Spencer+Repeating+Rifle

=Spencer Repeating Rifle=

an HMS American Cultures collaborative production
===|| || || || ||  || === ===The Spencer Repeating Rifle was a [|breech-loading], magazine-fed, manually cocked, standard issue weapon during the Civil War. About 200,000 of these guns were made. It has a [|Rate-of-Fire] of about 20 shots per minute. That is about 8 times faster than the standard [|1861 Springfield Rifle]. The Spencer was also one of the first in the world to be a magazine-fed infantry rifle.=== ===The design for the Spencer was made by [|Christopher Spencer] in 1860, but it wasn't made standard issue until 1863. In 1863, Christopher Spencer visited Abraham Lincoln and demonstrated and taught the President how to shoot the Spencer Repeating RIfle. President Lincoln was so impressed, that he ordered it to be adopted for the army immediately.=== ===The Spencer Repeating Rifle had a big influence on the war. In fact, it along with the [|Henry Rifle] were considered turning-points for the Union in the Civil War. Before it became standard-issue however, a smaller version, the Spencer Carbine, was used by some of the Calvary. When the Spencer Rifle was brought into the war, it started in the US Navy, but then it was adopted by both, the Infantry and Calvary.===

Online Sources:
Walter, John. "Rifles of the World." __Google Book Results__. 22 May 2009 .

"Spencer Repeating Rifle." __Wikipedia__. 20 May 2009 .


 * Image Sources:**

==="American Model 1865 Spencer Breech-Loading Carbine." __Canadian Military Heritage__. 20 May 2009 . ===