Spencer, Henry shooters

[David Fox]

There is an excellent discussion on blank cartridge preparation on the generally entertaining www.cascity.com website. This includes an awesome video demonstrating the effectiveness of the Spencer when coupled with a Blakeslee cartridge box. I doubt if the U.S. rifleman could again put out such a volume of sustained fire prior to issuance of the '03 Springfield...maybe even the Garand. Of especial interest is a video on making (relatively) inexpensive Spencer blanks from shotgun shells. I see no reason that this method wouldn't work equally well for those of us using original 56-56 Spencers, too.
Once on the website, hit "forums" and scroll down to and hit on "Spencer Shooting Society". Then scroll down and hit on the entry ".56-50 Blank Making Project".

[Union Navy]

Re: Spencer, Henry shooters

There is also a thread at "that other forum." These blanks can make shooting a Spencer actually economical, especially of you can do reloading. The process is straightforward, and these may blanks fit all modern reproductions (Taylors for sure) and some originals (my SN 44xx rifle). Some carbines appear to not feed properly, but I did not hear if these were 56-56 or later 56-50s, nor which extractor they had. These blanks come in at about 20 cents each, depending on the quantity of hulls ordered and reloading ability. Biggest drawback: they are red.

[Illiana Rifle]

Re: Spencer, Henry shooters

Over the past several months Andy Bresnan and I have developed two reloadable blanks for Taylor's Spencer in 56-50. The all brass blank and the shotgun hull blank, which can both be reloaded. For those of you who don't like seeing a red shotgun hull at their event or are doing a living history, you have the option of the brass case. However, the brass case costs more. Below are the links to each blank making process and the videos.

I know that Bob Dispenza has an original Spencer and has been working with the shotgun hull blanks. The biggest obstacle with an original Spencer is that the blade extractor may need some modification for proper extraction. But since I don't own an original, I will have to defer to Bob on that.

Spencer 56-50 Brass Blank

http://westernsharpshooters.webs.com/spencerblanks.htm

Spencer 56-50 Shotgun hull blank

http://www.44henryrifle.webs.com/spencerrifleblanks.htm

Regards,

Todd Koster
66th Illinois Infantry/Western Sharpshooters

https://www.westernsharpshooters.webs.com

National Henry Rifle Company

https://www.44henryrifle.webs.com

[44 Henry]

Re: Spencer, Henry shooters

The Spencer blank project was a fun project and the blanks work super in my Taylor Arms Spencer rifle. The videos were a lot of fun to make. I have fired over 600 of them during the project and I am gearing up for the upcoming season. It sure makes for some cheap shooting at around 20 to 25 cents each depending on the price of powder.

[Dan Wambaugh]

Re: Spencer, Henry shooters

Andrew,

I haven't said this to you yet but THANK YOU! I have been following your work very closely and it has really put the Spencer bug in me. I have my eye on a rifle and once I sell a few others from my collection I will be following your instructions to the letter to make my own blank ammunition. I know that you did not embark on this project to make money, but simply did it to improve the hobby, so my hat is off to you. Thank you!

[44 Henry]

Re: Spencer, Henry shooters

Dan,
Thank you for the kind words. It has always been my intent in doing my research and my projects to share the results and information. Making money from my hobby has never been my intent. If I can help someone with a problem with their Henry or Spencer through education I feel that the hobby is better off because of it. That is the main reason why I have set up my web page and did the videos. The Spencer is a neat weapon of the Civil War and more of them need to be in the reenacting field. Hopefully others will have as good of results as I have. I know in our group of Sharp shooters we have well over 20 guys with Henry Rifles and 5 or 6 with Spencer Rifles. A person is never too old to learn however sometimes people are too stubborn to change. As I have always said everyone is free to do things their way, no matter that there is a better way of doing it. I like easier myself as well as authentic when possible. We all know there are some compromises made in the hobby. One example is the paper used in making paper cartridges for the muzzle-loaders, it should be rag paper but because of expense we look the other way when people use plain news print. Oh well that is another whole discussion.
Thanks again for the kind words and I hope to see you in the field with a Spencer or Henry in the future. The 150ths are going to be a great time with the Henry rifles and Spencer rifles when 1863/2013 gets here. Until then our WSS group will be using our slower firing weapons.