ArmiSport 56-50 Spencer rifle and cut down 50-70 brass.

[PvtGreg]

Anyone every had a problem using cut 50-70 brass in the ArmiSport Spencer.  Specifically with the cartridge being too big for the chamber about 3/4 of the way down the casing?

Thanks

[French Jack]

50-70 brass has a larger base diameter than the 56-50 Taylor's.  They could possibly be swaged to fit, but at the same initial cost, it doesn't make much sense to do that.  I suppose if you had a carload of 50-70 brass, the best way would be to get a reamer that would enlarge the chamber to use the stuff.

Just my .02 centavos worth.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Starline  56-50 brass is about $1.00 per hundred.  Just picked up 200 and Lyman dies.  I had $80 in "Midway refund bucks" to spend

[PvtGreg]

My problem (not that its a real problem at all!) is that I have a romano spencer carbine.  My wife for our anniversary bought me a armi-sport spencer rifle she found at a gun store for $900- I just hate to have two sets of brass since somewhere else on this board someone mentioned that the starline brass doesn't play well with the romano or original spencers.

Any brass that can deal with both?

[Harve Curry]

" Any brass that can deal with both? "

I don't think so.

I shoot an original 56-50 and had hoped when the copies came out they would make production brass again.
Who'd a thunk they would change the dimentions.
Originals had groove diameters of approximately .520" , so bullet moulds don't work on the new carbine of .508" to .512" or whatever it is. Dies don't work either.
The new cartridge really is not a 56-50 Spencer. It is a new cartridge called the 56-50 Taylor's.
I make 56-50 Spencer brass from Bell 50-70 that I purchased from Romano years ago.

[Appalachian Ed]

I do the same with Bell or Bertram 50-70. The 56-50 Taylor is not near the same as 56-50 Spencer.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

That was done to prevent people using Ten-X (they helped develop the round for Taylor's) smokeless ammo  in originals and blowing them up.  With a .512 bullet , there would be little back pressure in a .520 bore original.  While it would still not be recomended, it would be less of a catastrophe than a hot, smokeless .520!

[French Jack]

Looks like using the 50-70 brass in the Romano and Starline 56-50 brass in the Armisport would not cause any confusion if they are not mixed together.  You will not be able to use the same dies to load the ammo, so not using the same brass is no real hardship.

Bullet moulds are also a horse of a different color.  I find that .515 diameter works the best in my Armisport.  .512 is a bit less accurate and is more difficult to get a proper case to bullet fit with.  That is still a far cry from the .520 to .530 moulds for Romano or originals.

[Fox Creek Kid]

All one need do is peruse the section of the Marcot book with the photos & specs of original Spencer cartridges to see that they were all over the map. There were no SAAMI specs then, remember.