Spencer
A few years ago I made a determined effort to make suitable and accurate ammunition for a Model 1871 Springfield Spencer 2 band rifle. These rifles were converted from M1865 Spencer carbines using modified M1868 Springfield trapdoor barrels. I found the chamber to be notably longer than that of typical .56-50 barrels. After a lot of careful measuring, I settled on a case length of 1.356” and an overall length of 1.680”. Only later did I realize that this is very close to the case length of the 1867 .50-45 cadet rifle cartridge, also known as the .50 Cadet. This is not to be confused with the Springfield .50-55 carbine load which used the standard .50-70 brass.
The .50-45 case is listed with a length between 1.275” and 1.332”. Before I knew this, I had settled on a brass length of 1.356”, only .024” longer than the referenced .50-45 length of 1.332”. I settled on the 1.356” because it just covered the bands of the Rapine 350 bullet at the overall length this rifle required to cycle smoothly. But I could easily have trimmed them to the .50-45 length of 1.332” and they would work just fine.
I’ve done a lot of studying and thinking on this, and I think it quite likely that when Springfield armory made up the these rifles (around 1100 of them total), they chambered them for the longer .50-45 cadet cartridge rather than the standard .56-50. These rifles were made up to sell overseas . The Franco-Prussian war was raging and France needed repeating rifles. Perhaps they had a large stock of .50-45 ammunition on hand and realized it offered slightly improved performance over the .56-50.
This is just conjecture on my part, but I’m leaning towards the belief that these Model 1871 Springfield Spencer conversion rifles were in fact chambered for the .50-45 cartridge rather than the commonly believed .56-50. It sure shoots like it was designed for it.
Here are a couple photos. One shows a .56-50 case with the bullet set to the overall length this rifle needs, next to one with my brass made to work in this rifle. Quite a difference. Also a photo found on the net of various original .50-45 cartridges.
Thanks for reading, I’d appreciate your thoughts.
Steve