.50 Warner Cartridge

[Jim Wimbish, 10395]

I am looking for information on the .50 Warner cartridge that was used in the brass framed Warner carbine until the guns were modified to use the 56-50 Spencer. I have a Warner and since I was able to almost completely chamber a modern 56-50 Spencer empty case, I am guessing that my gun was made to use the Spencer cartridge. I am curious how the Warner cartridge differed dimensionally from the Spencer cartridge so I can be sure of this. This is a first model Warner made in Worcester, not the model made by Greene.

[Carolina Reb]

Jim, You need to pick up the book 'Warner Civil War Cavalry Carbines' By J. Allan Hassell. There is a whole section on ammunition and the Warner/Spencer ammo issues.

[Jim Wimbish, 10395]

Ordered the book for $16 from Amazon. Compared to the cost of the gun, the book is a real bargain.

[Southron Sr.]

Dear Jim:

Cerrosafe is an alloy that gunsmiths use to make chamber castings. The alloy melts at a temperature under 200 Fahrenheit and shrinks very little when it cools down.

Hence, you can make a casting of the chamber of your carbine and when the Cerrosafe cools down, simply remove it from the chamber and with a caliper, you can take the measurements of your chamber. That way, you will be sure of exactly what cartridge your arm is chambered for.

https://www.brownells.com/search/index.htm?k=cerrosafe&ksubmit=y

[Jim Wimbish, 10395]

Thanks Southrom, but I have no intention of shooting this old gun.

I learned from the book that 1,000 were modified to use the 56-56 Spencer cartridge. The 56-50 cartridge ammo wasn't even available until Feb. 1865. I took an original Spencer cartridge and it chambered in my gun. So it was one of the 1,000 guns that was modified by the Washington Arsenal. The 50 Warner cartridge looks like a rimfire Maynard cartridge and would have been smaller than the Spencer round. So they were shoving a .545" to .555" bullet down a .515" bore in the guns with the Spencer chamber mod. That's a lot of pressure. Easy to see why the latches were blowing open and they had to add a gas vent hole.