56-56 bullet mold and reloading dies needed

[clyde]

Hi all SSS members. 

It's been a long time since I posted here the last time. I had some health issues, that are  over now 🤞

I may lay my hands on a great 1860 Spencer Navy rifle, one of the 750 or so of the 1st contract for Federal government during the CW.

I have experience so far with 56-50 but none with 56-56.

I am looking for a bullet mold and reloading dies in 56-56. I some gentleman (or lady) here wants to sell these items and be so kind to ship to France, or tell me where I could buy them, I would be delighted.

I will post pictures of this beautiful rifle if I manage to find an agreement on the price with the current owner.

Wish you all the best

[Trailrider]

With the .56-56 there are two ways to go: One is with a heel bullet, and the other is with a hollow-base bullet. With my M1860 Spencer carbine, I used both Dixie Gun Works and B.E.L.L. .50-70 brass.  I would contact ch4d.com to see if they still make the die sets for the .56-56 Spencer. The brass I used needed to have the rims turned to 0.645-0.646 inches in diameter to feed and extract with the knife-like extractor. I trimmed the length of the cases to 1.000 inch + or - .002".  I full length sized the brass in a .50-70 die, which reduced the outside diameter to 0.550 - 0.552 inches. The wall thickness in the shortened cases run about 0.020 inches. Whether you would need to ream the inside of the case depends on the size of the bullet. With a heel bullet (diameter inside the case smaller than the diameter of the bullet ahead of the case mouth) you may not need to ream. With a bullet that is straights-sided it is recommended that the case mouth be reamed 0.003 - 0.005"" smaller than the bullet diameter. I also annealed the shortened brass about half its length.

The M1860 Spencer carbines that I have measured had tapered rifling, measuring about 0.545 just ahead of the chamber, and 0.535 at the muzzle of the 22-inch barrel!  I have never had an opportunity to measure the rifling of a M1860 rifle, so I don't know if the rifling on the rifle tapers.  I compromised on the hollow-base bullet I used, sizing it to 0.535". 

I don't know what to tell you about moulds for the bullets. The ones I used are long out of production. The hollow-base was cast from a Lyman #53347AX that was no longer produced when I came upon it.  The others were made by Rapine Bullet Moulds Company. Ray Rapine shut down years ago. I don't even know if he is still alive. Maybe someone else would have moulds fof sale, or you could have one made over there.

I hope this is of some help to you. Happy, Healthy and Safe Holidays!

[clyde]

Thank you TrailRider ! It helps a lot !

I just found a lyman 533476 mold on EBay   

Now i will try to order the dies from ch4d

Clyde