Spencer 56-50 ammo.
I bought a M1865 Spencer carbine (4 digit ser.#) at the antique arms show in Baltimore a couple of years ago. It was in pretty poor condition. The butt stock did not fit and the forend, which I believe to be the original, was in very poor condition. It had a frontier conversion to centerfire that was very poor. The firing pin looked look about an 8d nail and if the gun was cocked and the muzzle pointed up, the firing pin would fall out. I have replaced the stock and forend with blanks from Dunlap and installed a S&S breach block. The gun is ready to fire. The bore is rough and slugs .521". I'm looking for info on making ammo. There seems to be a lot of poor info out there so I'll ask here where I know the info is good. Should I use starline brass or cut down 50-70? I saw a post on another site that said the starline brass with not work in an original Spencer. Also, what bullet should I use? Spencers are new to me. I have never fired one and look forward to shooting this one. The bore is rough but I would like to shoot it before I have it relined since it is original. I would like to keep the gun as much original as possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You
Joe Heatwole
Unit Commander
11th Virginia Cavalry
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