Spencer Carbine Tryout, Round 2-The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

[Grogan]

Ah, the clouds pulled back yesterday and the Sun even made a nice appearance...

This was the perfect excuse to take out a few firearms that I'd been working on.

This of course included the little 56-50 Spencer Carbine.

A quick recap is in order here to mention that I still had 7 ctg.s leftover from Round 1 that were incorrectly loaded with Lg. Pistol Primers and were only firing on the 2nd or 3rd Hammer Strike.  Gotta unload them out the muzzle and move on.

In the meantime I'd loaded up additional cartridges with Lg. Rifle Primers.  I'd already tested the ignition using Federal Lg. Rifle Magnum Primers and firing seemed reliable in empty primed cases.

However I had some old CCI Lg. Rifle Primers I thought I'd use on something less than a "Target" rifle, so I substituted those for the moment.

At the range I started by putting up my target at 50 yd.s to shoot off the bench.

In this photo you can see the range (and beautiful sunny conditions we Oregonians marvel at around this time of year)
Although, in this pic the Target's been moved back to 100 yd.s



The first magazine load of cartridges were those errant Pistol Primed models, which meant it took ~20 sighting/trigger squeeze attempts to fire off 7 shots.

Upon going forward I was pleasantly surprised to see the following shot placement.  Considering I could barely make out the Orange Target Dots at 50 yd.s I have no complaints about how the little Carbine shot.



However after moving the target back to the 100 yard mark and switching over to the Lg. Rifle Primed cases, it turned out NONE of them would fire!  The indentations on the Primers indicated very shallow dents and no number of Hammer Strikes would improve on this.  Out of 12 Ctg.s I had only ONE fire!

Returning back home, I tried loading up some more empty ctg. cases and trying them with Federal Match Lg. Rifle and Lg. Rifle Magnum Primers as well as a different batch of CCI Lg Rifle Primers and they ALL fired!

Oh well, put up the Spencer and move over to the AR Carbine...more results later!

[Herbert]

that is exactly what hapens when the screws are loose in the percusion slide that acts on the firing pin ,also check weather the lock plate is tight on the action,screws coming loose was also a problem with originals but on replicas a bit of locktight can be your friend

[Grogan]

that is exactly what hapens when the screws are loose in the percusion slide that acts on the firing pin ,also check weather the lock plate is tight on the action,screws coming loose was also a problem with originals but on replicas a bit of locktight can be your friend

Yes, I dropped the Breechblock out right there.

And you're right, the 2 screws holding the Firing Pin Plate had backed out ~1-1/2 turns.  But I tightened everything up, checked for any resistance in the Firing Pin, it was nice and free.

I reassembled everything and tried it some more.  Nada!  I think it was just that one batch of hard CCI Primers that were causing the headache.

I even found another little pack of about the same vintage and they fired fine.

I guess part of it is knowing what your gun's going to work with?

If I ever decide to suddenly switch Primers, I'll be sure to test a few out first. 

[Herbert]

when the screws are tight the spencer will set of the hardest of primers,I stronly recomend yousing a non perment locktight on the screws as even slight loosining can cause misfiers and leed to the fireing pin becoming bent causing it to jam in the block,this is the fist problem yously encounted with the armi sports spencer but easly fixed

[Grogan]

when the screws are tight the spencer will set of the hardest of primers,I stronly recomend yousing a non perment locktight on the screws as even slight loosining can cause misfiers and leed to the fireing pin becoming bent causing it to jam in the block,this is the fist problem yously encounted with the armi sports spencer but easly fixed

Herbert,

I think I would agree with you on all points you make here except "will set off the hardest primers".

This particular Spencer replica was previously owned by a N-SSA Target Shooting competitor.  As such it's been carefully worked over in several areas, including giving it a superb Trigger Pull/letoff.  In doing this I'm fairly certain that besides working on the Sear Engagement, my shooter most likely lightened the Hammer Spring.

Doing this has resulted in a lighter-than-standard Hammer fall.  While having such a heavy Hammer, this carbine seems like its Hammer still has plenty of "umph", but I'm sure it's nothing like that on a stock Armi-Sport Spencer's.

[Drydock]

I regularly load CCI primers in my 56/50, (Cheapest at the local shop) pistol and rifle, mostly use rifle primers, but have no problem using the shorter pistol primers if I run out of rifles.  Nary a problem.  Mine is stock however.  Before you locktight everything down, might want to pull off the transfer plate and check the firing pin cavity.  Too much gunk/grease in there can also reduce the firing pin travel/impact.  A broken/bound up return spring in there could cause problems as well.

[Arizona Trooper]

You might try putting in an original spring. They use to be a dime a dozen, way less than musket springs. I think the Army must have bought a million of them in the late 1860s. This change fixed several repro Sharps carbines in my unit (same spring). 

[Grogan]

You might try putting in an original spring. They use to be a dime a dozen, way less than musket springs. I think the Army must have bought a million of them in the late 1860s. This change fixed several repro Sharps carbines in my unit (same spring). 

Good suggestions all (and I'll go in and investigate more closely before "gluing" things together with Blue Loctite).

So AZ Trooper, WHERE does one find "Original" Spencer Hammer Springs? 

[Arizona Trooper]

Here are three good sources for original Spencer parts.

Ed Knisely, 717-741-2556  EdKnisely@aol.com No website, but he answers the phone and e-mail promptly.

S&S Firearms www.ssfirearms.com Great folks.

Lodgewood Mfg.  www.lodgewood.com  Call is better than e-mail. They are helpful and have an amazing parts supply.

[.56/50 Iron]

Hello!  Spend a lot of time reading the past notes that have been published here when you can. The answers that you are looking for are all here. The first thing is that you don't need a large rifle primer to fire off the powder in the pistol sized .56/50 cartridge. Loose screws are common on the new guns. I had mis-fires until I Loctited all the screws in the lock and all the screws that held the lock to the stock. Also the firing mechanism screws need loctite. Too much oil or grease will hydraulacly cushion the parts and reduce the hammer strike. When I got the carbine, it had a hugely strong mainspring in it giving at least a 30# trigger pull. It was almost not pullable. I got misfires with that! My misfires ended when I tightedened up all the screws and cleaned out the excess oil. I had an original Sharps mainspring (interchangeable with the Spencer as are many other parts) that I put in. Probably did not have to be original but it was a spare I had for my Sharps. I now have a six poound pull which is just right. Grouping of shots at 75 yards is alright, but I found that it is not a target gun. My grooves slug out to about .510" and I run a .511" bullet made of wheelweight metal weighing 347 grains, SPG lube and Swiss powder. I'm beginning to shoot this carbine with a bit more accuracy, and I'm finding that follow-through as the shot is going off is very important, as it is in golf and bowling and many other sports. Shoot this carbine a lot! Our moderator has thousands of rounds through his Spencer and I think he probably is smiling when he recalls how all his shooting has been valuable. Shoot this carbine a lot. You sure aren't going to wear it out! Of course, to fire it you first have to solve the misfires. You may be correct about the mainsrping being lightened too much. Tighten and loctite the screws first. And have fun! Don't get discouraged!
Good Luck!
.56/50 Iron