Spencer .36 Light Sporting Rifle and .44 Light Carbine? Anyone know about these?

[The Yankee Bandit]

I was looking at the book, The Illustrated Directory of the Old West by William C. Davis.  This book has tons of great pictures and groupings of artifacts from all walks of life during the Old West.  On one page is a collection of different types of Spencers. 

One of the Spencers is a .36 caliber Light Sporting Rifle.  It has a long octagon barrel, a cap on the forestock, the action looks to be about 3/4 size from a regular Spencer and a single-finger size ring on the back of the trigger guard to aid in working the action.

The other Spencer is a .44 caliber Light Carbine.  It looks like our regular Spencers, but the action looks to be about 3/4 size.

The book doesn't give any history or explaination on these arms, but I was wondering if any of you could tell me about them.

Thanks!

[Two Flints]

The .44 & .36 caliber "light" Spencers are mentioned in some detail in the Marcot book on Spencer Firearms, in chapter 8.  They were manufactured from 1865-1868, and about 1,700 sporting Spencers were produced during that three year period.

Two Flints

[The Yankee Bandit]

Thanks Two Flints.

I assume the rifle was for the civilian market.  Was the .44 carbine used by the military?  And exactly what 36 and 44 caliber cartridge did they use?

Thanks,
Bandit

[Two Flints]

Hi,

The .44 caliber Spencer was intended for the Sportsman only, but the Spencer Sporting rifles were too expensive to produce for the limited civilian market it attracted.  The .44 caliber was actually a 56-46 No. 46 cartridge, initially developed by the Springfield Armory for military use, but never adopted.

Two Flints