anybody have a 1865 spencer repo

Are they available from somebody in Canada yet, in .56-.50? If so, who's got 'em, since I'd still like to get one, preferably in that caliber. Among Canada's earliest military breechloaders were a few thousand .56-50 (albeit rimfire, whereas the repros are centerfire) Model 1865 Spencer rifles and carbines acquired in 1866 in response to the Fenian Raids emergency .... Oh, by the way - for a bit of an answer to your question, scroll all the way to the bottom, if you don't want to read this "rant" (which isn't about the gun itself ...)

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If .56-.50 repros are not yet available from a Canadian source, read on ... about my fruitless attempts to get one that I bought and paid for - along with brass, dies and mould - almost a year ago ... Alas, that isn't my carbine in the picture - it's just an image of what I might have had, but for the saga related below .... :mad:

After I confirmed that there are absolutely no import restrictions on such a firearm under Canadian law, the supplier and I went into this with the understanding there also should be no difficulty under US law with exporting it because, as a replica of a pre-1899 design, it falls within their defintion of "Antique", for which no export permit is required. The seller even had written confirmation of that status from the US Dept. of State (which administers those general regulations) and had already exported a few (though not in .56-.50). :)

At least that's what we thought until the carbine was returned to the seller by US authorities because it "lacked necessary export permit"! :confused:

Upon further checking, it turned out that a reproduction Model 1865 Spencer in .56-.50 is caught by the BATF regulations which severely restrict export of centerfire firearms of .50 cal or larger - intended primarily to control stuff chambered for .50 BMG and such. :rolleyes:

O.K. - another bump in the road, but export permits are available, especially if you can establish to their satisfaction that the particular firearm won't be a threat to World Peace and Security. Surely that should be easy to do in the case of a reproduction of a 140-year-old design, eh? That's what we thought, but after at least six months of trying, the boneheaded bureaucrats down there hadn't budged, and I felt I had no choice but to give up, and accept the seller's offer to refund all of my money on the whole package .... :mad: :runaway:

Having said all of the above, I gather that there shouldn't be the same problem getting a Spencer repro in one of the "pstol calibers" also offered - i.e. .45 Schofield or .44-40 (formerly also .44 Russian, though I gather that particular chambering has been discontinued.) Being a bit of a purist, I wasn't really interested in it in other than .56-50, and had sprung the extra dough for relatively expensive brass, mould and dies in that caliber. Maybe I'll have to "compromise my principals" and settle for one in .45 Schofield _ which would be much less hassle for me, since it is really just a slightly shortened .45 Colt cartridge - and that is what I shoot in all of my Cowboy Action firearms ... so at least I'd be able to use exactly the same bullets.

To get to your original question (... :rolleyes: ...) I can confirm that I've had the opportunity to handle, and fire, a couple of replica Spencer carbines, at shoots in the States. The first one (two years ago) was one of the early ones and the owner was experiencing regular feeding problems - but if not related to some of the early production glitches (since corrected, I understand) it could well have been the result of improper OAL of his cartridges, because the Spencer action is rather finicky on that score (note that this is a design characteristic - not just a problem with the repros.) The more recent experience was just last fall - and was what triggered me into trying to get one - especially since the US distributor was at that time offering a very attractive "introductory dealer special" price on the .56-.50 carbines - which was exactly what I wanted, anyway - that my seller was able to get in on.

Anyway, I quite enjoyed handling and shooting the one last fall - no problems at all (the owner had had it a while, and had his cartridge specs fully doped out.) Fit and finish was excellent.

If you are looking for a "speed shooter", or perhaps something "different" with which you can still be competitive in Cowboy Action Shooting, I can tell you that a Spencer is not the way to go! The magazine holds only seven rounds (more is simply impossible because of the cartridge OAL requirements of the action, coupled with the buttstock location of the magazine, which dictates its capacity) and the fact that although working the lever extracts a spent round and chambers a new one, that big ol' hammer must be manually cocked for each shot. But on a "coolness" factor, having one would be absolutely great! :cool:
 
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I have shot an original Spencer 56-56 but only single shot. I made a mold plus one shell and primed with .22 blanks. I would fire a shot then reload at the range and fire again :>)
The big weakness in my mind, is that the extractor moves up and down as well as back and forth, (pivoted on the breach block) and in doing so it saws through the rim of the cartridge. I found within a few shots, that I had to knock the case out with a ramrod.
The cartridge is pretty anemic and does not hold much powder. The caliber is actually about .53 as I recall and was not .56 cal.

cheers mooncoon
 
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