Bought the M1871 Springfield Spencer

[ndnchf]

I went and looked at the M1871 Springfield Spencer conversion Infantry rifle that I mentioned in the previous thread.  After examining it closely I put my ear up to the breech and I swear I heard it say "take me home".  Well, having a soft spot for puppy dog eyes and old rifles that need a good loving home, I assented and brought it home.  Its in very good shape, all complete and has a very good, but not perfect bore. Bright and shiny with a little pitting.  But very shootable.





A little background:
I bought a M1865 carbine about 30+ years ago and had a lot of fun with it, but sold it off a number of years ago in a fit of insanity.  In 1985 S&S had just come out with their centerfire block and I got one for it and had a great time shooting it.  I wrote an article about Spencers which was published in the long gone BLACK POWDER REPORT magazine.  Two Flints was kind enough to repost it back in 2006.  Here is a link:

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,10582.0.html

Unfortunately over the last 30 years not only have my eyes faded, but so has my memory.  I've forgotten most of what I knew back then.  So now begins the learning phase all over again.  This forum is a great resource, nothing like the pre-internet days when I was doing research and experimenting back then.

So first question -  do I go with an S&S or BACO centerfire block?  What are your experiences and recommendations?  I already have 100 rounds of Starline .56-50 brass and CH4D dies.  I realize this brass may not work due to the rim diameter.  I've got several moulds to choose from.  A Lyman 515139 and Rapine 350T, so I should be good to start with. 

I'm reading the archives and look forward to learning from you guys.
Thanks,
Steve

[Herbert]

The Starline cases will work in most original Spencers if the extractors spring tenshion is still in the leaf,if not put a slight inward curve in the blade and heat to a blue colour(be carfull not to go to red,if this hapens cover in ag-lime and let it cool for 24 hours and start again)then dunk it in water or a light oil to hold the temper.I no longer use Starline cases because getting them exported from the US is very hard,I now use cutt-down 32 ga brass shotshells with exelent results and get a added bonus of being able get a extra 5gr of powder in the case.With the 1 in 42 twist in the Springfield Spencer you need a short bullet with as much velocity as you can obtain,a friend of mine has one of these rifles and it shoots extreamly well with the Lyman bullet and 40 grs of Wano PP with the Starlin cases or 45 gr of Wano PP in the cutt-down 32ga shot-shells even better,the Rapine bullet sits too fare in the case to allow it to be much good with the 56-50 cartridge as it restricts the amount of BP you can get in the case to about 32grs and smokless is not a good idear with the original Spencers

[ndnchf]

Herbert - Thanks for the information.  I've been reading yrou posts in the archives as well.  What is the rim diameter of the 32 ga shot shells you are using?  Is it larger than the starline?  The starline I have runs .629"-.630".  When you say "the Lyman bullet"  are you refrring to the 515139?

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[Herbert]

Yes I am refuring to the short 515139 mould,I can not get it to work in most original Spencers as the bullet is under size but the Springfield converted carbine to rifle uses the trap-dore 50-70 barrel so it has a tighter bore,the bateries in my micromerter are flat,but from the look of it the 32ga shot shells and the Starline cases seem to be very close in rim diameter but the Starlin caded I am going of would have been fired at least 30 times and may have flatend out in the rim a bit causing the diameter to increase,in either case I have had no trouble getting booth types of cases to work in over 30 Spencers I have converted to centerfire,only 2 needed the extracter fixing,over half needed a burr removed from the chamber caused by dry firieng,this would have caused extraction problems in all these Spencers if left

[ndnchf]

I have used the 515139 in my 1876 winchester .50-95, its a fine bullet.  I'll give it a try.  Do you have any thoughts about the BACO breech block vs. the S and S block?  Thanks!

[Herbert]

Booth BACO and S&S blocks are now very good in my experiance,the early S&S blocks had problems with the leaver mortice not being square to the block,this was easly fixes with a little filing,with the new ones this is not a problem in my experiance

[ndnchf]

That's good to know - thanks Herbert.