An American first: the birth of the sporterized military rifle

Guns Magazine, July, 2009 by Jeff John

NOTES ON RELOADING

One of the parameters of this redesign of the 56-46 cartridge was the desire to form the 56-50 Starline cases in one pass through the sizing die without the need for neck reaming or trimming. Dave Kiff of Pacific Tool and Gauge made the reamer on John King's drawings. After lubing the Starline brass with Imperial Sizing Die Wax (now owned by Redding), the cases were formed in one pass through the RCBS sizing dies with minimal effort.

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Myinitialthoughts were a hunting load with a 300-grain jacketed .451" bullet at 1,100 to 1,250 fps. King and I chose .451" pistol bullets rather than .458" rifle bullets because the short, stubby case won't handle bullets heavier than 300 to 325 grains anyway, and pistol bullets of many weights and profiles exist below that while there are virtually no .458" bullets weighing less than 300 grains. The trouble is, most of the pistol bullets both cast and jacketed leave little leeway in seating depth and cartridge overall length is critical in a Spencer's functioning.

The Speer 300-grain Plated Flatnose looked promising as a jacketed bullet for hunting. I was just able to crimp it in the cannelure and get reliable function at a length of 1.560". Sometimes the first round out of the magazine would be a little balky, but for the most part it runs fine. Let the bullet wander out just .005" and it stops running entirely. Run the bullet out to 1.610" and it starts running again, but is beyond the crimp.

If the overall length wasn't set right, soft cast bullets under full magazine spring tension would jam and the breechblock would scrape a chunk of lead off the bullet's nose. Traditional Keith-style semi-wadcutters wouldn't feed a lick. This gun likes what it likes and feeding is problematic otherwise.

M.L. McPherson, a specialist in lever action rifles and wildcat cartridges. worked up some of the initial loads using NECO's QuickLoads. Keeping the pressure down to 15,000 psi, initial loads using RL-7 and Blue Dot looked the most promising for the high performance loads and good ol' reliable Unique proved ideal for plinking loads. My initial "fun load" of 8 grains of Unique under a 250-grain .45 Colt bullet was accurate and pleasant but did not obturate the case enough to seal the chamber. Some gas blowback occurred (wear safety glasses always when shooting).

NOTES ON BUILDING & FINISHING

I've wanted a Gemmer Spencer after owning an original 56-46 "Buffalo Spencer" (which looked like it was made by a blacksmith and chambered with a drill bit), but original Gemmers cost in the low five figures when found for sale at all. Also, as the cost of original military Spencers climbed, the cost of busting one up became prohibitive and only black powder should ever be fired in originals.

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Then the Italian Spencers came along. Since some Gemmers were made utilizing the military butt, I had an option if no stock carver would take on the job. I'll stop short of saying they all lit their hair on fire and ran off into the night screaming at the prospect of carving a Spencer stock.