1867 Spencer carbine info

[Perry Owens]

Hi Two Flints,
If your SRS records cover the 1867 model I would appreciate anything you could tell me about a carbine I just acquired, serial number 102282.
It looks to me like the date on the barrel was originally 1865 but the "5" has been overstamped with a "7". The gun does have a Lane type extractor.

[Two Flints]

Hi Perry,

I have no information on your Spencer Carbine Serial #102282.  It was probably shipped to France and used by France in the Franco-Prussian War. I will post a partial page from the Marcot book that will give you some information on your Spencer.  You will have to click on the smaller photo to read the notes in the lower left corner of the larger photo.










Two Flints

[Perry Owens]

Thanks a lot for that info Two Flints. My carbine fits the description except that it does not have a magazine cutoff. At least I now know how it got to Europe, if not how it finally made it to England.

[Herbert]

it should have the Spencer cutoff,has it been replaced with a standard cartrige guide

[Perry Owens]

I have never seen a Spencer cutoff but this is the guide fitted to the gun. There is no spring, I assume lost or broken. There is a small tapped hole on the right side of the receiver which appears to serve no purpose. It is closed by a blanking plug.








                                       (Photos Posted by Two Flints)

[Herbert]

the Spencer cutoff is part of the cartrige guide,it is a flat peice the same shape as the top of the cartrige guide,screwd to the guide so as when pushed to one side it engauges the extractor in the Lane type or the cartrige stop in the leafe type,this stops the block rotating enough to let a cartrige feed into the chamber,it looks lick yours was modified for some reason,the screw hole is for the real Lane extractor(it was never put into production as it was coplicated and needed more expencive machining,the only one i have ever seen was at the Enfield patern rooms)as the screw was merly a peg to activate a quick kick of the extractor turning it into a ejector,it was mearly shotend so the hole was pluged,very unusual to see one ,i dout many were made before the idear was abanded,though i have seen a picture of 2 Japinees marked ones the same,or with a huge amount of luck you might have one of the experimental ones that have not been alterd ,to check remove the action pivit screw and if the action will not drop out loosen the small extra screw and it will drop out ,could you post a picture of the action removed (the right side)to see if any machining was done on the lower block

[Herbert]

a closer look at your cartrige guide shows that it is a replacment ,perhaps somone could post a picture of the Spencer cutoff-cartrige guide

[Arizona Trooper]

Some M-1865s have a very similar guide to yours. it's quite rare but appears to be armory installed. Yours does have a distinctly non-armory appearance though. The M-1867 over 5 stamping is not uncommon. The armory used remarked M-1865 barrels for early production M-1867s. Over half of the M-1867s I have seen have the blank screw in the frame. It appears that they made the recievers and then simplified the Lane Extractor design to eliminate the "kicker" pin.

I'll try to post a picture of the Spencer magazine cutoff this evening.