The bore shows some very lightly scattered pitting along its length, but nothing major, with most of the minor erosion in the last few inches nearest the muzzle. Spencer was at the White House to show the president his invention, the repeating rifle. This number places the gun in the second major production batch of US military Spencer rifles. On the top of the receiver is the three-line makers stamping SPENCER REPEATING - / RIFLE CO. BOSTON, MASS / PATD MARCH 6, 1860. $1,450.00 - New OTHER MODEL .45 COLT CHIAPPA FIREARMS 1860 SPENCER CARBINE RIFLE LC COLOR CASE FINISH NEW 920-084 20 INCH " BARREL 920.084. All rifles and muskets sold by IMA that were manufactured prior to 1899 are considered Antiques by the US BATF (United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms). While the army did start to adopt the Spencer rifle, it was mostly used by the cavalry. The gun retains none of its original finish on the exterior metal, but the barrel retains roughly 90% of the original blue, underneath where it was protected by the forend. How long is MOT certificate normally valid? Heres General Bufords report on his cavalry divisions action during the Gettysburg Campaign including the fighting during the Confederate retreat [See page 2]: At about 7:30 in the morning of July 1st, with the Confederate division of Major General Henry Heth advancing down the Chambersburg Pike, Lieutenant Marcellus Jones of the 8th Illinois Cavalry fired what is regarded as the first shot of the Battle of Gettysburg. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Who fired the first shot of the Battle of Gettysburg? The butt shows a couple of slightly deeper mars and scrapes on both sides, near the buttplate tang area. 4369. WE PROVIDE INFORMATION ON ANTIQUE ARMS AND ARTIFACTSTO INCLUDE HISTORY, AUTHENTICATION, IDENTIFICATION, ESTIMATES AND VALUES. Sold Location: Keller, TX 76244. the first shipment of Spencer carbines was delivered on December The first set of initials are those of contract arms sub-inspector Martin MacNary Johnson, who primarily inspected arms in Hartford, CT made by Spencer and Colt. Connecticut. By mid-1864 almost all of them had been replaced by carbines, some having been lost, damaged, or captured, and others simply replaced with new equipment and arms, as happened in Co. M of the 5th Michigan in February 1864. Sold Date: 8 months ago. machinist. In really nice sleeper like condition this has just come out of the attic. The first 500 were delivered about January 5, 1863 followed by another 500 in mid to late January 1863. General John Buford's Spencer Carbine Rifles - NELLA_WARE Both are contained in rectangular boxes with rounded corners. There is a hairline crack that runs on the underside from the receiver out to the to the screw on the bottom (~1 long). In return, Spencer would receive a royalty of $1 for every In comparison an 1861 Springfield muzzle loader was $14.00). By the age of 14, Spencer was apprenticed to the firearm. Although working 11 hour days six days per week, Spencer began to In its The butt and forend do show numerous bumps, dings and mars from handling and use in the field, which is to be expected. The overall condition of this Spencer rifle is really very nice, especially for a gun that was produced fairly early in the war and likely saw significant field service during the last half of the Civil War. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. , stamped horizontally. All firearms are described as accurately as possible, given the restraints of a catalog listing length. Spencer also befriended Richard S. Lawrence, Reset. Ordnance records of the 5th and 6th Regiments Michigan Cavalry, submitted a month after the Battle of Gettysburg, indicate these two regiments carried a total of 572 Spencer Repeating Rifles and 10,000 rounds of ammunition to the field. Boston for production of Spencer firearms. The two most common repeating rifles available during the Civil War were the seven-shot Spencer, and the 16-shot Henry. Can something similar be made in the United States? For example, there were 2,655 casualties as a result of Picketts Charge at Gettysburg. We assume no liability associated with misuse of our products. When lowered, the loading assembly shows a mix of silver gray with bluish-gray and thin brown spots. Spencer carbines continued to serve on the frontier They were used at the Battle of Chickamauga and had become fairly widespread in the Western armies by 1864. revolvers. Initially, some carried carbines or rifles. Although the Henry Rifle offered more cartridges in the magazine, the .44RF Henry round was essentially the ballistic equal to a pistol cartridge. This is a great, historical Spencer Rifle. troopers of the 5th Michigan Cavalry Regiment of General George 24, 1863. Gettysburg was the first major battle of the war where Spencer rifles were used, as they had recently been issued to the 13th Pennsylvania Reserves. The gun is complete, and all original and is a very reasonably priced for such an attractive example of a very important, martially marked Civil War weapon. The magazine tube is in place in the butt stock, which matches the forestock in color. This Spencer rifle bears serial number 4452 and was manufactured Is there something better out there, or is the army just resistant to change like it was during the Civil War? The M16 had a lot of problems in Vietnam as Robert Scales, a Vietnam veteran, describes. in reserve. 1860 SPENCER RIFLE rifle PRICE AND HISTORICAL VALUE - True Gun Value Buy Spencer Rifles For Sale At Auction | Invaluable New York: Charles and Webster Company, 1890. tubular magazine which was located in the buttstock, and a He was let in past the sentries and ushered in to meet with President Abraham Lincoln. 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. Both retain a nice, open grained appearance but without any feathery texture. The bore retains crisp 6-groove rifling, remains quite bright and rates aboutFINEoverall. Spencer was at the White House to show the president his invention, the repeating rifle. officials in Washington. Lincoln took the rifle and shot, missing the target a bit. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Spencer's design. Original U.S. Civil War Era Spencer Repeating Carbine- Circa 1863 Be the first to know of our latest discoveries and exclusive offers. In fact, Wilder was so impressed with Spencer and his rifle design that the colonel personally arranged financing to purchase enough Spencers rifles to outfit his entire brigade and allowed the men to purchase their own rifles on credit, with the cost of the guns deducted from their pay over time. The first 900 rifles went to the 5th Michigan Cavalry and the other 300 went to the 6th Michigan Cavalry. A handful of rifles were intermixed in the serial number ranges of the carbines, but the large majority of rifles extant exist in these two specific serial number production ranges. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. In addition, it was adopted in 1863, when the war was half over, even though it had been available since 1860. The .52 caliber 56-56 Rim Fire Spencer cartridge was much more comparable to a real service rifle load and delivered far greater downrange stopping power. SPENCER RIFLE ISSUED TO MICHIGAN CAVALRY - HistoricalArms.com The Spencer is a lever-action repeating rifle designed by Christopher Spencer in 1860. Spencer rifles also saw significant service in the Western Theater, most notably in the hands of Colonel Wilders, of mounted infantry, consisting of the 17, Illinois. Was the Spencer rifle used at Gettysburg? - ProfoundTips However, effective tactics had yet to be developed to take advantage of the higher rate of fire. This area is notoriously weak as the wood of the butt is so thin where the channel of the magazine was hollowed out. Confederates. The breech shows no case colors, but has the bluish-gray and thin caramel mix of old case color and the Spencer marks on the top of the receiver are fully legible: SPENCER REPEATING/ RIFLE CO BOSTON MASS / PATd MARCH 6, 1860. Detractors would also complain that the smoke and haze produced was such that it was hard to see the enemy. Mechanically good with one very minor exception: the spring for the cartridge guide (the piece that sits atop the breech block and guides the spent case out of the receiver and then guides the new cartridge into the chamber) is loose or broken so there is no tension on the guide. We want satisfied customers & often "under" describe the weapons. Butt plate, tube magazine, sling swivels, nose cap, barrel bands, and band springs all here and show similar wear with uniform pewter-gray color. Central Railroad. Spencer to be used as a single-shot arm, with a full magazine held Welles, Secretary of the Navy in Abraham Lincoln's administration, Therefore, all of IMA's Antique guns may be shipped to all US States and most nations around the world. This allowed Spencer to demonstrate the Repeating Rifle's capabilities in front of President Abraham Lincoln.Lincoln was impressed and ordered it be put into production. The wood is really in nice condition for a Spencer rifle, as the both pieces of wood have areas that are notoriously thin and prone to damage and easy breakage. This is a great, historical Spencer Rifle. While the army did start to adopt the Spencer rifle, it was mostly used by the cavalry. After all, as he remarked to Lincoln, men enough can be killed with the old smooth-bore and the old cartridges, a ball and three buckshot. He dismissed the Spencer as just another newfangled weapon, which was why Spencer had to go to Lincoln to plead his case. Please see our. many Civil War battlefields. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". [sr] [ph:L]. $12,500.00 SOLD. US Model 1860 Spencer Rifle - College Hill Arsenal Scales, Robert H. Gun trouble.The Atlantic, 2015., 80,Literature Resource Center. The rest of his shots were right on target. The hammer cocks as it should and responds to the trigger crisply. The United States would have to buy them from Russia and rely on Russia for parts, which could be disastrous if the political situation soured and Russia cut off exports. 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 5656 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 .5070 and .45-70. The first thousand that were delivered had serial numbers ranging from between 1000-2050 while the last two hundred were numbered between 2051-3250. The gun is in complete and 100% original condition. The receiver is mostly smooth, with some areas of minor surface roughness and corrosion, and some light pitting that is primarily located along the top of the receiver. The lower band shows gray and brown from handling. Spencer later returned to the firearms His next stop The action works perfectly, with the lever cycling the action smoothly and the extractor working exactly as it should. With almost 200,000 rifles and carbines made, it marked the first adoption of a removable magazine-fed infantry rifle by any country. 52 calibre. This devastating charge may have been prevented had all of the Union troops been armed with Spencer rifles. 31, 1862. There were also 5652, 5650, and even a few 5646 versions of the cartridge created, which were necked down versions of the original 5656. These were the only Spencers at Gettysburg, seeing action in the hands of Custers Michigan Cavalry Brigade at Hanover and Hunterstown and playing a key role in halting Jeb Stuarts attack behind the Union right on July 3. . There was a Spencer carbine made in .54 caliber chambered for a special 56/56 This is aVERY GOOD+condition example of a US Ordnance Department contractModel 1860 SpencerArmyRifle. Wilder's military arm produced. These included the 2ndand 6ththrough 10thMichigan Cavalry, the 5th& 7thNew York Cavalry the 8thIndiana and 11thKentucky Cavalry and the 2nd& 4thMassachusetts Cavalry and the 11thOhio and 1stVirginia (US) Cavalry. They apologized and hurried away as Lincoln remarked that they could at least have stayed and taken a few shots. spools, thus allowing one shop girl to do the work of three. Within a year, Fogerty's The remaining 200 arrived in February 1863. The stock and forend are in aboutVERY GOODcondition as well. Guttman, Jon. Any Spencer in the Gettysburg serial number range is rare and this one is in exceptionally nice condition. Army There is probably no one weapon of the American Civil War is more representative of the overwhelming force of industry and technology brought to bear by the North against the South than the US Model 1860 series of repeating rifles and carbines that are more commonly known simply by the last name of their inventor: . Buckeridge, J. O., and Ashley Halsey Jr. Abe and His Secret Weapon.Saturday Evening Post228, no. overall condition. In this case, the upper and left wrist are both stamped DELAWARE, likely from reissue to the 1st Delaware Infantry, listed in secondary sources as at least partially armed with Spencer rifles during its service. Is domestic violence against men Recognised in India? The bore shows some very lightly scattered pitting along its length, but nothing major, with most of the minor erosion in the last few inches nearest the muzzle. Features rear flip-up sight and front blade site emanating from a socket bayonet lug. The hammer shows more of a thin blue. The interior of the block retains some very minor traces of case colors and has a mostly smoky gray patina. Any city or state regulations regarding owning antique firearms are the responsibility of the purchaser. Any Spencer in the Gettysburg serial number range is rare and this one is in exceptionally nice condition. During this Both the buttstock and forend are in solid condition and are free of any breaks or repairs. At age 11, he went to live with his maternal Gen. Joseph Davis' troops. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 921(a)(16) defines antique firearms as all guns manufactured prior to 1899. The AK-47 cannot just simply be adopted by the United States, as Russia is the only country that has perfected the manufacture of AK series rifle. The serial number23597is stamped into the rear of the upper receiver, at the wrist, in front of the buttstock joint, and the matching number is present under the barrel, forward of the receiver, hidden by the forend. popular wartime breechloader. experiment with an idea for a breech-loading repeating One of the more famous repeating rifles at Gettysburg was the Spencer. when, at the age of 22, he became superintendent of his All gun metal exhibits light use and wear and scattered light pitting. On August 17, 1863, a man named Christopher Miner Spencer entered the White House, gun in hand. Significantly fewer Spencer rifles were produced than the carbines, and their association with Custers cavalry and Wilders famousLightning Brigademake them extremely desirable collectors items. Both the buttstock and forend are in solid condition and are free of any breaks or repairs. Learn More , Sept. 16 - 17: 2023 MAC Show, York Expo Center, York, PA Learn More , EXCELLENT LARGE, ORIGINAL FRAMED OIL PAINTING OF 20TH MAINES JOSHUA LAWRENCE CHAMBERLAIN BY MICHAEL GNATEK. A handful of rifles were intermixed in the serial number ranges of the carbines, but the large majority of rifles extant exist in these two specific serial number production ranges. improvements to Winchester. this association most likely influenced certain aspects of We want satisfied customers & often "under" describe the weapons. Any city or state regulations regarding owning antique firearms are the responsibility of the purchaser. cartridges used by the Spencer, captured arms and ammunition saw We are sellers of antique long arms to include Rifles, Muskets and Carbines Email us at Mail@HistoricalArms.net or call 440-744-9088 (11am - 8pm Eastern Time) Rifle measures 47 overall with a 30 round barrel that features six-groove rifling. leather-covered wood box containing six to ten tubes, each of which f everybody saw the advantages of these weapons, why were they not adopted much sooner? This one is exceptionally nice and worthy of prominent place in any Civil War arms, cavalry, or Gettysburg collection. Repeating Rifles of the Civil War | Rock Island Auction This firm was later sold to noted arms dealer Francis Compared to standard muzzle-loaders, with a rate of fire of 2-3 rounds per minute, this represented a significant tactical advantage. the rifle for firing. Survival How-To Historical Reloading Advertisement Spencer Rifle History: The Repeating 7-Shot Wonder October 14, 2019 By Garry James Christopher Miner Spencer was one of those 19th century Edisonian inventors who could successfully turn his hand at just about whatever caught his fancy at the time. This famous longarm is a Civil War Model 1860 Spencer Repeating rifle in very good original condition. by Donley Auction Services Est: $2,000 - $3,500 $1,200 0 Bids Sellers Who Sell Spencer Rifles Donley Auction Services Devin Moisan Auctioneers, Inc. them. Buford reported to his commanding officer, Major General Alfred Pleasonton . LEFT CLICK EXPANSION TO REDUCE. MANUFACTURER: Chiappa Firearms. Spencer Repeating Rifles and Carbines - Virginia Civil War Relics A great Gettysburg Artifact that is worthy of the finest Gettysburg or Civil War Collection. Spencer Rifle History: The Repeating 7-Shot Wonder This rifle really first saw action in the Vietnam War and has been around ever since. Every musket, rifle, display machine gun, machine gun parts set or gun sold by IMA, Inc is engineered to be inoperable according to guidelines provided by the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF). This was later lowered to 50 cents for each The .52 caliber 56-56 Rim Fire Spencer cartridge was much more comparable to a real service rifle load and delivered far greater downrange stopping power. The Spencer rifle, however, could hold seven rounds, allowing one to shoot seven times before having to reload. Ripley was a veteran of the war of 1812 as well as the Mexican-American War. several other Union infantry and cavalry regiments. Both have a good fit and edges showing only slight rounding from handling. resulted in Lincoln's personal endorsement of the arm. insolvency, and in October, 1868, all of the company's assets were The initial order was for some 1,400 rifles, at a per unit price of $35 each. Its serial number, 1589, puts it squarely in the first two shipments of Spencer seven-shot repeating rifles, totaling 1,000 guns, delivered and issued to the 5 th and 6 th Michigan Cavalry from mid-December 1862 to Mid-January 1863.. Often referred to as Copeland Spencers, these guns were . The butt shows a couple of slightly deeper mars and scrapes on both sides, near the buttplate tang area. A search of the Springfield Research Services serial number books did not find this rifle, but that is not uncommon as those records are far from complete. He also worked briefly for the N. P. Ames Company The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Bannerman. EXCEPTIONALLY NICE GETTYSBURG SPENCER RIFLE: CUSTER'S 5th AND 6th until 1863. The answer lies with the chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, James W. Ripley. make them extremely desirable collectors items. Original Item: Only One Available. Early serial number 1646 is visible at rear of receiver. Despite the clear evidence of real world use, both pieces of wood remain fairly crisp and show no signs of having been sanded or refinished. The first is a scriptMMJstamped vertically and the second is a scriptDAP, stamped horizontally. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Even the usually encountered crack in the butt, along the channel of the magazine tube, is missing. DISCLAIMER: All firearms are sold as collector's items only - we do not accept responsibility as to the shooting safety or reliability of any antique firearm. The 30 barreled, 3 band rifle was designed to take a US angular socket bayonet that was almost identical to the standard US M1855 socket bayonet, although it had a slightly larger socket diameter, a taller bridge to accommodate the front sight, and was unmarked with the exception of a small inspectors mark forward of the mortise cut or on the neck of the bayonet. Wiley Sword and others estimated that very few of the first 1,000 Copeland Spencers survived the conflict, making them rare in any condition. Even though the standard cavalry long arm technology of the pre-Civil War era US military, the single-shot breech-loading percussion carbine, was still in heavy use through the closing days of the war, the era of the repeating metallic cartridge used in rifles and carbines was firmly established by the end of 1863. Initial army contracts with the Spencer Company of Boston, Massachusetts called for 10,000 repeating firearms at a cost of $40.00 each. How much stuff can you bring on deployment? On August 17, 1863, a man named Christopher Miner Spencer entered the White House, gun in hand. caliber rimfire metallic cartridge for use in his rifle. Buford had bought the time necessary for Union infantry to arrive and help stem the Confederate advance. Accessed November 26, 2017. This wonderfully conditioned Spencer Rifle was undoubtedly in the East Field at Gettysburg during the epic Cavalry struggle that many feel saved the day for the Union Army, probably the most important event after the magnificent efforts of the 1st Minnesota, Michigan Iron Brigade and the 20th Maine's action on Little Round Top. This rate of fire was not even really feasible, as it took a lot of time to reload, and the rifle was susceptible to over-heating. He was let in past the sentries and ushered in to meet with President Abraham Lincoln. and individuals. Also, the fact that the weapon does not have a cartouche mark shows that it was purchased privately and was no doubt one of the weapons purchased by Lt. Col. Copeland. All firearms are "mechanically perfect" unless noted, but again, are NOT warranted as safe to fire! The Spencer was also very fast to reload, with a 7-round tubular magazine that fed through the buttstock; soldiers could carry pre-loaded tubes and reload the magazine in just a few seconds. after the Civil War, but the firm's prodigious wartime output SPENCER RIFLE GI#: 102260282 Spencer Rifle Serial no. Both retain a nice, open grained appearance but without any feathery texture. 5 Did Confederate soldiers have repeating rifles? On 18 August 1863, President Lincoln agreed to test the rifle with Spencer on a weedy plain extending from the White House to the unfinished Washington Monument. sale of an additional 10,000 guns. The rifles were the first of the Spencer repeaters ordered by the Ordnance Department and were the first Spencers to see service in the field. Even allowing for errors in the estimate, this rifle still falls about in the middle of Copelands rifles, which he (at that point commanding the brigade) issued to the 5th Michigan, with enough left over to arm about half of the 6th Michigan as well. The, , as some affectionately referred to the Spencer Rifle (and carbine), was in essence the original. The overall bore condition matches the outside of the gun very closely. Its serial number, 1589, puts it squarely in the first two shipments of Spencer seven-shot repeating rifles, totaling 1,000 guns, delivered and issued to the 5th and 6th Michigan Cavalry from mid-December 1862 to Mid-January 1863. magazine and internally-primed metallic-cased cartridge, was a This area is notoriously weak as the wood of the butt is so thin where the channel of the magazine was hollowed out. What is the best compliment to give to a girl? prototype firearms. Spencer was at the White House to show the president his invention, the repeating rifle. The charge would have been seen as futile, and the men would not have been able to get so close to the enemyas was often the casebecause of the rapid and intense fire that the Spencer was capable of. We have given it only a very gentle wipe over cleaning. A search of the Springfield Research Services serial number books did not find this rifle, but that is not uncommon as those records are far from complete. Complete with its original 7-Shot tube magazine stored in the butt, this was the gun that advertised, "Load on Sunday and Shoot all week". Caliber- .52 inches (13 mm) History and overview of the Spencer repeating rifle and carbine-The Spencer repeating rifle was a manually operated lever-action, repeating rifle fed from a tube magazine with cartridges. U.S. Spencer Lever Action Repeating Carbine - NRA Museum NPS Historical Handbook: Gettysburg This number tracks the rifle to the 5th Michigan Cavalry as follows: Only two units of the Army of the Potomac were armed with Spencer Repeating Rifles at Gettysburg. Item Code: 401-28. Unlike later cartridge designations, the first number referred to the diameter of the case ahead of the rim, while the second number referred to the diameter at the mouth; the actual bullet diameter was .52 inches. manufactured his design for the first practical pump-action About Us | Contact Us | Join/Renew | Corporate Ethics | Privacy Policy, Theodore Roosevelt and Elegant Arms - 1880s to 1920s, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Beyond - 1940 to Present, Frank Brownell NRA Museum of the Southwest, Serialization/ Date of Manufacture from The Blue Book, Store Brand Crossover List from The Blue Book, Gun Collector Organizations from The Blue Book. It is impossible to tell what kind of difference the Spencer rifle would have made if it had been used earlier in the war, but this story could have important implications today. Wilders men first put their new repeating rifles to good use at the Battle of Hoovers Gap during the Tullahoma Campaign in early summer of 1863 and provided massive supporting fire during the Battle of Chickamauga that helped to save the Union Army from potential destruction during heavy fighting on the first day.