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Spencer Carbine

Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 July 2009 16:55 Written by Administrator Thursday, 02 July 2009 16:04

The Spencer Carbine was a repeating rifle that was adopted by the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was designed by Christopher Spencer in 1860 and was manufactured by Spencer Company and Winchester. Approximately 100,000 units of the Spencer Carbine were manufacture in total.

Magazine-fed carbines are highly advantageous to soldiers and cavalrymen. Using the carbine along with the revolver, a small group of soldiers could cause massive damages to the enemy. Thus the Spencer Carbine was very popular with the soldiers of that era.

The Spencer Carbine’s design was based on the earlier Spencer rifle. In fact, the Carbine was a smaller and lighter version of the rifle. Similar to the rifle the Carbine was fed from a 7-round tube magazine that was inserted through the butt. The Carbine could be loaded in a short time of 10 seconds and this gave the weapon an advantage over single-shot guns.

In the 1860s, the Spencer Company was acquired by the Fogerty Rifle Company. Subsequently, it was acquired by Winchester and thus the gun was discontinued. However, ammunition for the Spencer continued to be manufactured even until the 1920s.

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