Re: "the Spencer is old enough to be retired". Maybe, but so am I. We (the Spencer and I) both seem to enjoy remaining in harness. I've not only got neckties older than some of the people with whom I deal professionally, I likely have underwear in that catagory, too. And almost everything I shoot is older than I am. Frankly, that's what's given me a major part of the enjoyment of shooting sports for 55 years. I also prefer riding behind antique steam engines and driving my '62 Corvette, other candidates old enough to be retired.
My aged weapons, from a newish M1D sniper, through a 1864 Springfield, to my Maynard, Burnside, Sharps, and now Spencer are enjoyed in genteel, leisurely range or walk-in-the-woods sessions, not in CAS or CAS-like matches. Most of these character-drenched firearms were acquired before replicas were available, all are iron, steel, walnut, and brass. No polymar, no way. I believe all will cheerfully see me out and be passed on to the next owner not much worse for wear.
I respect the opinion that the old iron should be retired because it's old. And I'm aware metal fatigues, steel crystalizes, wood dries, and the like. Even factoring that, my old man's 1920's vintage Model 97 Winchester lurks, with loaded magazine, in the closet and it's a 1918-date M.1911 Colt, boasting shiny new springs and stoked with G.I. hardball, by my bedstead for last ditch defense. For our nation's defense, B52s are in the air every day. The last new B52 airframe left the Boeing plant in 1962. They're scheduled to be in inventory for decades to come, flown presently by the grandchildren of the original generation of pilots. "Old" still shines, Pard!