Finally - the Spencer rifle

[Preston County Rider]

Finally got the Spencer rifle for my pack! Purchased it from Gradoon as posted on this site. Rifle is a full S&S conversion to, I believe, 56-50. The barrel has been relined and bore/groove look like between .513 - .517. The gun is in excellent shape - very shootable and pretty to boot! Will post additional pictures soon.

It is missing a screw from the lower tang to the stock - the screw located at the very back of the tang. Anybody got any loose screws laying around? (That opens a whole can of worms, doesn't it?) Also the rear sight has been relaced by a spring-loaded custom sight. I will be looking to reinstall the correct sight.

Now the hard part - brass. This is a conversion so I guess 56-50 brass for the ArmiSport is out. I've slipped some 45-70 rounds into the breech and they seem to fit perfectly - thoughts on going with the cut 50-70 would be appreciated. As I said, the barrel came up with .513-.517 bore/groove. I have some S&S .513 cast bullets left over from my Smith. They look like they will work. Thoughts?
Blanks - will be using this for reenacting. Sean, do your 32 gauge blanks work with a conversion?

Ok, that is enough for the first go-around. I know a lot of what I need in on this site - thanks to Master Two Flints care and feeding! But any inital thoughts to get me started with the above questions would be appreciated.

PCR

[Herbert]

Ypu can get the screw from S&S,if the rifle has been relined it may be a Springfield conversion to 56-50,if so it will have 3 groove rifling,Starline 56-50 brass will work in some original Spencers ,it depends on the condition of the extractor and the brass must be anealed,with a .517 groov diameter a .520 bullet will give you the best acuracy but pick a mould that caryies plenty of lube,looking forwards to pictures

[Preston County Rider]

Herbert - thanks for your thoughts. In checking back on some of my exchanges with the guy I bought the rifle from, he said when he bought it it came with a Rapine 535370 mold which he sold separately. The seller never shot the rifle. The barrell is a six-groove liner (in very good shape). Mic-ing the barrell gives me a .517-.520 reading - somehow I don't think a .535 bullet would work. The extractor is a thin steel blade with one screw holding it to the block. So maybe starline will work.

Thanks. PCR

[Herbert]

Couple of other things to look at to see weather it is a Sprinfield conversion,the top of the frame edges will be rounded of,it will be cut for a Stabler cut off oftern mising and the extractor will have a spring asist to hold it foward,but with the 6 groove barrel liner I am thinking it is a recent conversion,the .535 mould is probley for the rifle before the barrel was relined,even then it is too small in my experince for the 56-56,too small a bullet has given many older rifles a repretation for bad acuracy when simply using a larger bullet will improve acuracy dramaticly,this aplies to the Spencer cartridges mor than most

[Jack Wagon]

Rider, my original 1865 Spencer with a centerfire breechblock and blade extractor works great with Starline 56-50 brass. For a buck a piece, it sure beats the time and hassle of making them out of something else and you get the correct head stamp. My gun also mic's at .517 and the Rapine 520375 works for me. Good luck, it's worth the trouble.  JW