Been slobbering over a Spencer reproduction.
I'm down to caliber choice. It's gonna be .45Colt or 56-50.
Which should I choose?

.45Colt = ammo available, handgun compatable, resale easier.

56-50= expensive ammo, better ballistics, historically similar to original rimfire, coolness.

I do reload but don't have any gear for either of these calibers so for now it's going to be factory ammo.
Gun will not see heavy use but will be used occasionally for hunting.

I'd go .56-50, personally.  I enjoy loading odd ball calibers almost as much as shooting them.  It can be costly, though.  I have paid more for dies than some of the rifles I reload for.  And waiting years for a company to make another limited run of brass is frustrating.

To me, these are all the perfect reasons to buy it in 45 Colt.  That's just how different people are.  Personally, I wouldn't consider 56-50, at all.

I just sold my 56-50 rifle.

Are you thinking carbine or rifle length?

I would get the carbine, I believe they have a different rifling twist than the rifles and are more accurate. Plus they are lighter and shorter.

Once you have everything set up to load 56-50 it's no different than any other ctg. It's a neat round to shoot and seems anemic due to the weight of the rifle but loaded with 35-40 grains of BP it will push 350 grains bullets to 1000 FPS or so.

Carbine.

What bullet were you using in your 56-50 ammo? I'm confused on which bullet and mold. I'd cast my own.

The more I look at this the more I'm thinking .45Colt.
My one concern is this: Do the .45Colt chambered guns cycle worth a flip? That tiny rim can be an issue.
I'll be shooting smokeless powder.

Avid 45 colt fan here, not sure how the 45 colt chambered guns worked, I can tell you that the 56-50 work great once you get then overall length worked out.

I had the Lyman mold however I would buy a different mold, the Lyman didn't carry much lube.less important if shooting smokeless powder though.

I have the 56-40...bought it to shoot in NSSA.  Stiffest action of any weapon I have owned...must be cycled vigorously to be reliable.   Ammo easy to reload, but use Swiss vice Goex...less fouling.  Cartridge length is critical to smooth action operation.  Of note, the gun has more accuracy potential than I have realized, and getting it zeroed is not easy...If I had it to do again, would buy in .45 Colt, and then forfeited competition in NSSA....gun looks great, and shoots okay...

Well......I got one. .45LC
Looks great.
Been fooling around running some snap caps thru it. It gets a little hinky with more than three snap caps in the mag.
Ejection seems weak. May just be the snap caps. I will try to shoot it on Sunday.
Dang thing was filthy! I've been cleaning the bore for over 30 minutes! Arrrrrr.

I had a .56-50 and it had some feeding issues.  Got it worked on by a guy from the N-SSA, and it finally started feeding.  Plus I had to find a guy that was machining grease grooves off of a .50-70 bullet mould to find a great bullet for it.  Starline brass was good in it, but hard to get because they do seasonal runs of it.  Mine had a hard time with Bell cases because I suspected the rims were slightly too thick or wide.  I used 3 FFFg Goex about 35 grains in mine.  It was fun to shoot, but I ended up selling it and buying an Uberti Henry instead.  .45 colt brass and bullets are easy to come by.

Friend of mine bought one. The action was just awful as it came from the factory. After he had it smoothed out by a gunsmith, it was actually pleasant to cycle and functioned well. His, also a .45 LC carbine, is very accurate.

I've not fired an original, but in feel and construction, I felt the repro is a good approximation of them. Found this guide detailing one owner's experiences with his Spencer repro and how he fixed its mechanical issues.

Tommy, who worked your Spencer?  I shoot w/ NSSA, and would like to give him some business! :)
Thanks,v/r W

Sadly I must report my experience with the new Spencer has been an unmitigated disaster.
This thing flat doesn't work.
It is a .45Colt carbine made by Chiappa/Armi-Sport. Brand new gun. Beautiful looking firearm.

Maybe the fact its a .45 Colt chambered gun?

There are several issues with it.

1.) It will not feed/cycle properly.
I've rounded the tip of the upper breachblock. Cut the mag spring down. Cycled the action eleventymillion times.
The rounds come out of the mag tube and sort of lay/roll over sideways a bit. This makes the breachlock have a hard time separating the rounds as it swivels back up into battery.
I've tried several different brands of ammo with different bullet shapes. No luck.
I think the bullet guide in the breachblock needs to be ground down?

2.)The screw that holds the entire breachblock/lever assembly in the action body is too short.
When fully tightened down the lever assembly binds against the inside of the action body and is impossible to open/close.
If the screw is loosened a bit the action cycles easily but the screw backs out after a few cycles of the action.
Unacceptable.

3.) It will not eject.
When the lever is lowered to eject a fired case, the lever assembly jams to a stop about 1/3 of the way open.
Extreme hard lever throw results in the entire breachblock/lever assembly rotating backwards completely out of the action body and cartridges spewing out of the magazine tube!  
This then requires removal of the screw that holds the lever assembly in the action and re-inserting the assembly into the action body.
Studying the problem I observed the ejector hook moves backwards and upwards where the tip of the hook contacts the inside front face of the cartridge case flange of the rim(six o'clock in the chamber). Then as the lever is moved ever more downward the ejector moves straight UPWARDS  into the case BEFORE the hook moves rearward. The case is fully expanded into the chamber from firing and this then stops/jams the movement/travel of the lever. An unfired case WILL be pulled out. I figure there is enough clearance with an unfired case to move upwards in  the chamber to allow the upwards then rearward movement of the extractor to work. The gun does not have an ejector.
I tried to file off a bit on the tip of the hook but this only resulted in a farked up hook that will not extract anything now. Going to have to buy a new one and replace.
If I were a machinist I think this problem could be cured by cutting a vertical hole under the pin of the extractor hook in the upper beachblock, inserting a heavy spring, and elongating the pin slot in the extractor itself. This would allow the extractor hook some "give"as it contacted the cartridge case and upwards/rearwards movement while maintaining pressure/grip on the extracted cartridge case.

Thankfully the trigger pull is normal.
The gun fires fine. No issue there.
I can not comment on accuracy yet as I've only fired the gun trying to diagnose the cycling issues. Seems okay.  

So far this has been very frustrating.
I knew these had issues going in so I can't feel too badly but I didn't expect this many problems.
Damned expensive lesson.

If anyone knows of a Spencer gunsmith please tell me!

Check out the Spencer Shooting Society (SSS).
It is a group I founded back in 2005 or so....

Check them out...a lot of Spencer savvy folks there.
Just tell'em Gunner sent you.

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