Why not an 1860 Model?

[Fox Creek Kid]

I remember when Taylor's first announced their 1865 Model and the NSSA supposedly told them they would NOT be approved as no 1865 models were issued during the war. Why did the NSSA relent? Also, why on God's green earth did not Armisport make the same gun in a 22 in. barrel as in all aspects it is an 1860 Model, e.g. hammer & receiver w/o proper bevels? Notwithstanding any jokes about needing an extra 2 in.  I could never figure this out.

[klw]

There was never any question that the NSSA would approved this gun.  Exact historical accuracy only matters when they want to NOT approve something.  That is a lot more politics than anything else.

[BobM]

Ken could you please clarify your statement, I'm not understanding what your trying to say.
Bob M

[klw]

I have bought a couple rifles from Larry Romano over the years, a Maynard and a Spencer Rifle.  Both beautiful works of art.  Sold the Spencer simply because it was literally going to make me sick if I scratched it up during shooting.  Of course if I had know how much they would rise in value I might not have.

In all the years that I've known Larry, I've heard from him stories about how guns get their NSSA approval.  I can not possibly go over all that BUT the bottom lines seemed to be that if you had friends on the approval committed, this was fairly easy.  If you had ruffled feathers, and Larry can do that, it was fairly hard.  Taylor had friends on the committee.  Probably just good business to develop such contacts.  But I don't think that the Lane Extractor ever appeared on a gun used in the Civil War.  So if historical correctness was of real importance, that gun could not have gotten approval.

I also know at least one real Spencer expert other than Larry who wanted to help Taylor get this right long before anything came to market.  He just wanted to help, nothing more.  That went no where.

So I don't think that historical correctness is of prime importance in getting NSSA approval.  I'm not even sure that historical correctness should be of importance.  When the modified Taylor gun came up for review at the NSSA I said on that board then that they would never turn it down and they didn't.

[BobM]

Mr. Walters-

When a firearm is considered for production approval in the N-SSA, the Small Arms Committee along with the manufacturer work with and present to the board of directors' of the Association the specifications of the firearm in question and why it should be approved.

In this instance, the Taylor Spencer Model 1865 was approved, not because of inside connections as you most blatantly stated, but even though no Model 1865s were commonly issued, with the Lane extractor being an internal modification from most Civil War issued models, the exterior of the firearm was the same. The N-SSA Board of Directors voted to approve based on this.

Mr. Romano, as you have so well written, can ruffle a few feathers when he puts his mind to it. Please bear in mind, you are in Arizona, the N-SSA is based in Virginia. Knowing that you have never attended a skirmish, you are hardly in a position to make judgments on the inner workings of the Small Arms Committee, Board of Directors, and the Inspector General's office. You were once banned from the N-SSA bulletin board for a time for making these very same inflammatory remarks.

As in all situations, there are three sides to the story: One side, the other side, and the truth lying between the two. If you wish to have anything clarified, please feel free to contact me off board or post here and I'll be happy to answer publicly.

I wait for your response.

Respectfully,
Sharon Myers
Commander, Allegheny Region, N-SSA
Inspector, Small Arms Committee, N-SSA
sharon.a.myers@comcast.net

[BobM]

Fox Creek Kid sorry for getting off track but to answer your original question the reason that the Taylors 1865 wasn't approved at first was because of the caliber. As soon as they came out with it in 56-50 THEY submitted it to be approved, Which it was. As for the rest of your question you will have to ask Armisport or Taylor's.

Bob Myers

[klw]

I had almost forgotten that.  Must be, what, six years ago now.

As I remember it, there were two gunsmiths who were doing work on the Italian Sharps to limit the blackpowder fouling problem.

One fellow, I seem to recall, cut the original chambers in half and put an o-ring between the pieces.  He also completely replaced the breech block with a new one that he machined from a piece of metal to give a better seal between the breech and the modified chamber.   I seem to remember that that cost about $250 and didn't take all that long.  You had to send him the gun, I believe, so that he could fit his new breech block to it.  I've probably gotten that wrong but I do remember that he was easy to deal with, kept you informed as to what was going on and didn't take all that long.

The other fellow, I think, was trying to solve the same problem but by an entirely different approach.  Didn't he nickel plate the blocks in the rifle?  You sent him your gun, he removed the block, polished it if needed and then nickel plated I think.  This was much less expensive because it wasn't nearly as much work.  But there were two problems.  Getting a hold of him was one and getting the gun returned was another.  All these years later I don't remember the details but I think that he had that rifle well over a year.