I Am A Walking Anachronism....

[Gunner]

Now, I realize that our sport is a fantasy sport...meaning it is what we make of it. But does anybody else feel kinda "funny" mixing & maybe "mis-matching" guns of different eras, like me?
Now when I am using my beloved Spencer, I just couldn't see shooting a '97 and some Rugers at the same time - for me, I stick with my '51 & '61 conversions or my Remmie New Model Army conversions. And of course a hammer double. I might even use my Schofield, but not my original S&W New Model #3's or my Win '87..it just doesn't seem right - to me .
So what brace of firearm do y'all use with yer Spencers???
Inquiring minds want to know....do you or don't you mix & match?

[Two Flints]

Gunner,

Funny you should put up this topic.  I'm working on my persona, which was a "mountain man"  post-Fur Trade Era, roughly 1850-1855.  Then, I take  on a new job as a civilian army scout,  until to about 1865.  Keep in mind that I was born in 1825.  Any way around 1865 or so, I get my Spencer (from the army), and then about a dozen years later or so, I pick up my Schofields (also from the army).  By now I'm about 55 years old, which is pretty close to my actual age.  Did I do the math OK?

To me, it all sounds logical.  I wanted to justify the firearms I own now, and tie them into what my life would have been back then.  I even have my (present day)wife  playing my Indian wife of back then.  And her Indian name really fits too, "Babbling Brook!"

Two Flints

[Rosoce Coles]

You aren't the only one.  I have guns in sets:

A pair of 1872 open tops and a pair of well tuned 1860s go with my origional 56-50 Spencer, a reproduction Henry, or a repro 66

A pair of nickle 7.5 inch Colts in 44-40 go with my 1885 44-40 1873 or my 1874 Shiloh Sharps in 45-90

A pair of .45 Colt Bisleys go with my 44-40 1892 SRC or my repro 1873 in 45lc

A pair of Italian 32.20 SAAs go with my origional 1873 in 32-20 or my 1892 rifle in 32-20.

I match them with the appropriate shotgun picking from an English double hammer gun (Damascus barrel), a bannerman Spencer pump or a totally worked over Baikal hammerless double. 

Date appropriate leather to match of course.

I still need a "Sunday go to meeting gun" and I would like a Taylor's Spencer as well but I'm pretty well fixed for any date from the mid 1860s to the first world war.  Its just more fun that way.

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[Two Flints]

Roscoe,

When my wife (looking over my shoulder) read all about your "pairs", she just looked at me and said, "Don't even think it!  You're all set with what you have."  Oh, well!

Two Flints

[Rosoce Coles]

Hey Flints:
   Well I will admit that I have a few more toys than I might honestly need but, I used to own a gun store so I came by em on the cheap....and then again I'm single!    I will say that I'm down a bit from my high water mark which was 124 guns, mostly 19th century stuff but a few modern ones as well.  These days its about 40 +/-.   

By the by, what part of Maine are you from?  I have family in Auburn.

[Two Flints]

I'm jealous!  I'd love to pick up an original Spencer...but not as a wall hanger, I'd want a shooter.  But, I guess that would mean having it modified to shoot centerfire rounds, right?

I have a home near the Northern Entrance to Baxter State Park.   Patten, Me is the closest "big"town to me.

Two Flints

[Rosoce Coles]

Flints:
   Don't get me wrong, I did all the work on my Spencer so that I can shoot it.  I just haven't worked out all the kinks yet.  I don't own anything I can't, won't or don't shoot.  I've banged away with origional civil war revolvers, Smith and Wessons, and Colts and anything else I could scrounge ammo for.  What is the fun of having guns you can't shoot?

[Hobie]

...What is the fun of having guns you can't shoot?

Not to hijack your conversation but I agree. 

As to the original question.  I guess I don't mix them up when using but I might at the range...

[Arizona Trooper]

When I'm not shooting a Spencer, my favorite lever gun is a 44-40 Whitney Kennedy (1882), which has been a real project to get working. It was pretty well worn out, and seems to have had a magazine explosion some time in the past. It's almost right now and with a sleeved barrel is a real tack driver. For backup, I have a Win. '73 from 1887 in 32-20 (a most useless caliber). Pistols are a Whitney Navy, Remington OM Navy and Colt '51. There's also a Colt '77 Lightning, but it's DA. My long range rifle is a Trapdoor parts gun made into an 1879 Long Range Match Rifle, chambered in 45-80. I don't yet have a suitable shotgun. I'd like to find a tight Whitney double.

Some friends and I are heading for the farm tomorrow for a Winchester/Whitney shootoff featuring three '73s, the 44-40 Kennedy, a 45-60 Express Kennedy, and probably at least one Spencer as well as a couple later lever guns (up to a 1902 '95 in 30-40, but that's kind of modern).

It's nice to escape from the 21st cetury once in a while.

[Gunner]

AZ Trooper, I too have a Whitney-Kennedy rifle, small frame in .44-40, "S" lever and matching 2 digit serial number!!!! It also has a trapdoor inthe buttplate for a cleaning rod. It is a real tackdriver! I got a GREAT deal at an auction - it is one of my treasures. Where in the world is there a Whitney shoot-off at?  Oh, BTW, I even found 2 repro Whitney catalogues - cool stuff.
Now for the real matter at hand, maybe I should re-phrase a little bit...what do you gear up with when shooting your Spencer?

[Harve Curry]

I use my Colt SAA's with my Spencer, I almost took the Spencer today on a buffalo hunt for a back up rifle, then my wife gave me that look and I picked up the 1881 Marlin 45-70 instead.
In SW New Mexico Spencers were still used during the Apache Wars.

[Two Flints]

Harve,

Have you come across any reading (books or magazines) about the Spencer and its use during the Indian Wars?  Titles?

Two Flints

[Harve Curry]

Howdy Two Flints,
One good book to have is "The U.S.Army in the West, 1870 to 1880" (uniforms, weapons, & equipment), by Douglas C. McChristian.
On page 94-95 it discusses the Dyer pouch being issued in 1870 to the western troops fro caliber 50-70, improved carbine and the Spencer.

"Apache Indian Wars" by E.Lisle Reedstrom, pg 126.
 
Also I find reference to the Spencer in books about the 9th Cavalry.
When I find a good buy on "Buffalo Soldiers 1866 to 1900" I'll get it because it describe battles fought around where I live.

[Rosoce Coles]

Spencers were also used in the Modoc Wars out in Claifornia in 1872-73.  They were issued to the Apache scouts brought up from Arizona to fight against the Modocs.  By the by, just to let you know how good the Modocs were, after a long seige where they were surrounded and shelled with artillery, they picked up (men, women and children) and walked through the surrounding army and got away!

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Roscoe,

I am surprised you haven't seen me banging away at the iron with my 56-56 1860 at Muriette or Yolo matches.  They usually allow me one stage where they let me use the Spencer as a main match rifle <g>.  I guess since they can time with with a sundial (according to Wild Billl Briscoe), it doesn't give me a com petitive edge!

[copus]

Hey Flints, first thanks for the info on the spencer action I have. second did you not feel that iron skillet across your head when your wife read what you said?

[Gimpy Gus]

Gunner,

Started CAS this spring. Gimpy Gus was already taken as alias in SASS, so I'm shooting under the alias "Mescal Lee". I'm developing the personna of a white rennagade living with the Mescal Apaches in New Mexico in the mid 1870s. Weapons are: 1865 Spencer 56-50 carbine (Taylor), 1860 Army .44 C&B (Pietta), 1872 R-M conversion Army .44 Colt (Cimmaron), and an old Richards (Belgium) 12 ga. LeFaucheux scissors action hammer sxs with steel barrels. Love making that smoke and fire! Usually finish last but have a heck of a good time getting there! Leather is also mixed and matched with CW issue hoster (cut down), CW belt, Slim Jim holster for the 1872 R-M, a CW musket cartridge pouch for the 12ga shells and a fringed deer skin knife sheath for an old,old butcher knife.  My coat and 3 piece Mescalero style low top mocasins are made primarily from deers I've taken over the years with black powder weapons. Hopefully this winter, I can convert the 1860 to cartidge using a gated KIRST CONVERSION with loading arm.

GG

[Trailrider]

Howdy, Pards,

Here's my personal opinion about "anachronisms":  Using a pair of M1911's in OTHER than a "Wild Bunch Match" (i.e., portraying the 1870's would be an anarchronism.  Using a Spencer in a later 19th Century era, with cartridge revolvers is NOT!  A cowboy, rancher, mountain man, etc., who owned a Spencer, liked it, and was not the most flush individual might well continue using his Spencer as long as he could get ammo for it.  So far as using Ruger Vaqueros is concerned, they are regarded as a sort of clone for the Colt's Single Action, and I like mine just fine (in .44-40, of course!!!).  As far as how far forward you can pack an earlier-made gun, I seem to recall a tanker general who packed a Colt's SAA with ivory handles in North Africa and the ETO during WWII! 

[Bead Swinger]

Hi Y'all
'Nice to know that somebody else is crazy enough to use a 56-56 in a Main Match. I'm slower than molassas in December too, but it's still fun.