Okay mate, at the Battle of Little Big Horn you take a trapdoor Springfield and I have dibs on a 44-40 1873.😀
“...you take a trapdoor Springfield and I have dibs on a 44-40 1873.” [Bonemaker, post 72]
I’ll concede before we start. I’m too old and feeble to pick up a Trapdoor these days. Probably have trouble with a Winchester M1873; even in its carbine version, it weighed as much as the issue Trapdoor carbine.
Please recall that this very argument was used for years, against the 5.56x45mm cartridge chambered in the M16 family.
What it really points to is that there cannot be an infantry small arm that is ideal for each and every situation. Short-range high-rate-of-fire arms can be superior in urban environments and terrain with heavy undergrowth.
In open terrain, with attendant long sight distances and little cover, someone armed with a single-shot chambering a heavy, powerful cartridge can - if properly trained - take out an opponent armed with an arm chambering low power cartridge (either a 44-40, or one of today’s pistol-caliber carbines).