Peabody carbines in 56-50 anyone shoot them?

[jmoore]

I didn't know you could get new breaches for the Peabody.

I don't know that you can, but Frank 46 noted he has a spare rf breechblock. It could be converted. I'm wondering if a centerfire block couldn't be made to work. Haven't tried it, but seems like it might be do-able if the action lengths are the same.

[Frank46]

What I got from Dixie gun works were origional peabody rim fire breech blocks and firing pins. These still have to be converted to center fire. At one time Dixie did have Romanian center fire breech blocks and firing pins. But they sold out quite some time ago. I have a gunsmith who will do the conversion on my peabodyI do not have the necessary tools to do it on my own. Since he can get the proper reamers (50-70) I'll be sending him the brass, bullets and dies as well. I could get this rebarreled to 45-70 if I felt so inclined. Probably would be cheaper in the long run. Everything for 45-70 I have except for some cast bullets. Plenty of places one can get a nice trapdoor bbl. Forend wood and barrel band might pose a problem though. Would only run trapdoor loads through it. As far as going to the 50-70 well since i'm going to end up cutting down 50-70 brass to get the correct length cases I might as well go whole hog and get it rechambered to 50-70 and some trapdoor sights thrown in for good measure. Should be a thumper. Cast bullet molds start at about 330 grains and end up at about 500 + grains. Those 50-70 cases are over a buck apiece. The 45-70 cases I have cost about less than 25 cents a pop. Another plus for the 45-70 Frank.

[jmoore]

Bubba up!

[Frank46]

Well did a little research of the 56-50 and 50-70 cartridges. The 56-50 used a 330 grain bullet over about 45 grain of powder, and the 50-70 used a 350 grain bullet over whatever the service charge was. However there were two loadings for the 50-70. One for the rifle and the second for the carbine. The carbine load was about 65 grains with a 480 grain bullet. The service load was a 350 grain of whatever was used for the service charge. Still have to sacrifice one of the 50-70 cases to get the true length of the 56-50 chamber. Have to order some dies but that will have to wait until my SSi check comes in. Cash is kinds short right now. For those interested Grafs has RCBS 56-50 and 50-70 dies in stock at reasonable prices. Thing around $90 and are of the three die set. My experiences with Lee dies are such tat the RCBS dies are a better bargain. I checked the firm that is making the origional peabody rifles and they do offer centerfire breech blocks and am guessing you could get the firing pin as well. Don't have any prices. Frank

[jmoore]

There was a Peabody round known as the 50-60 rf, IIRC. Similar to the Spencer rounds but a bit longer.

[Patrick Chadwick]

Frank46, if you have not already got it, I recommend that you acquire a copy of "The American Cartridge" by Charles R. Suydam. In which you can see that the dimensions in those days were pretty variable, not to say downright nominal.

[Frank46]

Hello everyone, just a quick update about the 56/50 peabody carbine that I was posting sometime back. I had taken it apart and bagged all the parts so's they would not get lost. However the big brain (me) forgot how to put it back together. Just after the Holidays I contacted a member of the ASSRA website and he gave me some simple instructions on how it should go back together. So at 5am the next day had it back operational in about twenty minutes. And as the holidays are over can turn my attention to hopefully getting it to go bang soon. Just wanted to thank all of you who took the time to help me out. TOW says to expect the 50/70 cases in 90 days. But they have the 56/50 cases on hand. Thanks again, Frank

[GrantRCanada]

Frank:

Seems I seldom get to this forum, and thus only saw your thread now ..... First, a quick reminder that your carbine is actually chambered for .50-60 Peabody, not .56-50 as indicated in your most recent message .....

I have an original Peabody rifle chambered in .50-60 - one of 3,000 contracted for by canada in 1866 although not received until 1867 - and also a centerfire conversion block made using a "new old stock" rimfire breechblock and striker from Dixie.

Cartridges using the shorter .56-50 Spencer case will certainly chamber and fire in a .50-60 Peabody ..... but may not produce the best accuracy because of "bullet jump" from the case mouth to the rifling. This will be somewhat akin to firing a .22 short cartridge in a .22 Long Rifle chamber. Indeed, when Canada got its Peabody rifles (in response to the "Fenian Raids" emergency - look that up on Google if you're interested) quite a few .56-50 Spencer rifles and carbines were also acquired. Rather than have to buy two different stocks of rimfire ammunition - and to avoid any risk of the longer Peabody cartridges being supplied by mistake to units armed with Spencers, in which such cartridges would neither feed through the action nor chamber - Canada bought only .56-50 Spencer cartridges, which would work in the Peabody.

Ideally, of course, it is preferable to duplicate the .50-60 Peabody cartridge as closely as possible, using cut-down .50-70 cases. Cartridge dimensions weren't quite as precise and invariable back in those days, so there are some slight dimensional differences between original cartridges made by different manufacturers. Here is a photograph of one original .50-60 cartridge, with dimensions marked, and also a scan of the specifications of another example -





My rifle, with some of my ".50-60 Centerfire" loads, in shortened .50-70 cases, loaded using .50-70 dies -

(The other cartridge is an original .577 Snider-Enfield coiled-brass composite case round, included for comparison.) -

[sail32]

There is considerable discussion on the Peabody on the Swiss Rifle Forum.
Information on converting the breech block to center fire is also shown.
Search Results