The Spencer carbine was one of the most popular firearms of the Civil War though it was not issued until the latter part of 1863. Its distinguishing feature is that it had a magazine that could hold seven metallic rim-fire cartridges, which were fed to the breech by a compressed spring in the magazine. The magazine was loaded through the butt of the rifle. When the trigger guard was lowered, the breech block dropped down, and the spent cartridge case was ejected. As the trigger guard returned to its normal position, the breech block moved up and in the process, caught a new cartridge and inserted it in the breech. To expedite the loading process, the Blakeslee quick-loading cartridge box was designed, which held several loaded magazines that could be quickly inserted in the butt. In all, more than 95,000 Spencer carbines were purchased during the war by the federal government. This carbine has a very clean and functioning action and tube. The bore is bright and shiny with plenty of rifling remaining. The stock still retains a nice cartouche and overall the wood is in nice condition showing only light to moderate handling marks with some True-Oil added at some point in time. The receiver was cleaned at some point and now has a silver finish with some light to moderate evidence of pin-prick pitting that was removed. The barrel is a plumb/brown patina which is also slightly silvering overall. The action is crisp and tight and the gun functions perfectly in dry operation. This gun comes with a partial box of shells containing 17 original cartridges, (1) .56-56 Winchester cartridge, a lot of miscellaneous parts including an original saddle ring bar, a hard bound first edition on Spencer Repeating Firearms written by Roy M. Marcot and an original Rock Island Arsenal saddle scabbard in nice original condition. The scabbard was most likely added later as it is an Indian Wars era scabbard. Sn#59648 Antique No FFL