Spencer repeating rifle

Spencer repeating rifle
M1865 Spencer rifle
TypeLever-action rifle
Place of originUnited States
Service history
Used byUnited 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
WarsAmerican 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
DesignerChristopher Spencer
Designed1860
ManufacturerSpencer Repeating Rifle Company Burnside Rifle Co [9]
Unit cost$40 (1861)[10]
Produced1860–1869
No. built200,000 approx.
Specifications
Length47 in (1,200 mm) rifle with 30 inch barrel
39.25 in (997 mm) carbine with 22 inch barrel[11]
Barrel length30 in (760 mm)
22 in (560 mm)[12]
20 in (510 mm)[13]
Cartridge.56-56 Spencer
Caliber.52 in (13 mm)
ActionManually cocked hammer, lever action
Rate of fire14-20 rounds per minute[14]
Muzzle velocity931 to 1,033 ft/s (284 to 315 m/s)
Effective firing range500 yd (460 m)[15]
Feed system7-round tubular magazine

The Spencer repeating rifle was a 19th-century American lever-action firearm invented by Christopher Spencer. The Spencer carbine was a shorter and lighter version designed for the cavalry.

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.

  1. ^ "Guns of the First Fenian Raid: The Irish Invasion of Canada".
  2. ^ Esposito, Gabriele, The Paraguayan War 1864–70: Osprey Publishing (2019)
  3. ^ "Jornada de Historia Militar en Antofagasta. Guerra del Pacifico".
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ Esposito, Gabriele, Armies of the War of the Pacific 1879–83: Osprey Publishing (2016)
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Argentina was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "O EXÉRCITO REPUBLICANO" (PDF).
  8. ^ "The War in the East". 13 December 1901.
  9. ^ Walter, John (2006). The Rifle Story. Greenhill Books. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-85367-690-1.
  10. ^ Purchase of arms, House Documents, 1861, P. 168-170.
  11. ^ "www.romanorifle.com". www.romanorifle.com. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  12. ^ The M-1863 version
  13. ^ The M-1865 version
  14. ^ 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
  15. ^ "The Spencer Repeater and other breechloading rifles of the Civil War". Retrieved 2011-02-23.