My name is Spencer, and after owning a gun store for almost 20 years I finally bought an estate lot with an 1865 Spencer Carbine in it. This is the first black powder firearm I've ever owned. I did enough black powder with my dad back when I was a child to stay away from the stuff for almost 50 years. Anyway the 1865 Spencer I got was 80% steel in the white and 20% rust. I boiled off the rust with many, many passes in the pot and at the carding wheel. I did a couple of passes of American Rust Blue to give the old smoke pole some protection but let it keep the old gun look to match the original wood.
This gun is numbers matching with many small parts and the wood stamped with the number "17". The bore looks to be shootable, with decent rifling present and a few minor pits. There is a minor ~.016 bulge near the end of the barrel just past the front sight. All of the original parts were in serviceable condition.
I intend on loading Starline cases with 350gr bullets and Trail Boss starting at 5gr and working up to around 7gr unless someone has some better advise. I'd like to avoid black powder if at all possible. If I have to use black powder I will. This gun is going to get shot.
I'm looking for a center fire breech block as S&S and Buffalo Arms are both out of stock. If anyone has a spare, please let me know.
Pictures or it didn't happen . . .