My Spencer arrived! *** Photos Added ***

[Grogan]

As a sometimes contributor to the forum here, I've been lurking in the background reading about the Spencer shooters here having "too much fun"!

And reading all this, these sounded just like my kind of project.

So I started looking around.  I figured what, with the ecconomy in the shape it's in, some would be out there, available?

But looking around, I was surprised to see that that was not really the case.

I searched all the "usual" places, finding that some of the normal sellers were "out" of them (and probably NOT going to order more anytime soon, again the ecconomy thing mentioned above).

Those that had them, some of the auction sites, wanted MORE than the MSRP!  

One of the places I was checking was on some of the Civil War forums, seemingly to me the "natural" place to look.

Then one day a couple of weeks ago, there appeared one, up for sale by an actual CW "shooter"!

I jumped on the chance and got hold of the fellow, just before he headed off for his Fall "Nationals", where he intended to show/sell the little Carbine.  

He described what he had and what was all part of "the Deal" and I said, "Send it!"

Yesterday the postman dropped off 3 boxes of "stuff" that he'd sent directly to me.  This prompted me to call my receiving FFL as it was all shipped at the same time.

They said, "Oh yeah, it's here.  We've been really busy and forgot to call you and let you know"  

So I went over and recovered the little carbine and brought it home.  This is the first time I've ever gotten to look at, hold, touch, fondle this beautiful little firearm.  For a CW vintage Blackpowder piece I'm very IMPRESSED!

My "deal" was for ~$400 under the current MSRP.

What arrived was the Carbine in VG++ condition, the bore was perfect.  

It appears to been "worked on" somewhat in that the rear sights have a very tight narrow |_| notch as well as what appears to me to be a changed out, TALLER front blade.  There was only ONE Dummy Round, used for setting up the dies, and I was able to function test the mechanism operating it both rapidly and SLOWLY and it feeds/functions flawlessly!  

Ah, and last but certainly not least is the Trigger, which has a crisp letoff that I would guess is ~3.5# !

So, then in the boxes of "goodies" came:  9 ea. 20 rnd plastic boxes filled with 56-50 Starline Brass, 1 set of C-H/4D Reloading Dies, 6 Loading Tubes, a Loading Tube Box, and a Rapine Mold for molding the 350g Spencer Bullets.

What was not included was the proper Shell Holder, but since I'm already set up for loading .50-90 Sharps, I already have the proper Shell Holder for my Press as well as a dedicated Hand Priming Tool for .50 cal.

Now, all I have to do is to get hot molding up a bunch of bullets and maybe see what I have that will double as a proper Sizer Top Punch.

I can hardly wait to get out and shoot this little Carbine!

My initial impression is it's far "neater" than I ever dreamed it could be (mechanically & size wise).  I'm really amazed that the U.S. Cavalry didn't use these after the Civil War more than they did?

My guess that since the owner was a NSSA competitive shooter, he'd already gone through the necessary "changes" required to get this thing shooting about as good as it can.












                                               (Photos added by Two Flints)

[Two Flints]

Grogan,

Sounds like one sweet deal   Now get out there and start shooting, but before you do that, how about some photos of all your new gear!  If you can't post photos, send them to me and I will do it for you, adding them to your current thread and post!

Two Flints

[Jbar4Ranch]

Dang! I hope ya had yer bandit's mask on. Ya got a helluva buy there!

[Mossyrock]

I'll let you in on a little secret...the usable sights, the dies, and the mold are what make this deal.  Whoever worked those sights (and the trigger, it sounds like) over knew what they were doing.  I had to add a Shiloh Sharps rear sight to my Spencer to get anything close to usable.  Nice catch!!

[Grogan]

Yep, I'd say much of the "project" has been worked out of this one.  

(But then I'm NOT complaining a bit...it'll still be fun to take out and shoot! )

BTW, something you can't see in the pic of the Rear Sight is that the sliding Elevation Bar (the one with the BIG/WIDE shallow "V") has been turned upside down and the same |_| notch that you see in the top photo is also on the Bar! 

And as previously mentioned, the Trigger is as close to "match grade" as I think one of these could be made to be.

[Fox Creek Kid]

Grand larceny at the least!! 

[French Jack]

Might recommend the purchase of the Lee lubrisizer kit in .515 (they also have a .512).  Pan lube your bullets and run them through the die to remove excess lube and true them up.  The .515 was a special order, costs $25 and takes about two weeks to get.  Call Lee to order.

You can use the .512, which is a stock size for Lee.  I had better results with the slightly oversize .515 -- the chamber on my AS Spencer is a bit generous, and with the .515, I get zero blowback and better accuracy.