This Spencer started life as a Civil War carbine and was gunsmith converted into a sporting rifle in the immediate post-Civil War era for use out West. It is chambered for the 56-46 Spencer cartridge (.44 rimfire) which was suitable for small to medium game. The relatively weak cartridge is often said to have helped doom the Spencer Repeating Rifle Company during the lean early post-war years when the firearms market was very tight due to large quantities of surplus arms. George Armstrong Custer and others are known to have taken Spencer sporters to the West, and they are certainly rare and valuable artifacts. Blade front sight and V-notch elevator rear sight (absent elevator). No markings visible on the octagon barrel. The top of the frame at the breech is marked "SPENCER REPEATING/RIFLE CO. BOSTON MASS./PAT'D MARCH. 6. 1860."

Good with frontier character, showing period applied brown finish overall, some black painted finish at the top of the hammer, and a few patches of light pitting. The weathered, revarnished wood displays Western age darkened patina with a few cracks and scars to boot, and some surface cracking on the forend. Mechanically fine.