World's first military metallic-cartridge repeating rifle
Spencer repeating rifle
M1865 Spencer rifle
Type
Lever-action rifle
Place of origin
United States
Service history
Used by
United States Army United States Navy Queen's Own Rifles of Canada[1] France Siam Tokugawa Shogunate Aizu Domain Empire of Japan Empire of Brazil Argentina[2] Chile Bolivia Peru[3] Mexico Kingdom of Dahomey[4] China
Wars
American Civil War Indian Wars Fenian Raids Boshin War Paraguayan War Franco-Prussian War Occupation of Araucanía Second French intervention in Mexico War of the Pacific[5] Argentine Civil Wars[6] Second Franco-Dahomean War Federalist Revolution[7] First Sino-Japanese War[8]
Production history
Designer
Christopher Spencer
Designed
1860
Manufacturer
Spencer Repeating Rifle Company
Burnside Rifle Co [9]
Unit cost
$40 (1861)[10]
Produced
1860–1869
No. built
200,000 approx.
Specifications
Length
47 in (1,200 mm) rifle with 30 inch barrel 39.25 in (997 mm) carbine with 22 inch barrel[11]
Barrel length
30 in (760 mm) 22 in (560 mm)[12] 20 in (510 mm)[13]
Cartridge
.56-56 Spencer
Caliber
.52 in (13 mm)
Action
Manually cocked hammer, lever action
Rate of fire
14-20 rounds per minute[14]
Muzzle velocity
931 to 1,033 ft/s (284 to 315 m/s)
Effective firing range
500 yd (460 m)[15]
Feed system
7-round tubular magazine
The Spencer repeating rifles and carbines were 19th-century American lever-action firearms invented by Christopher Spencer. The Spencer was the world's first military metallic-cartridge repeating rifle, and over 200,000 examples were manufactured in the United States by the Spencer Repeating Rifle Co. and Burnside Rifle Co. between 1860 and 1869. The Spencer repeating rifle was adopted by the Union Army, especially by the cavalry, during the American Civil War but did not replace the standard issue muzzle-loading rifled muskets in use at the time. Among the early users was George Armstrong Custer. The Spencer carbine was a shorter and lighter version designed for the cavalry.
^"Guns of the First Fenian Raid: The Irish Invasion of Canada".
^Esposito, Gabriele, The Paraguayan War 1864–70: Osprey Publishing (2019)
^"Jornada de Historia Militar en Antofagasta. Guerra del Pacifico".
^Kea, R. A. “Firearms and Warfare on the Gold and Slave Coasts from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries.” The Journal of African History, vol. 12, no. 2, 1971, pp. 185–213. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/180879. Accessed 5 Sep. 2022
^Esposito, Gabriele, Armies of the War of the Pacific 1879–83: Osprey Publishing (2016)
^Cite error: The named reference Argentina was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"O EXÉRCITO REPUBLICANO" (PDF).
^"The War in the East". 13 December 1901.
^Walter, John (2006). The Rifle Story. Greenhill Books. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-85367-690-1.
^Purchase of arms, House Documents, 1861, P. 168-170.
^"www.romanorifle.com". www.romanorifle.com. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
^The M-1863 version
^The M-1865 version
^Walter, John (2006). The Rifle Story. Greenhill Books. pp. 256, 70–71. ISBN 978-1-85367-690-1. The fire-rate of the Spencer was usually reckoned as fourteen shots per minute. The Spencer rifle with a Blakeslee quickloader could easily fire twenty aimed shots a minute
^"The Spencer Repeater and other breechloading rifles of the Civil War". Retrieved 2011-02-23.
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