Spencer repeating rifle

Spencer Repeating Rifle
Spencer repeating rifle
Type	Manually cocked Lever Action Rifle
Place of origin	United States
Service history
Used by	United States Army, United States Navy, Confederate States of America, Japan
Wars	American Civil War, Indian Wars, Boshin War
Production history
Designer	Christopher Spencer
Designed	1860
Manufacturer	Spencer company, Burnside Rifle Co,[1] Winchester
Produced	1860-1869
Number built	200,000 approx.
Specifications
Length	30 inches (760 mm)
Barrel length	22 inches (560 mm)[2] 20 inches (510 mm)[3]
Cartridge	56-56 Spencer rimfire
Caliber	.52 inches (13 mm)
Action	Manually cocked hammer, lever action
Rate of fire	14 or 20 rounds per minute[4]
Muzzle velocity	931 to 1,033 ft/s (284 to 315 m/s)
Effective range	200 yards[5]
Feed system	7 round Tube magazine

The Spencer repeating rifle was a manually operated lever-action, repeating rifle fed from a tube magazine with cartridges. It was adopted by the Union Army, especially by the cavalry, during the American Civil War, but did not replace the standard issue muzzle-loading rifled muskets in use at the time. The Spencer carbine was a shorter and lighter version.

Overview

The design was completed by Christopher Spencer in 1860, and was for a magazine-fed, lever-operated rifle chambered for the 56-56 Spencer rimfire cartridge. Unlike later cartridge designations, the first number referred to the diameter of the case at the head, while the second number referred to the diameter at the mouth; the actual bullet diameter was .52 inches. Cartridges were loaded with 45 grains (2.9 g) of black powder.

Diagram of the Spencer rifle showing the magazine in the butt

To use the Spencer, a lever had to be worked to extract the used shell and feed a new cartridge from the tube. Like the Springfield Model 1873 Trapdoor Rifle, the hammer had to be manually cocked in a separate action. The weapon used rimfire cartridges stored in a seven-round tube magazine, enabling the rounds to be fired one after another. When empty, the tube could be rapidly loaded either by dropping in fresh cartridges or from a device called the Blakeslee Cartridge Box, which contained up to thirteen (also six and ten) tubes with seven cartridges each, which could be emptied into the magazine tube in the buttstock.^[6]

There were also 56–52, 56–50, and even a few 56–46 versions of the cartridge created, which were necked down versions of the original 56–56. Cartridge length was limited by the action size to about 1.75 inches, and the later calibers used a smaller diameter, lighter bullet and larger powder charge to increase the power and range over the original 56–56 cartridge, which, while about as powerful as the .58 caliber rifled musket of the time, was underpowered by the standards of other early cartridges such as the .50–70 and .45-70.

History

By Alfred Waud : men of the 1st Maine Cavalry with Spencer carbines during the battle of Middleburg . On the right, one man, kneeling, takes a precise and far aim (front sight unfolded), while his pal, standing, piecemealy feeds a cartridge into the chamber (under-lever pushed down)

At first, conservatism from the Department of War delayed its introduction to service. However, Christopher Spencer was eventually able to gain an audience with President Abraham Lincoln, who subsequently invited him to a shooting match and demonstration of the weapon. Lincoln was impressed with the weapon, and ordered that it be adopted for production.^[1]

The Spencer repeating rifle was first adopted by the United States Navy, and subsequently adopted by the United States Army and used during the American Civil War where it was a popular weapon.^[7] The South occasionally captured some of these weapons and ammunition, but, as they were unable to manufacture the cartridges because of shortages of copper, their ability to take advantage of the weapons was limited. Notable early instances of use included the Battle of Hoover's Gap (where Col. John T. Wilder's "Lightning Brigade" effectively demonstrated the firepower of repeaters), and the Gettysburg Campaign, where two regiments of the Michigan Brigade (under Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer) carried them at the Battle of Hanover and at East Cavalry Field.^[8] As the war progressed, Spencers were carried by a number of Union cavalry and mounted infantry regiments and provided the Union army with additional firepower versus their Confederate counterparts. President Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth was armed with a Spencer carbine at the time he was captured and killed.

Spencer 1865 Carbine .50 caliber

The Spencer showed itself to be very reliable under combat conditions, with a sustainable rate-of-fire in excess of 20 rounds per minute. Compared to standard muzzle-loaders, with a rate of fire of 2-3 rounds per minute, this represented a significant tactical advantage.^[9] However, effective tactics had yet to be developed to take advantage of the higher rate of fire. Similarly, the supply chain was not equipped to carry the extra ammunition. Detractors would also complain that the smoke and haze produced was such that it was hard to see the enemy.^[10]

In the late 1860s, the Spencer company was sold to the Fogerty Rifle Company and ultimately to Winchester. With almost 200,000 rifles and carbines made, it marked the first adoption of a removable magazine-fed infantry rifle by any country. Many Spencer carbines were later sold as surplus to France where they were used during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.

Despite the fact that the Spencer company went out of business in 1869, ammunition was sold in the United States up to about the 1920s. Later, many rifles and carbines were converted to centerfire, which could fire cartridges made from the centerfire .50–70 brass. Production ammunition can still be obtained on the specialty market.

See also

• M1819 Hall rifle
• Henry rifle
• Volcanic rifle
• List of individual weapons of the U.S. Armed Forces

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Walter, John (2006). The Rifle Story. Greenhill Books. p. 69. ISBN 978-1853676901. 
2. ^ The M-1863 version
3. ^ The M-1865 version
4. ^ Walter, John (2006). The Rifle Story. Greenhill Books. pp. 70–71. ISBN 978-1853676901. "The fire-rate of the spencer was usually reckoned as fourteen shots per minute. The Spencer rifle with a Blakeslee quickloader could easily fire twenty aimed shots a minute" 
5. ^ "The Spencer Repeater and other breechloading rifles of the Civil War". http://www.aotc.net/Spencer.htm. Retrieved 2/23/11. 
6. ^ "Blakeslee Cartridge Box". National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution. http://www.civilwar.si.edu/weapons_blakeslee.html. Retrieved 2008-06-12. 
7. ^ "Spencer Carbine". CivilWar@Smithsonian. Smithsonian Institute. http://www.civilwar.si.edu/weapons_spencer.html. Retrieved 9 September 2010. 
8. ^ Rummel III, George, Cavalry of the Roads to Gettysburg: Kilpatrick at Hanover and Hunterstown, White Mane Publishing Company, 2000, ISBN 1-57249-174-4.
9. ^ "The Spencer Repeater". aotc.net Army of the Cumberland. http://www.aotc.net/Spencer.htm. Retrieved 9 September 2010. 
10. ^ "More on Spencer's Seven Shot Repeater". Hackman-Adams. http://www.hackman-adams.com/guns/spencermore.htm. Retrieved 9 September 2010. 

References

• Earl J. Coates and Dean S. Thomas, An Introduction to Civil War Small Arms.
• Ian V. Hogg, Weapons of the Civil War.
• Barnes, Cartridges of the World.
• Marcot, Roy A. "Spencer Repeating Firearms" 1995.
• Sherman, William T. "Memoirs" Volume 2 - contains an account of the success of the Spencer on combat (pp. 187-8) and reflections on the role of the repeating rifle in warfare (pp. 394-5).

External links

• The patent drawing for the Spencer action
• Description and photos of Spencer rifle, serial number 3981
• Production information on the Spencer carbine