New Spencer Shooter, suggestions welcome

[Andrew6thCav]

Hello everyone! 

I recently acquired a shiny new Spencer from Taylors in 44-40 and was looking for a few suggestions from you veterans on breaking in the carbine, which will be used primarily as a reenacting long arm.  The only issues I had with the Carbine involved the loading and feed of 44-40 plastic blanks, and so far many of these issues were solved by a short discussion with Charles of Veteran Arms and a perusal of the Spencer FAQ on this site. 

The two issues that are sticking with me involve the magazine tube and what I believe to be the strength of the magazine spring.  Firstly, I'm having enormous issues in getting the Magazine Tube to close over the 44-40 blanks.  From what I was told, this is because the tube catches the soft edge of the blanks and won't progress past them.  I was wondering what solutions some of you have come up with.  Should I try to flare the end of the tube to reduce the problem?  If so, what methods would you veterans suggest to do this without widening the mechanism too much?

The second issue has been with the rounds feeding forward from the magazine at a slight angle on the first couple of shots, this causes the round to miss the breech and jam.  I've managed to seriously reduce this problem by following suggestions on filing down and rounding off the hard edge at the front of the breechblock, but I'm wondering if my spring might be putting a bit too much pressure on the lighter plastic rounds.  I've already taken the step of ordering a replacement spring from S&S, which they hopefully will have in stock, but I wanted to know if anyone else has had this issue, and if so, did cutting the spring down a bit help?  It should be noted that I'm practicing with my speed working the action on the first rounds and combined with rounding the edge of the breechblock this has helped.  I don't want to modify anything too heavily if it's just a matter of my experience needing to improve. 

Anyway, thanks in advance for the help and for this awesome community for Spencer shooters.  I'm glad to finally be among your ranks.  Happy shooting!

[major]

Andy
If you are going to use your Spencer for reenacting then you will want to read this article about making blanks for the 44-40.
http://www.9thnycavalry.webeditor.com/publications/spencer_article.html
I hope you find it helpfull.
Terry