Spencer rifle

American Civil War

When the Spencer rifle was made available for adoption right after the American Civil War broke out, the view by the Department of War Ordnance Department was that soldiers would waste ammunition by firing too rapidly with repeating rifles, and thus denied a government contract for all such weapons. They did, however, encourage the use of breech-loading carbine, which is also single-shot like most firearms of the day but faster to reload than cap and ball muskets, but is shorter than standard rifles and thus more suited to mounted warfare.