Martini Henry's

[Meaty]

I am thinking of buying a Martini Henry, off ticket initially but with the view of shooting it on a fairly regular basis in the not-so-distant future. What variation or mark would be the most suitable please and are there any pitfalls to take into consideration when looking for a suitable rifle.
Thanks.

[meles meles]

Oooh, this is an interesting thread, we're thinking of something similar. Perhaps Dromia will be along shortly with some advice, we think he's pretty knowledgabubble on such things...

[Meaty]

Oooh, this is an interesting thread, we're thinking of something similar. Perhaps Dromia will be along shortly with some advice, we think he's pretty knowledgabubble on such things...

Lets hope so! I've got my eye on a Mk IV c but dont know much about them, well apart from they feel great to shoot and the reloading aspect looks like interesting.
It was a toss up between a MH or a Snider but I think the MH has won!

[meles meles]

A half-way house might be a MH in .303 Lee Enfield...

[dromia]

A half-way house might be a MH in .303 Lee Enfield...

They are called Martini Enfields.

Fine rifles indeed.

[meles meles]

They are called Martini Enfields.

Sorting out the Empire's troubles 'any time, any place, any where?'

[dromia]

Any Martini Henry in good condition internally will give good service if you take the time to learn how to load for it.

The MKIVs do seem to be the most common. The MKIV bores are that bit larger than the previous MKs slugging out at .468"-.470" there are a few good Martini moulds around. Of course the "proper" way to load them is with a paper patched boolit so the larger bore can be a blessing as the larger 45 boolits can be patched up to MKIV diameters.

My current shooter is a MKIV, not the prettiest one around looking a bit rough outside but it shoots rather well, I replace the rear sight with a Ross MKIII rear sight which drops in and that aperture and the windage adjustment helps with the groups.

Here is a 100yrd 5 shot group with PP boolits shot with my current MKIV, the one outside the group to the right was called. So they can certainly shoot.

[rufrdr]

Nice shooting! I haven't gotten the hang of a good grease cookie to keep the fouling softened up and mine gets pretty fouled after more than 5 rounds and needs a wet mop swab out. I have a MkIV also and use a 480gr .466 bullet which is the only one I can find to buy. I don't cast bullets. I loaded up some more rounds with more olive oil in the beeswax mix for the grease cookie to hopefully reduce the fouling but haven't had a chance to try them yet. I'm sure a .468 bullet would improve matters.



This was with the .466 bullets, Pyrodex RS powder, and re-sized 24ga brass shotgun shells neck sized.


Same rig but also used a Martini Enfield in .303 on the same target to economize!

[dromia]

I use a beeswax/tallow/lanacote mix for lube and cookie. For the cookie I sandwich the mix 'tween two beeswax discs.

Tallow and Lanacote are available from ship chandlers.

I have also been using a dollop of udder cream on the nose of the boolit which keeps fouling soft, a tip I picked up from a member on the BM forum.

[Rearlugs]

I bought one of the "Nepal" MkIVs. On the outside it looked rather dark and battered. The action appeared to be stiff and jammed but, when I stripped it, I found that this was because it contained a solid block of cosmoline - as did the barrel. It turned out that, mechanically, the rifle was in near-mint condition with a sharp apparently untouched bore. Hence I reckon these relatively plentiful MkIVs might be a good shooting option.