.56-50 Blank Making Project: Blank Loading Video added

[Sean Thornton]

I have had to do some editing of the .56-50 Spencer blank loading video since You Tube only allows 15 minutes.  The shooting video is the same.  Thanks for the e-mails anc comments on the project.

Shooting .56-50 Spencer blanks: 32 gauge shotgun shells


Loading the .56-50 Spencer Rifle Blank

[Sean Thornton]

I have been gearing up for the Civil War reenacting season and have been trying to meet my goal of 1000 loaded blanks.  As of right now I have test over 600 of these blanks and all have worked almost flawlessly, in fact they feed and extract better than loaded rounds do.  I have also found a way to swage the case rim to bring it to a diameter of .638  to .640 which I think will funtion perfectly in an original, I will have to wait until the end of the month to test these in a friends original carbine.  The rim diameter of my original .56-56 cartridge measures .640.  I have changed my loading procedure slightly as the project continued and now have pretty much come up with what I think is the perfect blank for the Spencer.  
1.  They are cheap at only about 25 cents each depending on what you have to pay for powder.  I just bought 5 pounds of fffg for $11 per pound so the cost per round is more like 21 cents each.
2.  They function perfectly in my Taylor Arms Spencer .56-50 rifle
3.  I think that will also function perfectly in an original Spencer with the case rims swaged.



Shooting the Spencer:   
Loading the blanks:  

[Sean Thornton]

This is the results of my first reenactment of the season using the Spencer and my new blanks.  I post this on the Civil War forum.

Vernon, IN Spencer Tests April 16-17 2011

We had two Taylor Arms Spencer Rifles in .56-50 to test with the 32 gauge shot shell based .56-50 blanks. The battle on Saturday lasted about 30 minutes. I went through around 130 blanks and Jim went through around 85 of the .56-50 blanks. I was trying to fire as many as possible within the scope of the reenactment. I wanted to see how the blanks feed as well as how hot the barrel got along with fouling build up.

I carried around 250 blanks which I thought would be more than enough, and it was. The results were fantastic. Using the latest blank that I came up with all fed flawlessly, working the lever fast at times and slower as times. All rounds fired giving a very good report with the 35 grains of fffg used. All fired cases extracted positively. Fouling was non existent in the action with only the barrel itself fouled. Jim had the same results.

For Sunday's battle I carried about the same amount but took along some of the rounds from my early test that did not turn out perfect just to get rid of them. This proved not to be a good idea. Two of those rounds jammed the action but were cleared in a couple of minutes. I went through around 100 blanks on Sunday while Jim went through about the same. Other than the 2 jammed cases I had, due to my own fault, the results were a carbon copy of Saturday.

I did not clean my Spencer Saturday since I wanted to know how it would shoot not being cleaned. I usually clean my weapons after the battles at reenactments. After the first magazine of ammo was fired the barrel started to heat up and was down right hot by the end of the battle. For the weekend I went through around 230 blanks while Jim went through about 200.

I also brought some of the .32 gauge based .56-50 blanks that I swaged the rims to make them at a .638-.640 diameter to see how they would cycle in Jim's original .56-56 carbine(the 32 rim diameter is around .627 before swaging). We ran these rounds through without firing them but just cycling them through. We put them through probably 7 or 8 time. Everyone of these cycled and extracted perfectly. I feel that there is no need to alter the original Spencers, other than the center fire conversion, to use these blanks.

Again the great thing is that if you loaded them yourself the cost is only about 20-25 cents each depending on the price of powder. Jim is going to make some more up to try in his original carbine at a reenactment. It was great to met and talk with several interested people about the Spencer project. In two weeks Jim and I will be at the Selma event with our Spencer rifles.

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