[fred cook]

The cartridge that is second from the right is the bottle necked Spencer 56-46 rimfire cartridge. It was made for the small number of Spencer sporting rifles that were made between 1859 and about 1880. The Spencer rifle loaded by way of a tube in the buttstock much like many .22 rifles do now. The Spencer operated by cocking the hammer, operating the trigger guard lever to move a round into the chamber and then fired by pulling the trigger. The next shot required repeating this operation. When the lever was pulled down the second time, the empty cartridge is ejected and a fresh round fed into the chamber. During the Great American War of Secession, Union calvary troopers equipped with Spencer carbines chambered for the 56-56 or 56-52 version of this round were able to put down a heavy volume of fire, allowing smaller numbers of Union troopers to repel larger forces of Confederate calvary and infantry. Extra rounds were carried in a device known as a Blakselee box. It had as many as 7 tubes, each holding 7 rounds of ammunition. When it became time to reload, the spring fed follower tube was removed from the buttstock and a tube of 7 fresh rounds was simply poured into the stock tube. The spring follower was replaced and the gun was ready to fire again.