Yard Sale Spencer UPDATE Browned Bare Metal

[Two Flints]

Sunday morning my wife and I set out to see what the local yard sales had to offer in northern Maine.  Initially, the pickings were lean and we did not buy anything of real interest.  While we were returning home, I took a side road we had never been on before and came upon yet another yard sale.  Looked like junk until I noticed a cleaning rod and a beat up old gun/rack.  Found lots and lots of very old muzzleloading equipment and several boxes of lead.

Tucked away in one of the boxes was a barrel and attached to it was a Spencer receiver!

I have an extra stock and all the innards for the receiver. And pretty much all I need to get the Spencer to shoot.  The barrel's outside appearance looks darn good, but for some crazy reason the barrel and receiver had been   painted a glossy black.

I carefully removed the black paint once I got home.  Got it all off the barrel and off the receiver too!  My question to SSS members:  How should I refinish the barrel and receiver?  I want it to look like a Spencer Carbine that was used in the Civil War, but cared for by its owners as the years went by.  Should I Blue the barrel and receiver?  Brown Them?

Here is the receiver and barrel cleaned to the original metal finish.









Suggestions please

Two Flints

[Herbert]

Case harden the reciver and the actionand butt plate,magizine end ,barrel band,blue all the rest of parts once you have them all gatherd together,some would say leave it as it is but it is always going to be a parts gun so I would give it a compleet over haul just like Sprinfield aroumery would have.By the way is it a re-lined barrel or original 56-56.A very lucky find and a great project

[Two Flints]

Hi Herbert,

Looks to be an original barrel.  Best way to proceed with case hardening?  If you have the time, let me know.  Looks to be a long term project. 

Two Flints

[Herbert]

you need a special oven for casee hardening,if you are not in the gun trade it is not very practical to get one of these,best left to a tradsman,you do not want to have this done untill you have all the parts together and the lock and action striped of screws and springs( this will give the parts a matching coulor,blue all the rest of the parts at the same time as well) this may seeme like a big job but it is not,resisting the erge to put it together before you have all the parts ready is the big job but well worth the wait,seeing a brand new 1860 56-56 apear will be magic,good luck

[Arizona Trooper]

Blue the barrel for sure. You can kind of simulate old color case by heating the receiver in a kitchen oven until it's just too hot to hold and apply cold blue with a cotton ball. The blue will turn out quite blotchy. Once it cools, put a light coat of brown over it. You might want to wait until your wife is at another yard sale to do this!

What I can see of the top of the receiver looks like it might have gone through Springfield and had the breeechblock opening rounded for single loading.

What a great find!

[Two Flints]

Thanks for the replies,

I have an original Spencer stock in pretty good shape that I can use for this barrel and receiver.  Original Spencers I have seen for sale have very little case hardening left on the metal, so I'm not sure I want to go that route (case hardening by a professional gunsmith).  Just looking to protect the (now) bare metal barrel and receiver from rust, so I still would like ideas on how to proceed.

Best way to protect the barrel and receiver?

Thanks for any additional replies.

Two Flints

[Old Top]

Two Flints,

To restore the rifle to what it would look like in the Civil War is a noble thought, my own prefrence would be to brown it as the blueing and case hardning seem to end up that way.  This would be easier and you would be able to do it with out sending it out this would be my thought.

Old Top

[JimBob]

What an outstanding find.Congrats!There are still treasures out there to find if one looks and has the luck with him.

[Claypipe]

New England can be quite a treasure trove for Civil War items. In the past, I have picked up a complete original Union officer's belt buckle, an Ames light cavalry saber and an untouched Nathan Ames butcher knife. And that's just the highlights.

That is a spectacular find, and its sounds as if its found the right owner for it.

CP

[Bead Swinger]

Congrats!  What a find!
Having owned an original, I would leave it bare. Most of the original blueing and case hardening never survived;
Oil it with a heavy gun oil and leave it in oil cloth until you're ready to reassemble it.

The idea of rebuilding it to post-war standards isn't a bad idea either.  But use a CF block...   Then you can shoot it!

Again - what a find! Congrats!!!

Beadswinger

[Two Flints]

Finally finished browning my Yard Sale Spencer.  I decided to brown the bare metal.  I did the same thing to my flint locks.  I kinda like the look.









Had to replace some beat up old screws with new ones purchased from S&S Firearms.

At first the action was kind of rough and the breechblock would hang-up.  After some troubleshooting, I discovered that the screw holding the Magazine Follower had become distorted and was not allowing the Follower to move freely up and down.  I replaced that screw and the breechblock stopped sticking.

Once the action was working OK, I loaded two of the 56-50 Hull Blanks I received from Todd Koster of Black Squirrel Arsenal & Armory.  They chambered just fine and went off with a loud bang, and ejected OK.  I then tried two of Todd's Brass Blanks and they chambered just fine, too, but I had to tilt my Spencer barrel up to get the brass blanks to slide out.

Next step is to fire a few live rounds.  I'll keep you informed of my progress.  

BTW, I have another original Spencer Carbine, in pieces, that I will try to put together in the coming weeks.

Two Flints

[PvtGreg]

Wow - that looks unbelievable Two Flints.  Congratulations.  I'm officially jealous.

[Shenandoah]

I really like the brown look. I too have some muzzleloaders that are browned.

You did a really good job on this Spencer.

[Old Top]

Two Flints,

That just looks right.  Exactly right what it should look like.

Old Top

[panhead pete]

OUTSTANDING!

[mtmarfield]

   Greetings!

   It looks great! Keep us posted on how it shoots!

              Be Well!

                              M.T.Marfield
                                 8-06-11   

[Shenandoah]

Two Flints:

How about posting how you browned it for those who may want to do the same to their rifle?

[Two Flints]

Hi Shenandoah,

I settled on Laurel Mountain Forge Barrel Brown & Degreaser, as I had used it before when browning my flint locks.  I went to the Laurel Mountain Forge web site and downloaded their complete directions for their Barrel Brown & Degreaser and pretty much followed the directions for browning my barrel, receiver, and smaller parts.  I did not brown some of the screws I received from SS Firearms, as you can see in my photos. I was too anxious to put the Spencer together.  Maybe I'll brown them later.

This is the link for Laurel Mountain:  

http://www.laurelmountainforge.com/barrel_brown_inst.htm

I used a lot of 0000 steel wool during the browning steps, and various grades of emery cloth to get the bare metal ready for the browning solution.

Two Flints

[Mossyrock]

Two Flints;

Did you neutralize the Laurel Mt Forge solution with baking soda?  I really like their browning solution, but it can be a bear to "turn off"!  Don't forget to oil the snot out of it, or it will keep rusting forever!   

[Two Flints]

Hi Mossyrock,

Yep, I did both baking soda and oiled the parts.  As I mentioned in my post, I followed the Laurel Mountain directions, which I downloaded from their web site and printed out.  I just don't know, or how to tell, if I was successful in turning off the rust browning

Guess time will tell!

Two Flints