Rogers & Spencer and New Army
Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 4:48 pm
The ball game was rained out so I thought I'd check out the condition of some of my BP revolvers. I took some pictures to show the differences between the Rogers & Spencer and the New Army. Both of them are the best of the Civil War reproductions that I own as far as shooting goes. Both are .44 caliber. As far as actual Civil War handguns go, these designs were probably the best too....although Colt probably supplied more handguns to the North and probably to the South too.
The Rogers & Spencer is a fancier target model with more or less modern sights. Very few of the original R&S guns were ever issued in the Civil war. Maybe none saw actual field service. It has a bigger hand grips and is slightly heavier at 2 lbs. 14 oz. to the Remington's 2 lb. 7 oz. Looks more substantial and more modern too. You have to turn a screw in the frame where the cylinder pin goes in a half turn to unlock the pin and remove the pin and loading arm.
The Remington New Army looks sleeker and points better. The loading arm is better for take down too. You don't have to turn any screw to pull the cylinder pin out. Just pull on the pin cap after the loading lever is in the down position. ( There is a spring catch at the muzzle end of the loading arm.) And not having any pin to have to put back into the frame is better for reloading a spare cylinder if you had one....something that the Rogers & Spencer fails at. One of the biggest drawbacks is the handgrips could be more substantial in size..... and at least one manufacturer has made a model with larger grips. And... you can find a post by Duncan showing his efforts to make bigger grips for his New Army elsewhere on this forum.
I can shoot both of them about the same. Both are excellent shooters at shorter pistol range distances.
The Rogers & Spencer is a fancier target model with more or less modern sights. Very few of the original R&S guns were ever issued in the Civil war. Maybe none saw actual field service. It has a bigger hand grips and is slightly heavier at 2 lbs. 14 oz. to the Remington's 2 lb. 7 oz. Looks more substantial and more modern too. You have to turn a screw in the frame where the cylinder pin goes in a half turn to unlock the pin and remove the pin and loading arm.
The Remington New Army looks sleeker and points better. The loading arm is better for take down too. You don't have to turn any screw to pull the cylinder pin out. Just pull on the pin cap after the loading lever is in the down position. ( There is a spring catch at the muzzle end of the loading arm.) And not having any pin to have to put back into the frame is better for reloading a spare cylinder if you had one....something that the Rogers & Spencer fails at. One of the biggest drawbacks is the handgrips could be more substantial in size..... and at least one manufacturer has made a model with larger grips. And... you can find a post by Duncan showing his efforts to make bigger grips for his New Army elsewhere on this forum.
I can shoot both of them about the same. Both are excellent shooters at shorter pistol range distances.