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Martini-Henry Artillery Carbine Mk.I

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 3:24 pm
by DuncaninFrance
A friend of a friend asked if I could help him ID a martini-Henry he bought it an auction in the UK for £445 last year. I went round and discovered a very nice, tight Artillery Carbine, Mk.I. dated 1888.
Having told him what he had he asked if I know where he could get some rounds for it. After telling him how many hens teeth he would have to find before he came up with some original ammo I offered to make him up some dummy rounds. This I did and delivered them to him. He thanked me, gave the bayonet mentioned in my Ruby Wedding post and then said he was thinking of selling it and concentrating on collecting Derringers....... :shock:
- would I be interesting in the Martini at the price he paid for it. Stupid question Image

I went home and decided to try and sell my Pedersoli Copy P58 to fund the Martini so advertised it last night......Sold this afternoon at the asking price to a guy in Poland :lol:

Looks like my collection is moving away from muzzle loaders and into cartridge rifles. Image

Images to come soon.....................

Re: Martini-Henry Artillery Carbine Mk.I

Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2017 6:17 pm
by DuncaninFrance
Well I picked it up yesterday.

When I initially saw it I thought it was an Artillery carbine because of the sling swivel on the butt. Closer examination however confirmed it as a Mk.I Carbine dated 1887.

It has had some rough use in it's life but the bore is great and when shaken nothing rattles!

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Seems as though the load was reduced from the rifle cartridge of a 480 grns bullet and 85 grns of powder and was "pleasant to shoot"!
A 410 grain bullet with 70 grains of powder. :GBR:

Re: Martini-Henry Artillery Carbine Mk.I

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 3:47 pm
by DuncaninFrance
Endoscope bore images, looks good................


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:GBR:

Re: Martini-Henry Artillery Carbine Mk.I

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 4:14 pm
by Niner
Did you look on the reverse side of that disk on the butt on the offhand chance it had been reversed?

Re: Martini-Henry Artillery Carbine Mk.I

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 5:30 pm
by DuncaninFrance
The edge is slightly chamfered and the screw hole is countersunk so it will only fit one way. They built rifles in those days :D

Re: Martini-Henry Artillery Carbine Mk.I

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 8:31 pm
by Niner
I was thinking it was a unit disk and maybe instead of a blank on both sides replacement that maybe the disk was more or less original and the other side would show a military unit the rifle was used by once upon a time.

Re: Martini-Henry Artillery Carbine Mk.I

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 3:38 am
by DuncaninFrance
It is possibly original as the hole it sits in shows clean wood under it and the brass has little verdigris because of the tight fit.

Re: Martini-Henry Artillery Carbine Mk.I

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 5:12 am
by Miller Tyme
Don't know if they can ship ammo across the pond Duncan, but these people seem to have it from time to time, but it is pricey.

https://www.libertytreecollectors.com/p ... ategory=12

Re: Martini-Henry Artillery Carbine Mk.I

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 6:54 am
by DuncaninFrance
Thank's Walt. That is outrageous, even for collector ammo.
Luckily I make my own from Magtech Brass and cast bullets :razz: :razz:

Re: Martini-Henry Artillery Carbine Mk.I

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2017 9:39 am
by DuncaninFrance
As it has obviously had a leather rear sight cover fitted in the past ( screw holes below the sight ) I thought I might try and make one.
I have some dimensions from a much earlier post on here which should allow me to create one .

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Raw material has arrived.
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Need to cut out a paper pattern now.....................