I took delivery of my 56-60 Spencer this afternoon! It is a "used" rifle, but you would be hard-pressed to tell. It had been fired 21 times. How do I know? Well, they were kind enough to throw in the rest of the box of 50 rounds with the purchase! (And they shipped it to me DIRTY, with lead in the barrel! BOOO!!) When I took it out of the case, it didn't have a mark on it. The only "glitch" I could find was that the slider on the rear sight was missing. Also, the lockwork felt completely dry and the mainspring would have been right at home on my Jeep!
After I got it home, I tore down the lock, cleaned it and lube it with some moly grease. I also thinned the mainspring down
just a touch. After reassembly, I was rewarded with a MUCH smoother action and a better (but not great) trigger pull around eight pounds. I will probably revisit the trigger at a later date and do some polishing, and I MIGHT reduce the mainspring some more (once I have a spare on hand).
The lever action is very smooth, and feeds and ejects the Ten-X ammo without a hitch. That REALLY made my day. Now I just have to see if my handloads will do the same after Widowmaker's mold arrives. I have no doubt that I made my neighbors cranky this evening, as I just couldn't wait until I could make it to the range to see if this little beast would go "bang". So, after dropping three rounds down the tube, I stepped out the back door and popped three rounds into a dirt bank out back. I can tell that this is going to be FUN with Holy Black! Oh, and for the record, there is just something very satisfying in the sound of those little punkin' rollers sliding down the mag tube with a "
tonk". I also love the sound of the hammer earring back...but that's just me. I have ALWAYS loved the sound of a side lock coming to full cock...especially a Trapdoor or a Sharps.
Anyway, I think this is going to be a fun relationship. And it will be even MORE fun when I get a rear sight I can actually SEE!
THE JOURNEY BEGINS!!
Author
