 gamerscore Silver silver Kill 500 enemies with any rifle, repeater, or shotgun