They're all over the map, and I don't know enough to really know.

But I'd like to find out... and here are pictures of my '66 long rifle.

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Reportedly, in the carbines, the recoil was so bad that a reduced load was developed for them, 55 grains of blackpowder and the 405 grain bullet, instead of 70 grains and the 500 grain bullet.

Lots of "Carbines" out there that are cut down rifles.

Watch out for shortened stocks and barrels and pay particular attention to the barrel crown and the way the front sight is mounted. Cutdown barrels with the sights reinstalled almost never look proper when compared to Armory work.

Is this for your service rifle display? How accurate does it need to be?

Same with krags. I've recently seen a bunch of cut down ones for $500

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Get the poyer and reisch book, learn the models and features and whats correct, then go looking.

As far as prices, so-called Custer serial number range guns go for high money. I think the 1873s tend to go higher then the later models.

As pointed out above, cut down rifles are often passed off as carbines. Also, commercial guns assembled from parts-so called Bannerman guns are out there as well.

Sights were "upgraded" throughout the years so you can have an early gun with a later sight that is still
Authentic. The Poyer book does a good job explaining original features and later upgrades.

"Composite" = auction code for "we know it's a parts gun."

Trapdoor carbines can be tricky.  Keys (and this is NOT comprehensive):

1. You MUST. MUST. MUST calibrate your eyes to recognize the proper contour of the nose of the carbine stock in front of the barrel band.  Almost no fakers can get it right.

2. You must also be able to eyeball the proper appearance of the muzzle/crown, and the appropriate relationship/appearance of the front sight to the muzzle.  Both rifles and carbines had the same width at the muzzle; because the barrels tapered, if a rifle barrel was cut down by 10-ish inches to the 22 inch length of the carbine, it will be wider than appropriate.  Then, the front sight will have to have been added and that's also hard for bubba to get right.

3. Swivels on the trigger guard are always wrong.  Swivels on the barrel band are wrong with one exception - stacking swivels were present in some of the earliest ("Custer range") carbines.

4. Nearby carbine hits in the SRS are useful.

5. Know which years had no or few carbines produced.  https://www.armscollectors.com/trapdoor/production.html

6. Probably need to get some idea of the sights and their upgrades as well.

7. Prices highly variable.  I paid $3K for my Custer era carbine, $1350 for my "upgrades of 1890" carbine.

Best references IMHO are Franca's books and the good folks at the armscollectors trapdoor forum.

You are right to be concerned regarding the bannerman/commercial carbines. Many of those guns were made on rejected/worn beyond service parts, and like was said before, you need to know what parts go with what date ranges. I always found a quick way to determine if a carbine or rifle has ever been taken apart or was repaired before is to check the woodwork around the lock plate. It's almost impossible to take out the lock plate assembly without damaging the wood, so if the wood around the lock plate is damaged in any way, it likely is a parts gun, or has been serviced heavily in it's 150 year plus career.