Spencer Conversion
- Thread starter Road King
- Start date
I am thinking of doing one eventualy when I get a bucket of round twoits :>) In the past I was thinking in terms of making a new top half to the breach block and using a diagonal firing pin. One of my hesitations was in drilling a relatively long hole so that it started and ended in the correct place. More recently however I bought the remains of a centerfire Peabody rifle. What is interesting is that the pin also runs down the side of the breach then makes a 90 degree turn into the block and a second 90 turning forward again to become a central pin. The pin in the location of the corners is fairly robust and it seems an easy alternative method for converting a side mounted firing pin to a center fire pin
cheers mooncoon
cheers mooncoon
Mooncoon
You can buy the breach block from SS in the US that is already set up for center fire and use .50-70 brass to make the .56-50 cartridge. This way you can always convert the gun back to original. What I am interested in is to find someone that has done it and find out how well it works.
RK
What I am suggesting allows you to convert back; the breach is in two pieces and the top half just lifts off when the gun is disassembled. The problem that I found with the Spencer was that the extractor moves up and down vertically as it extracts the shell and that tends to saw through the rim of the case. I shot mine as a rimfire and that increased the problem because the wear was always at the same spot.
cheers mooncoon
cheers mooncoon
Sunray, OK I agree, but have an absoulty beautiful Spencer Rifle for sale and the guy that is interested in buying it wants to convert it. You hit the price right on. It will break my heart to see this gun turned into something to ruin the antique value, but the customer is always right. Photos of this Spencer can be found in one of my other threads.
RK
They are a good sight cheaper than that when they are buggered up in some fashion. The one that I currently have, had about $1000 sawed off the end of the barrel. It was a rifle and now is a little shorter than the carbine. I think I payed $300 for my first one and traded it for about the same and payed about $400 for the present one.
More or less you do not alter the gun by converting to center fire. The breach is in two pieces and you undo a screw, take the breach out, lift the top half off and replace with the centerfire one. Conversion back to original rimfire is just the reverse
cheers mooncoon
"...when they are buggered up..." Every antique is cheaper when it's buggered up.
"...the guy that is interested in buying it..." Sell it to him for whatever price you agree upon. Get your money. What he does with it isn't your problem. I'd make it very clear in a polite, non-condescending(ok, that's a horrible lie), way that he'll lose a pile of money if he mucks with it though.
"...replace with the centerfire one..." Ya gotta have one.
Long ago, in downtown TO, a construction crew unearthed several crates of militia issue Spencer carbines when digging a hole. Oddly, most of 'em disappeared. Cops asked for them to be returned. Never heard what happened, but I doubt any of 'em were returned. No pictures ever surfaced either.
"...the guy that is interested in buying it..." Sell it to him for whatever price you agree upon. Get your money. What he does with it isn't your problem. I'd make it very clear in a polite, non-condescending(ok, that's a horrible lie), way that he'll lose a pile of money if he mucks with it though.
"...replace with the centerfire one..." Ya gotta have one.
Long ago, in downtown TO, a construction crew unearthed several crates of militia issue Spencer carbines when digging a hole. Oddly, most of 'em disappeared. Cops asked for them to be returned. Never heard what happened, but I doubt any of 'em were returned. No pictures ever surfaced either.
Before believing that the gun will be buggered up by converting it, you need to look at a schematic of the breach of a Spencer. You basically take one part out and store it in your gun safe and put its replacement in. 5 minute job once the breach is out of the gun and requires no tools once the breach is out of the gun. Conversion back to original is just the reverse and the gun becomes completely unaltered from the state it started out before conversion. The top half of the breach basically sits on the bottom half and has a large pin that drops into a hole in the bottom half. Just lift one out and drop the other in
cheers mooncoon
There's a company in the US that makes replacement centerfire breeches - you don't have to modify an original one. Most people that convert them don't cut up an original breech.
What about ammo? The bore size is .527. Most of what I read say use .50-70 cases and and trim back until you have a good fit in the chamber. What about the bore size. .50 cal is going to be a little sloppy in a .52 cal. Is there anyone out there that makes dies for the 56-52? I think there are bullet molds available.
Road King
I shot mine as a rimfire and made my own (just one) case from brass solid stock plus made a mold for bullet similar to the original. I also think that Rapine makes or used to make molds for the Spencer. I made a very simple Rube Goldberg loading press out of ply wood and 2x4 plus an oak handle and a metal tube and punch set. Bizarre it may sound but it allowed me to fire a shot, punchout the blank primer and reprime then add powder and press a new slug into the case.
Main point is however that there should be lots of people out there with small hobby metal lathes that could make up 5 or 10 centerfire cases and modify a 2 cnd hand Lee mold to cast .53 cal slugs
cheers mooncoon
