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Martini-Henry Rifles

2K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  superc 
#1 ·
The Atlanta Cutlery Company has Martini-Henry rifles for sale. Anybody have any experience with these? Are they shootable?
 
#2 ·
Of course they can be shot! Might require re-barreling or installing a liner. Many Martini-Henry rifles have no safety. Which is fine, just don't load them until you are ready to shoot. They are black powder actions. So cartridge selection would be like 50-70 or 45-70(with light or black powder loads) or other black powder cartridges. Most are found in old, odd European calibers(so re-barrel).
 
#3 ·
link would help
 
#6 ·
#8 ·
I have two of the Martini Henry (MH) guns. One is one of the 'untouched' from IMA. A MK II. Mechanically once the Yak grease was hosed off (here, it is Easy Off followed by a garden hose and a rag) it became obvious the stock had been laid down in a puddle and the butt had rotted The guns need to be completely disassembled and the insides cleaned quite well, then regreased and assembled. Check the parts for mismatch as the armorers of Nepal didn't pay much attention to the changes in parts design when the guns evolved and old ones came in for repair. The good news is IMA also sells new wood for the Mk II rifle. Indeed, because some of the rifles are unsalable and they cannibalized them instead, IMA has a large selection of Martini Henry, Snider, Brown Bess and Brunswick rifle spare parts too.
You have 3 options regarding .577-450 ammunition. Purchase old Kynoch ammo made in the 1950s (a good source of brass but you will have to convert them to use shotgun primers), shape and reload your own ammunition using 24 gauge brass shotgun shells), or buy ammunition reloaded by a 3rd party.

With 85 grains of black powder behind the bullet the MH's .577-450 was the only 19th century military rifle caliber found marginally suitable for use on the 'dangerous game' animals found in Africa and India. The American cartridges (45-70, 50-70) of the time were found to be inadequate.

Doing side by side 5 round speed drills I found the MH action to be noticeably faster to reload and shoot again than a period Sharps, Trapdoor or Rolling Block. This is because unlike the competing rifle designs there is no hammer needing to be fiddled with. Sharps did briefly make a striker fired version, but it was overly complex and too expensive for any nation to adapt them while cheaper and easier to fix single shot guns were available and flooding the world market.

It is worth noting that although all of the other rifles also come with 1,000 yard plus sights, that was for valley fire. In military 'as issued' configuration hitting a man at 500 yards was an exceptional feat for these rifles. To my knowledge none of these rifle designs have ever won anything at the annual "1,000 yard milk bottle challenge" competition held in Utah. I primarily fault the rudimentary sights issued with all of those rifles. Target versions of the MH do exist, but they are usually in .22 rimfire and not the military calibers. I would love to see someone fit a decent scope to one of the old 19th century black powder guns and push the modern guns to the back rows.

As mentioned elsewhere the military MH guns have no safety and they are not drop safe. One of mine is the rarer carbine version. I have hunted with it, but because of the lack of a safety, a noisy action (similar to a modern Winchester) and urine poor sights I do so rarely. The wood forend of the carbine version is quite thin forward of the rear barrel band, we are talking egg shellish. Again, shooters should note that replacement carbine wood no longer exists and should your forend split from wood rot or the incessant battering of the cross pin against the wood grain, your only easy option is purchase one of the MH rifle stocks from IMA, then shorten it and carve what is left into the carbine shape and refinish it. Most of the military MH carbines are converted MK II actions (mine, an SX variant, has the MK III shell extractor), so if you have and shoot one a fair bit, purchasing 2 rifle stocks from IMA may not be a bad idea.
In the late 19th and early 20th century several after market gun makers did come up with sight mounting systems for the military MH guns that used existing pin holes in the frame rather than altering the gun. Then came WWI and interest in the MH as the best sporting rifle faded (replaced by the magazine fed bolt action). Those old add-on peep and scope sight mounts were never common in the US and are pretty pricy when found over seas. Still the U shaped design doesn't look that hard to fabricate and I wish someone would remarket one out of aluminum. Also on my wish list is a slip on fiber optic front sight.
Gunsmith question, if I make a copy of the old mount, will a Bushnell TRS 25 red dot sight hold up to the recoil of an MH?
 
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