Spencer Rifle help needed

[macinyart]

I have a Spencer Rifle with what appears to be authentic stamping on the receiver.
Serial number alongside the hammer 50077
blue is gone from the 35" barrel; I removed the foregrip and found no numbers hidden there..
I have not tried to fire this rifle.
I suspect it was issued to a Wisconsin Civil war unit based on the history of previous owners here in Wisconsin but there is no proof of this.
I would be interested to know if there is anyone on the board who might be able to steer me towards a more complete history of this piece along with a source for someone who might appraise it.

Thank you very much.

For several years I have been unsuccessfully researching this rifle. A list member has suggested that I start a new thread since the original is so old....here goes. Another suggested complete photos of the rifle...again, here goes.

 

[bobinwmass]

Looks to me that someone took a model 1860 Spencer carbine receiver and attached a certainly not original long octagonal barrel. That serial number would fall into the late War carbine range. The barrel is not a standard Spencer Rifle barrel, so no wonder there was no serial number. Without more close-up photos from various angles, hard to tell what may or may not be original, if anything. Interesting, but appears to be what I think some here have called a Frankengun, something put together with parts from different type guns.

 

[Rhea Cole]

My gunsmith friend speculates that you have a post war target rifle. The heavy hex-angular barrel is a typical feature of target rifles. He called it a Hawken mating with Spencer, which pretty much fills the bill.

 

[UCVRelics]

Below are the 500 series numbers in the SRS. As @bobinwmass stated it did start life as a carbine and was a late war issue. Could you post some photos of the top markings on the receiver as well as the end of the barrel and one of the inside of the receiver with the breech open.
5001560C 030165CO A 7TH IND VOL CAV
5001560C 111265CO E 7TH IND VOL CAV (ISSUED)
5005260C 65CO F 2ND WISC VOL CAV
5008360C 65CO F 2ND WISC VOL CAV

 

[Jeff in Ohio]

Yes, as suggested above, this was made as a carbine (the highest rifle serials were between serial 22,000 and (about) 24,000). It still has the carbine sling bar installed.
Spencer never made rifles with barrels such as this one has, but post-war gunsmiths put civilian sporting barrels on some, and that's what you have.

 

[Ralph Heinz]

Frontier gun shops made up similar rifles after the ACW using Spencer rifles and carbines and octagon barrels which were often from obsolete muzzle loading rifles that they re-bored, rifled, and chambered for Spencer cartridges. They were a fairly common rifle in the west for hunting in the late 1860's and early 1870's before Sharps and Ballard produced much more powerful cartridge rifles. These were popular on the frontier because of their 7 shot capability in hostile Indian country. Some of these had a wiping rod under the barrel which had previously been a ramrod. A number of these conversions can be seen in Roy Marcot's book, SPENCER REPEATING FIREARMS.

 

[Jeff in Ohio]

The post-war catalog of a major firearms distributor, JH Johnson aka Great Western Gunworks offered to buy any used Spencer carbines from customers, even ones that needed repairs. there was a good post-war demand for the Spencers, whether in original configuration or rebuilt with civilian sporting barrels (or turned into smoothbore shotguns)