The setting is a post-apocalyptic Earth, a few hundred years after a "world-ending" war. What remains of humanity is beginning to emerge from Fallout-esque shelters, but (more importantly) magic creatures who were formerly in hiding during modern times have also begun to re-emerge from humanity, albeit altered now with so much human blood mixed in over the centuries.
The new mythics (as they're called) have built up their own societies at roughly medieval levels of technology but with some knowledge and information of how the world was before. Scouts frequently find surviving documents and such in old city ruins. Recently, one of these colonies has found the blueprints for an 1873 Springfield Trapdoor Rifle and decided to recreate it for purposes of hunting.
Magic is also a thing that exists among the new mythics, however it's not convenient to cast in a rush as it requires a magic circle to be drawn (or carved or other means of marking) onto an object before the individual can pulse their own magical energy through it to let it manifest. Permanently marking something isn't commonly used as the magical energy can wear away at weaker materials, so this practice is typically only used to essentially "enchant" metal-based objects such as swords or tools. This drawback also discourages people from tattooing circles on their own bodies, except for use in healing magic.
My question is thus: An individual who specializes in fire-based magics has received a newly-recreated carbine version of the aforementioned rifle. I want to know if, considering how the bullet cartridges work, she could somehow use her fire magics to either enhance the gun's power/range capabilities or to fire the rifle if the hammer was somehow disabled. Basically, can fire magics make an unmodified* rifle work better or would the ammunition have to be fundamentally changed for magic to be useful with it?
*(not counting the implementation of magic circles)
Key Points Summarized:
- The gun in question is a Carbine 1873 Springfield Trapdoor Rifle recreation
- Magic works via putting one's own magical energy into a magic circle
- The circle would have to be carved either onto the gun's barrel or onto individual bullets
- The individual in question specializes in fire-based magic
- I'm aiming for minimal changes in the fundamental design of the rifle itself, but I am okay with changes to bullet design if it would facilitate the use of fire magic on it
- No is a perfectly acceptable answer, but reasons why must be given. If I as the writer don't understand why it doesn't work, I can't explain why it would work within the story and I can't find good ways to work around it.