The Spencer " Bug"

[Jack Wagon]

I was thinking back when I first caught the Spencer Bug. As a young man I was traveling through the Lava Bed country in NE California and checked out the displays on the Modoc War. The troops and scouts were all carrying a funny perch bellied rifle called a Spencer. When I saw one for sale in the Shotgun News I had to have it, with the hope of someday firing it. Many years later with the availability of cf breechblocks, brass and this forum ( Thanks Two Flints) my hopes were realized. I was wondering how you all first became afflicted with the "bug".   JW

[Two Flints]

When I first became involved with CAS my holster guns were the S&W .45 Schofield.  Trying to save money I went looking for a carbine that fired the same caliber . . . that led me to the .45 Schofield Spencer . . . and eventually the start of SSS . . . but that is a whole 'nother story

Two Flints

[Herbert]

When I was a kid my great great granfathers Spencer carbine and sword use to hang on the wall ,I was never alowd to touch it untill I was 10 ,the I was alowed to clean them,the when I was 22 years old and was a qualifide wepons fitter I found a unopened sealed box of 1000 Winchester 56-52 cartridges,when I took these home booth my father and me started to use the carbine to kill feral pigs,these cartridges lasted many years as I did not get home much,then one day I was told I was shooting away valuable colectors cartridges so I decided to make a center fire breach block for carbine,I use to make cartridges out of old 500-450 carbine cases and a friend made a mould by copying the 56-52 healed bullet,all worked very well, and I when I took over the care of the carbine 30 years ago,the the collecting bug got a hold of me with the Spencer being a big part of that interest

[PvtGreg]

In 1997 I moved to Tennessee for a new job and career.  I wanted to reward myself and found both Glenn W Sunderland's great book Lightning at Hoover's Gap; The story of Wilder's Brigade and Larry Romano's website http://www.romanorifle.com/ at approximately the same time. 

And a signing bonus.

[Sean Thornton]

I watched a not so accurate depiction of the Civil War, "Blue and Gray".  Well they did use a Spencer Carbine.  I had to have one. I bought my first Spencer Carbine, an original M1860 for $350 and converted it and was hooked.  A year later I bought a Spencer rifle for $750. The downside is that I had to sell both when I needed a new furnace for my house. I now have an original Spencer Carbine and repro Spencer Rifle.  Both fire my 32 gauge bassed blanks great.

[Arizona Trooper]

I got the bug way back in the 1970s. I wanted "a real musket" in the worst way, but had a very limited budget. My brother was in the same boat. One evening we strolled into a bookstore and left with a copy of Bill Edward's "Civil War Guns". A week or so later, I read the chapter on Christopher Spencer's Horizontal Shot Tower. That was it, I had to have one!

It took a couple years and a few blind alleys before I found a well used carbine with a near perfect bore at a show in Winchester, Va., $275. Still have it.

Dad had a machine shop in the basement of our house, and there was only one rule, "Don't Hurt Yourself!" Between my dad, brother and me, we built a center fire breechblock. Then, not knowing that you could make cases from 50-70s, we turned a half dozen cases from a brass bar that was laying around, and made a bullet mold for good measure. (Boy was that thing a pain to use, the handles were a pair of vice grips.)

The first shot from that Spencer was one of my happiest days. I've had the bug ever since. Shooting it still reminds me of my dad, who has been gone a long time now.   

[Bead Swinger]

I first got the bug when I was a kid, and my mom put 'civil war' prints in my room - they were actually post-war cav guys, but both had Spencers. Then in HS, I joined a CW reenacting group (1st MD) in time for the 125th-135th reenactments, and went regularly to the MD Antique Arms show. I always wanted to drool on the Spencers.

After I got my first job, I moved to Allentown PA. When I happened upon an original Spencer Rifle in my price range ($650?) at the Allentown Gun Show, I bought it (SN 22,xxx).  Stupid me should have bought the other two that were there.   I got the S&S block, a repro tube, and made blanks for it, and shot it with blanks on and off for years. I bought 50-70 cases and got a Rapine mold at the Pittsburgh Gun Show.  Then I hand-formed the cases, and tried to shoot it.  After a few reloads, I blew up a case hand-loading, and went to ER.   

Well a few years later, while in Grad School, I decided I had to get into reloading. I discovered starline 56-50 and Buffalo Arms 56-56, and bought a bunch of cases .  Somewhere I found this list, which certainly helped. I probably put 4-500 rounds through the old girl before I decided I was putting too many rounds through it for an antique, so I sold it to get an Evans.  I'm sure I'll get a Spencer repro as soon as the money shows up, or I sell one of my Peabodys.

[Eggman]

I've had my Spencer since around '75. I had been a Civil War buff for about eight years and had been shooting muzzlloaders for a few years. I found my Spencer at, where else, the Clay County Fair at Spencer, Iowa. It was priced $150 but I got in down to $140. It is a hard case veteran. When I got it it had a filed off or broken off hammer spur, a mutilated loading lever, a broken stock liner, a broken bullet guide, missing bullet guide spring, a sewer pipe bore, and no magazine tube or butt cap. It has some huge dings in the frame from some HARD use. I got my initial parts from Dixie Gun Works, then finished off the rest including center fire block from S & S in New York. The bore is made right with a Bobby Hoyt liner. I've been shooting it in the N-SSA since the early 90's but only recently started shooting it in the repeater team matches --  the ultimate fun. It is a tack driver and my number one medal getter in the paper punching game.
I've authored one book, "From the Flame of Battle to the Fiery Cross," and also produced a Civil War 3D set with original views. 

[Grapeshot]

I first saw a Spencer on the Walt Disney's Show back in the 1960's and thought it was cooler than a Winchester.  In the 1980's my Dad's friend showed me his Original Spencer that had been passed down through his family since after the Civil War.  I was hooked.  Being in the Military di not give me much chances to go to many big gunshows so I never saw another until Taylor's began offering their REPRO in .56-.50.  Then I got one and have not regretted it.  It shoots well and I have a few hundred rounds still loaded for it and plenty of bullets cast and ready to reload.  Can't wait till spring.

[Mannheim Bob]

The Panhandle Plains Museum in Canyon, near Amarillo, Texas got me hooked on both the Spencer and Colt Root Revolving Rifles.

I recently got the chance to pick up an original 1860 3-band rifle here in Germany.  I bought it for 2000 Euros(!) I am in the process of learning to care and feed it now.

I saw a 1855 Root for sale in Holland, but at 3200 Euros, its a bit out of my league.

[Jobe Holiday]

I'm not quite sure how I actually got interested in Spencers. I guess it was the natural progression of a life-long interest in Civil War arms. Anyway, my Dad heard about a guy who wanted to sell a Spencer Carbine, and took me to see him. I was about 17 at the time. The guy wanted $125 for the Spencer Carbine, plus another $5 for the five original .56-50 cartridges he had bought for it. The deal was I had to buy the Spencer Carbine AND the 5 cartridges, or else it was a deal breaker!

Yep, I bought everything with every cent of my hard earned money and never looked back! That was about mid-1965, and yes, I still have the Spencer Carbine and the 5 cartridges!

J.