March Range Report

[56-50mike]

My fellow Buckeye gong clangers held an impromptu shoot yesterday.  I was invited off the Peninsula to attend the requisite breakfast and shoot fest.   It was fired at a range where a few silhouettes and gongs were put up at 300M for us to toss lead at.
We usually stick to something like a 45-70, 40-65 or 38-55, but I couldn't resist packing the Spencer (56-50 Chiappa Rifle) along.  In some previous threads, I exalted (exclaimed?) the difficulties I encountered with the heavy trigger pull and misfiring.  Having thought those issues were conquered, I thought a 300M test would be interesting.  Previous testing was performed mostly at 50 yds and I had a rough setting for my improvised "peep" sight, but no idea for 300M.  Fortunately, all the silhouette shooting we do is with a spotter so I was counting on that to get me on metal.
After some previous testing, I had settled on a load that appeared to be promising; 350 gr. slug dropped from an Accurate Mold (51-350S), SL Brass, Fed 215 primer, and 21 gr of BH209. One 0.060 veggie wad under the bullet. 1.5750" OAL and a slight crimp.
The ground was still frozen at the impact area so my initial shots were bouncing off the ice short of the target and impacting up the backstop berm making sight adjustments challenging. The rifle's ladder assembly is rather crude and fine adjustments nearly impossible ( I prefer a good Soule sight, but that's not going to happen on the Spencer ).  Anyways, after several rounds fired at the "man size" silhouette we were able to get consistent hits aiming at the top of the left shoulder.  A few of the Buckeyes were amused at the puny report and entertained themselves with hits at the 300M target taking turns with the Spencer.
I have to admit, I was skeptical of the rounds going 300m, but was proven wrong.  Even better, we were able to get repeatable hits which was remarkable with the crude sights.
Even better, again; there were no failures to fire and the trigger pull has remained consistent and crisp.
In another week, there will be a "stand-up" match at breakable targets here on the Peninsula and I think the Spencer will be ready to be fired in anger 
Report to follow............
56-50 Mike.
 

[Coal Creek Griff]

Excellent report! Thanks!

CC Griff

[56-50mike]

Well, with all the Beer Virus stuff going around the anticipated Matches have been put off

I did convince my wife to accompany me to the local range today.  It has a code access so no human contact required.  No one on the BP range either.  My wife hadn't shot her 38-55 Uberti HW in quiet a while, so she was game to burn some powder.

I took the Spencer to see what my new peep sight would do.  I had some 50 yd .22 RF targets who's black area is about the same as a clay pigeon.  Using a six O'clock hold and the sight all the way down, I was consistently hitting the black.  We were shooting off-hand and the shot placements were "as called" so I'm very satisfied with the rifle and the loads.  The sight position was good as I was concerned about having to keep the sight slide at a specific setting and it being moved during "hurried" competition.  Now I just need to know it's at the bottom.

My wife gave the Spencer a few tries and she enjoyed the mild recoil; much more comfortable to her than the 38-55, although she missed the Uberti's set trigger

Stay Healthy!

Mike.

[El Supremo]

Thanks for raising our spirits:

On that rear staff slider bar ....

I found one on a recent purchase that had thin shim stock slipped between the rear fingers and staff.
Seems quite resistant to recoil disturbance.
Saves trying to squeeze fingers, which never tighten enough.

I have seen some at Fort Shenandoah that were either glued or literally soft soldrred in place.
Regards,

El Supremo/Kevin Tinny

[PJ Hardtack]

I've been absent from this forum for a while due to dealing with the "Big C" and associated tests/exams, etc. All is well, BTW, treatment scheduled for late May.

Like many/most, I've been pretty well housebound due to the Covid 19 crisis, practicing "social/personal isolation", which is not difficult when you live in the sticks. I can normally go for a week without seeing another person at any time.

Lately I've been indulging in a binge of reloading and bullet casting and hauled out my Chiappa 56-50 Spencer carbine and dummy rds to once again prove that it will not reliably feed more than three rds from the mag with the mag tube installed. However, with the mag tube out and a rubber plug installed, it cycles eight rds just fine with the muzzle pointed to the ground. This was an historic recommendation according to the Marcot book I was gifted with by Kevin.

I went through a few issues with this carbine - a loose barrel now Loc Tited in place and a loose barrel band snugged up by a wrap of electrical tape inside the barrel band. I was so discouraged at one point, I considered selling the gun, but I've decided to live with it's limitations.

It has an archaic cachet unlike any other gun I own, even more so that the Gallagher I had.

[El Supremo]

Thanks for the update, Todd:

Been thinking of you.
Thanks for teaching us to "pay it forward".
Love, hugs and prayers.

Kevin

[Herbert]

I've been absent from this forum for a while due to dealing with the "Big C" and associated tests/exams, etc. All is well, BTW, treatment scheduled for late May.

Like many/most, I've been pretty well housebound due to the Covid 19 crisis, practicing "social/personal isolation", which is not difficult when you live in the sticks. I can normally go for a week without seeing another person at any time.

Lately I've been indulging in a binge of reloading and bullet casting and hauled out my Chiappa 56-50 Spencer carbine and dummy rds to once again prove that it will not reliably feed more than three rds from the mag with the mag tube installed. However, with the mag tube out and a rubber plug installed, it cycles eight rds just fine with the muzzle pointed to the ground. This was an historic recommendation according to the Marcot book I was gifted with by Kevin.

I went through a few issues with this carbine - a loose barrel now Loc Tited in place and a loose barrel band snugged up by a wrap of electrical tape inside the barrel band. I was so discouraged at one point, I considered selling the gun, but I've decided to live with it's limitations.

It has an archaic cachet unlike any other gun I own, even more so that the Gallagher I had.

Not feeding a full magazine  is mostly caused by  a weak cartridge guide spring

[PJ Hardtack]

The gun is a new Chiappa carbine. The mag spring is STIFF.

I think a heavier spring would more readily jam bullet nosed which already get battered when chambering.

[Herbert]

(The cartridge guide spring)with a strong magazine spring and a week cartridge guide spring the cartridges will lift the guide and let the cartridges move forward a bit,this will jam the action,replace the guide spring with a stronger spring and this should fix the problem if the cartridge length is correct

[PJ Hardtack]

Where does one get this cartridge guide spring?

[Herbert]

The best bet is take the spring out(if it the coil spring type)and take it to a good hard wear-auto store that has a good selection of springs and pick one that is the right size but has a little more tension, length does not matter as you can cut to size,if it is the V type spring you will have to have it heat treated to tension it up

[56-50mike]

PJ;
I fooled around with my new Spencer quite a bit getting it to cycle.  I found the length is very critical. Too long they don't fit; too short it jams on the "behind" cartridge when the breach block rotates.
I settled on an OAL of 1.575 using a bullet from an Accurate Mold # 51-350S.  It still gets gouged a little and I think that's from the soft lead (20:1) I'm using.  I'm going to try some harder alloy and see if that eliminates the gouging.  As other's report, the action lever needs to be used with "vigor" for clean operation.
I think I was able to mine to cycle w/o the loading tube and spring just holding it muzzle down so I'd question getting a stiffer spring.
Stay Healthy!
Mike.   

[Herbert]

The Italian 56-50 Spencers can be made to feed very smooth  with vert little work,first and most important make sure the cam is not too high it should be no more than .2006 above the block if it too high file it down and this will ease loading,if it still has problems the cartridge guide spring needs more tension.with the design of the Italian Spencer extractor OAL cartridge length is very important this too can be changed but it needs a bit more work.I have worked on many Italian Spencers and these simple fixes have always worked ,not my design just copying of the originals

[PJ Hardtack]

Good info. But if the originals were recommended to be fired without using the mag tube, you're in good company to follow suit.

Since I regard my Spencer as a 'fun gun'/plinker, it's not a hardship to drop the muzzle to cycle a round.