Use of magazines for the Spencer

[Henry Fardan]

All:
You may read the below for your amusement if you wish, or you can take as a given that Rico has been (in the words of Lewis Black) confused, but is no longer.
Having stumbled across the Manual of Arms for the Spencer Repeating Rifle by Captain G.M. Barber, published in Boston in 1864, I have discovered that the whole 'magazine' thing for the Spencer is bogus. The tube that goes into the butt of the gun is, at best, a very big follower spring, much like the floorplate and spring in any magazine. You still have to pull it out, take seven cartridges out of your cartridge box, drop them into the hole in the Spencer (bullet forward, please), and then replace the tube and lock it.
Simple. Easy. Doesn't have a damn thing to do with any sort of 'magazine' in the modern sense.
So, back to Rico's original question: Do you need four tubes and a Blakeslee box? Nope, not for things like N-SSA or cowboy shooting (both being what Rico got it for in the first place), but you will for reenactments (which Rico won't need until 2011). But don't drop or bend your tube, of course, or you're screwed...
So there's a few bucks in the pocket, at least for the next couple of years.
Sorry for all the confusion. Newbies...




Having just purchased a Spencer rifle from Taylors, I'm confused about the proper use of the tube magazine. From looking at the use of the Blakeslee box, with its four- and six-magazine capacities, one would think that you loaded up each magazine with seven rounds, thus enabling you to merely extract a full magazine from the box, replace the empty one, and be back in action.
But the instructions that come with the rifle say that you place the seven cartridges, loose, into the breech and then insert the tube. Given that there's no lock-back mechanism on the spring, nor any apparent catch at the mouth, that seems like the proper way to load the weapon.
My question is, if this is true, what's the functionality of having additional tube magazines, let alone the Blakeslee box? In case you drop it, step on it, lose it, what?
Before I invest in additional magazines, or the box, I need to know.
Thanks.

One more thing; I just accessed this URL (http://www.geocities.com/Pipeline/7475/spencermoa.html#chargemagazine), which is the Manual of Arms for the Spencer Repeating Rifle by Captain G.M. Barber, published in Boston in 1864. (Sounds definitive to me, and I don't know why I hadn't found it before.)
In the 'Charge Magazine' section, it says:
"Seize the piece with the left hand at the heel of the but, press the toe of the but against the left breast, the thumb resting on the handle of the tube, and carry the right hand to the side.
Draw---Tube.
One time and one motion.
With the thumb of the left hand turn the handle of the tube at right angles with the piece, seize it with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand, withdraw it from the magazine and place it in the hollow of the left hand, the thumb clasping it against the but of the piece, and carry the right hand to the cartridge box.
Charge---Cartridge.
One time and two motions.
(First motion.) Take one case of cartridges (7), previously opened, from the cartridge box and place it between the fingers of the left hand and the right side of the but of the piece.
(Second motion.) Place the cartridges in the magazine and with the right hand seize the handle of the tube.
Return---Tube.
One time and two motions.
(First motion.) Replace the tube in the magazine, the handle at right angles with the piece, with the ball of the right hand press it home and turn the handle to its place.
(Second motion.) Drop the right hand by the side."
That seems to say that the cartridges are in a box, not in the tube, and that the tube is just a big spring follower, not a true magazine.

So, unless someone has something else, that's what I'm going on. Still not sure what the whole Blakeslee box, additional tubes thing was all about, but I'm sure someone will enlighten me.
Thanks.

[major]

Henry
The magazine in a Spencer is the hole in the but stock.  You are thinking in modern terms as in the use of a box magazine for a modern gun where all the cartridges are stored in the magazine.  In the Blakeslee box there are just tubes full of 7 rounds.  When you remove the Spencers magazine fowler you expose the magazine and then fill it up with 7 loose rounds or pore the 7 rounds into the magazine from a tube in the Blakeslee box.  You then re-insert the fowler work the lever and you are ready to go.  Also sometimes the Spencers from Taylor's come with a plug in the fowler to only allow 5 rounds to be put into the magazine.  You may need to take the fowler apart and remove this plug.
Hope this helps.
Terry