![]() While I was being filmed for the National Rifle Association’s weekly American Rifleman television show in October 2017, the staff photographers at NRA headquarters took a series of images of my new gun for my forthcoming article. ![]() There are deep scratches and gouges across this part of the fore stock, indicating the repair was made many years ago. Since the lines between the forestock and the walnut dowel glued into the cleaning rod channel are barely discernible, it is obvious that a skilled woodcrafter did this work. Still, I reassembled the rifle and hung it in my collection room. The only Spencer arms I had ever handled in detail was a tin-plated M1860 Navy rifle on display in the Marine Corps’ museum and two others (a carbine and an Army rifle) that had been donated to the museum in the 1970s. I must admit that, at the time, I really didn’t know any more about Spencer rifles than could be expected of a retired military museum curator who had never before personally owned one. I was beginning to get worried, as my new gun only had two barrel bands on it, and I had not yet been able to find enough information about M1865 Spencer rifles to confirm whether they were supposed to have two bands, or three, like the M1860 Spencer rifle. However, while cleaning the rifle, I was concerned about the odd-looking barrel bands on it and the seemingly well-worn wooden fore stock. Courtesy of American Rifleman magazine, photographed by Forrest MacCormack. The ‘Frankenspencer’ rifle from Ridgeway, with its two barrel bands- and they are spaced oddly apart. Peter Vronsky’s book on the 1866 Battle of Ridgeway, Number 5 Company (No 5 Coy) of Toronto’s “Queen’s Own Rifles” (QOR), 2nd Battalion, Canadian Militia, had exchanged their muzzle-loading Enfield rifles for 49 M1865 Spencer breechloading repeaters (nine carbines and 40 rifles) the day before the battle. I needed the rifle for two reasons: First, to illustrate an article that I was writing on the guns of the 1866 Fenian Raid for (published in September 2020) and, secondly, to display in an exhibit of Fenian arms that a group of friends and I used to set up each year at the annual Maryland Irish Festival near Baltimore, Md. Moreover, according to the Roy Marcot’s comprehensive book on Spencer arms, the company only made about 2,500 of these rifles, so my chances of ever finding another one were fairly slim. I was delighted to have this rifle, as its serial number, 2425, was within the range of the known 2,000-some M1865 Spencer rifles that the Canadians had purchased in 1866 to confront the Fenian threat from the United States. Save Up To 66% Off MyPillow with Promo Code TIMBROWN.Preparing Also Means Detoxifying – Here’s One Simple Way To Detoxify.Stockpile Your Ammo & Save $15 On Your First Order. ![]()
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