loading the 56-46 Spencer

[herbert buckland]

Has any one any experince loading the Spencer 56-46 cartridge,I belive cases can be formed from 32 ga brass shot shells and BACO sells dies butt finding a healed base bullet for this cartridge of original 300gr weaight is causing problems,the groove diamter in the rifle I want to reload for is .463 inches

[Mk42gunner]

You might contact Tom at Accurate Molds. I don't have any of his molds, yet. The ones I have seen pictures of look like works of art.

Robert

[Seth Hawkins]

Contact Bernie Rowles at Old West Bullet Moulds (http://www.oldwestbulletmoulds.com/). I have a couple of his heeled moulds. He will work with you to make whatever you need, and even make you a crimp die. (Bet you hadn't thought of that yet.) His prices are quite reasonable. His turn-around time is, too. And, he's a pretty nice guy.

[herbert buckland]

Yes the crimp die will be needed,somthing I forgot about,also I have a Spencer action that needs a barrel ,does any one make a 56-46 Spencer chamber reamer

[Nick D]

Has any one any experince loading the Spencer 56-46 cartridge,I belive cases can be formed from 32 ga brass shot shells and BACO sells dies butt finding a healed base bullet for this cartridge of original 300gr weaight is causing problems,the groove diamter in the rifle I want to reload for is .463 inches

I have recently started loading for the 56-46 Spencer. I have made the cases from 50-70 Govt shortened to 1.05 inch annealed and then formed in the resizing die. I have then trimmed the case to 1.04 inch. I have used the RCBS .45 bullet sized to .458 the bore of my sporting spencer measures .456. I have used a very light load of 5.5 grains of bullseye which gives a velocity of 830 fps. At 25 yards 10 shots going into a group 0.71 inch. The RCBS bullet does not feed as easily as does a 300 grain round nose bullet cast from a NEI mould not sure why but am investigating this further. There is another Spencer in our club and both seem very forgiving and accurate rifles.

[herbert buckland]

What is the OAL you are using.Another bullet that should work very well for you is the Lyman .458-292gr bullet.I have not had a new barrel made as yet ,trying to figure out the best twist to use,do you know the twist rate in your original 56-46

[Nick D]

The length of the RCBS is 1.6 inch and the NEI #338 is 1.68 inch, the NEi does feed much more smoothly than the RCBS which can present problems but does eventually feed after a fashion. I had not previously considered the Lyman bullet as that was a little lighter but on looking again I do not think it will have much inpact as the difference in weight is so small. I will exoeriment a bit by trying to seat the bullet out a little further to see if this helps to ease the feeding problem.

[herbert buckland]

I have had best feeding in my original Spencers from 1.62 to 1.68 inches(this is with the 56-56 and 56-50 so may not aply),but I am suprised that 1.6 does not feed well as some original cartridges were this lenth,have you checked weather the cartridge guide spring is a little week,this can cause feeding problems

[Nick D]

I think some of the problem is due to the bottleneck design it does not seem to be a problem when a single round is being loaded but when the magazine has more than 1 round this is when the problem becomes more acute. A colleague of mine who also has a sporting Spencer finds his will not load the RCBS bullet at all but will manage the round nosed NEI bullet reasonably well experiencing just the occasional problem. I think as does he that a bullet with a more rapid taper to the meplat will improve feeding but so far unable to find a suitable off the shelf mold.

[herbert buckland]

Yes the RCBS bullet does seem to be have the wrong nose shape,this is why I thought the Lyman 458-292gr bullet would be a good bullet to work with,might have to lenthen the case neck lenth slitly but this would be no problem

[Nick D]

The RCBS bullet I find is more accurate but given the feeding problem there is much experimentation still to be done. In the meantime the NEI bullet is performing well and in the main overcomes the feeding issue but I will look at the Lyman design to see if this will improve the situation. I would add that the accuracy of the Spencer is most impressive for a rifle as old as it is and it is quite forgiving of shooter error also!

[herbert buckland]

I do like my Spencers ,though I do not have a 56-46 I am working on it ,any help with twist rates for a new barrel or fixes for improved feeding would be apreciated, although a original sporting rifle is also on top of my bucket list.would you be able to post pictures of yours

[Nick D]

I am not sure of the twist rate I will try and get some photos taken and posted in the next few days all being well

[elk hunter]

My original 56-46 sporting barrel has a twist rate of 1 in 54 inches as near as i can measure. Hope that is helpful.

[herbert buckland]

My original 56-46 sporting barrel has a twist rate of 1 in 54 inches as near as i can measure. Hope that is helpful.That seems very slow for this cartridge,is the rifle a civilian conversion or a Spencer made Sporting rifle.Sprinfield who desighned this cartridge concluded that a 1 in 24 twist rate was the most acurate ,but this was with the longer 400gr bullet,I want to use a close to 300gr bullet so this may be two fast.thank you for your input,If you shoot it how does it shoot and what are you loading in it

[elk hunter]

Sorry to say I don't have any further information. The barrel was on an 1860 model carbine and is unmarked so can't say for sure who made it. It was obviously fit to another action, removed and put on the one I have. It is cracked along the extractor slot so I didn't try to shoot it. I re-barreled the carbine to 56-50 as I had a fifty caliber barrel blank on hand.

[Nick D]

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[herbert buckland]

Thank you,those sporting rifles are defintly a class act,also like the straightend trigger,I did the same thing with a replica one that I had the barrel relined and I converted to a ring leaver take down 56-50 sporting rifle,sorry I do not have a camera or have I figerd out how to post pictures

[Nick D]

This rifle also has a set trigger, a bit unusual as it has a screw at the rear of the trigger cant find much information on it and generally think it was experimental, certainly professionally done. I tend to use it without setting the trigger as the trigger is a dream without and if set is extremely light!

[herbert buckland]

Very interesting ,diffrent from the Spencer set trigger,I would gess expermental as the rest of the rifle is certanly a unalterd Spencer sporting rifle.If you ever take the trigger bare off, it would pay to photograph and document any markings on the set trigger desighn,Spencer set triggers are rare and yours may be one of a kind,also is the action a 1867 modle or a New Model,serial number would also be of interest,you seem to have my dream rifle,lucky man