Re: .56-56 Spencer
Originally Posted by
Dave Fox
I apologize in advance for the length and multitude of questions to follow. After decades of hemming and hawing, I bought a tight, usable .56-56 Spencer carbine at the Franklin, Tennessee show yesterday. I want to shoot it, rock and gongbusting. I'm a reloader and have read a 1996 Tony Beck article on Spencers, the latest and most detailed I could find on the 'net. I know where to get the centre-fire block. Questions for M.1860 Spencer shooters: Is properly trimmed .50-70 brass ready-usable in the .56-56 now available? If not, where can I find a proper case trim die? I've picked-up Rapine has closed. His old number is disconnected. What bullet mould from what provider is suggested? Could the .556 Rapine I have for my Burnside be swaged to, say, .553, and function? Need useful tips to crank this piece up!
I shoot an original 1860 Spencer Rifle (3-band) rebarreled by Larry Romano in .56-50. Unless you intend to rebarrel your Spencer (Larry does a great job), you'll find that the rims of the Starline brass is too small and your extractor may not extract them. The .56-56 Spencer cases cut down from .50-70 brass have a larger diameter rim and a rim thickness closer matching to the original Spencer headspace. Buffalo Arms offers both .56-56 and .56-50 brass for original Spencers made from .50-70 brass. They also sell the 4D 3-die .56-56 reloading die set ($109.59), but you'll have to search around for the Rapine .535375 healed (shouldered) bullet mould. If you should elect to change to the .56-50 Larry Romano offers a 395-gr .50 caliber Spencer-Maynard bullet mould for about $150 that works very, very nicely. If you cannot find everything you're seeking, let me know. I have both the Rapine .535375 healed mould and .56-56 4D die set, together with 20 rounds loaded (25 empty cases) all from .50-70 that had I been at Franklin would have been on my sales table. If you should come to the show at Dalton (Chickamauga), I might still have them there?
http://www.buffaloarms.com/browse.cfm/4,721.html
First Cousin (7 times removed) to Brigadier General Stand Watie (1806-1871), CSA
1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles | Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation 1862-66
Bookmarks