Spencer Safety Issue

[.56/50 Iron]

     What I am going to mention here may have already been discussed and noted, but in the reading I am doing of the past posts, I have not seen it yet. If it has already been covered, I'm sorry to mention it again...
     When the Spencer hammer is down on the firing pin transfer bar, and there is a live cartridge in the chamber, the firing pin is in direct contact with the primer. Thus a couple of things: Don't load a live cartridge in the chamber and then lower the hammer all the way down. With the hammer resting on the transfer bar, all that is needed to fire the gun is an impact to the hammer.
     When shooting the Spencer, before the empty cartridge is ejected, the hammer should be placed to half cock, then work the lever to eject the empty and load the next round from the tube. Then, cock the hammer to full cock for the next shot, otherwise leave it on half cock until you want the next shot. The instruction manual is WRONG in this area! It does not even mention this situation! If you don't believe that firing the gun in this way is possible, put a primed case in the chamber, lower the hammer so that it is contact with the transfer bar, and tap the hammer a blow forward with a chunk of wood. You will fire the primer.  Some rifles have an inertia firing pin that does not have the tip of the firing pin protruding from the firing pin hole when the hammer is resting on it. The Spencer is NOT ONE OF THEM!
     The manual is also WRONG when it comes to unloading the Spencer. It tells you to empty the magazine tube first. This is WRONG! Cock the hammer to half cock, drop the lever to clear the chamber, then clear the magazine tube by removing the magazine tube assembly and dumping the rounds out. Make sure there is not a round stuck on the breechblock that will be chambered when you close the lever up.
     Finally, thank you to the member who noted that there seemed to be a "plug" attached to the rear of the follower in the magazine tube. It looks like a long, thin rod screwed into the rear of the follower. When you remove this thin rod by unscrewing it, your magazine capacity is then increased to the full, legendary, 7 rounds! Also, with this plug out of the way, the rifle seems to feed a bit smoother. (This is probably my imagination!)
That's it for now.
.56/50 Iron