I got somewhat "inspired"  following the thread on the Split Breech Remington and the 56-50 rimfire work that Steve was doing.  The 56-50 is really a fun cartridge, pleasant to shoot and easy to clean up.   Today I decided I'd chronograph my  "standard"  56-50 CF Spencer load to see how it compared with the data Steve was getting with his rim fire ammunition.   I thought others might be interested in the results.

I used a pair of rifles.   The first is an original Belgiun copy of the Spencer made in 1873.   According to Marcot, less than 1000 of these were made, and they were made in center fire!  Anyway, my load is 40.0 grains of FFFg GOEX, the 340 grain Lyman 515139 bullet, and Federal 210 primer.   Result of 9 rounds through the Oehler 35P were:  mean, 1022 fps; extreme spread, 28 fps; and a SD of 8.  I figure that was a pretty good showing.

The second rifle was an original 56-50 RF Peabody carbine, converted to CF by Providence Tool Company.   Using the same load, I got a mean of 1059 fps, an extreme spread of 31 fps, and a SD of 10.   The Peabody must have a tighter bore than the FN Spencer.

Both carbines have 20 inch barrels.   These loads burn pretty clean and it took just 3 or 4 wet patches and a few dry ones to have them clean enough to pass inspection by my  DI at Parris Island in 1963.

Semper Fi,
George