Spencer repeating rifle The Spencer repeating rifle was a manually operated lever - action , repeating rifle fed from a tube magazine with cartridges . It was adopted by the Union Army , especially by the cavalry , during the American Civil War , but did not replace the standard issue muzzle - loading rifled musket s in use at the time . The Spencer carbine was a shorter and lighter version . Overview . The design was completed by Christopher Spencer in 1860 , and was for a magazine - fed , lever - operated rifle chambered for the . 56 - 56 Spencer rimfire cartridge . Unlike later cartridge designations , the first number referred to the diameter of the case ahead of the rim , while the second number referred to the diameter at the mouth ; the actual bullet diameter was . 52 inches . Cartridges were loaded with of black powder . To use the Spencer , a lever had to be worked to extract the used case and feed a new cartridge from the tube . Like the Springfield Model 1873 Trapdoor Rifle , the hammer had to be manually cocked in a separate action . The weapon used rimfire cartridges stored in a seven - round tube magazine , enabling the rounds to be fired one after another . When empty , the tube could be rapidly loaded either by dropping in fresh cartridges or from a device called the Blakeslee Cartridge Box , which contained up to thirteen ( also six and ten ) tubes with seven cartridges each , which could be emptied into the magazine tube in the buttstock . There were also . 56 - 52 , . 56 - 50 , and even a few . 56 - 46 versions of the cartridge created , which were necked down versions of the original . 56 - 56 . Cartridge length was limited by the action size to about 1 . 75 inches , and the later calibers used a smaller diameter , lighter bullet and larger powder charge to increase the power and range over the original . 56 - 56 cartridge , which , while about as powerful as the . 58 caliber rifled musket of the time , was underpowered by the standards of other early cartridges such as the . 50 – 70 and . 45 - 70 . History . At first , conservatism from the Department of War delayed its introduction to service . However , Christopher Spencer was eventually able to gain an audience with President Abraham Lincoln , who subsequently invited him to a shooting match and demonstration of the weapon . Lincoln was impressed with the weapon , and ordered that it be adopted for production . The Spencer repeating rifle was first adopted by the United States Navy , and subsequently adopted by the United States Army and used during the American Civil War where it was a popular weapon . The South occasionally captured some of these weapons and ammunition , but , as they were unable to manufacture the cartridges because of shortages of copper , their ability to take advantage of the weapons was limited . Notable early instances of use included the Battle of Hoover ' s Gap ( where Col . John T . Wilder ' s " Lightning Brigade " effectively demonstrated the firepower of repeaters ) , and the Gettysburg Campaign , where two regiments of the Michigan Brigade ( under Brig . Gen . George Armstrong Custer ) carried them at the Battle of Hanover and at East Cavalry Field . As the war progressed , Spencers were carried by a number of Union cavalry and mounted infantry regiments and provided the Union army with additional firepower versus their Confederate counterparts . President Lincoln ' s assassin , John Wilkes Booth was armed with a Spencer carbine at the time he was captured and killed . The Spencer showed itself to be very reliable under combat conditions , with a sustainable rate - of - fire in excess of 20 rounds per minute . Compared to standard muzzle - loaders , with a rate of fire of 2 – 3 rounds per minute , this represented a significant tactical advantage . However , effective tactics had yet to be developed to take advantage of the higher rate of fire . Similarly , the supply chain was not equipped to carry the extra ammunition . Detractors would also complain that the amount of smoke produced was such that it was hard to see the enemy . In the late 1860s , the Spencer company was sold to the Fogerty Rifle Company and ultimately to Winchester . Many Spencer carbines were later sold as surplus to France where they were used during the Franco - Prussian War in 1870 . Despite the fact that the Spencer company went out of business in 1869 , ammunition was sold in the United States up to about the 1920s . Later , many rifles and carbines were converted to centerfire , which could fire cartridges made from the centerfire . 50 - 70 brass . Production ammunition can still be obtained on the specialty market .