Apologies for this but there was some family issues of a medical nature that had been trundling on for the best part of this year, but this is now resolved positively.
Also on the work front a project that I've been designing over the past few years is now being rolled out nationally so that has meant a lot of traveling for me as well.
Just as I thought I was seeing light at the end of the tunnel my mate Jim, Jumper man, had some medical problems just before the Trafalgar so that put the kybosh on that, thankfully Jim is recovering and is having a bit of a smallbore plink.
Hopefully I'll be able to get some more posts up for you now because I've still managed to get some shooting in and buy the odd rifle or two.
As some of you will recall I have a passion for miniature rifles and have been building up a collection for the HARC winter leagues.
One of my purchases has been a BSA Martini International MK 111 which is eligible for the post veteran class.
The Martini Internationals were the final refinement of the BSA miniature Martini rifles that began with the .310" cadet.
The BSA Internationals were based on a Martini falling block stock design by Al Freeland of Rock Island Illinois America who developed the the rifle as the Freeland Super Rifle and the Freeland Free Rifle in the late 1940's
BSA developed and sold 5 Marks of the international between 1950 and 1981.
The Mark 111s, pictured below, were unique in that it was the only mark to have a freefloating barrel.
These rifles were the pinnacle of small bore accuracy in the latter half of the 20th Century and were the ubiquitous club gun untill the Anschutz system came into fashion.
A few years ago dealers couldn't give these rifles away and some clubs I know of handed their martini stable into the police to be melted down.
They are now seeing a resurgence of interest with the increasing popularity in the UK of smallbore benchrest shooting. This is undoubtably a reflection of an aging shooting population whose weary bodies and tierd eyes cannot cope any more with prone shooting and aperture sights.
On one hand its nice to see the classic rifles being appreciated again however it sorely grieves me when these lovely stocks are cut into with hacksaws and plastered with epoxy and fibreglass to get a benchrest shape.
When the day comes for me to being reduced to only be able to shoot bench rest then I'll have my stocks made up from scratch and put the originals away so that when they are rediscovered by future generations as the classic small bore prone target rifle they are, they will be able to enjoy them as the were originally made.
This particular RH example comes fully boxed with its sights in their own custom made wooden case, the foresight tube is of particular interest as they were originally designed to accompany the rear tube sight that was developed by Al Freeland and made in this country by Andrew Tucker.
I have an interesting rear tube sight for these martini's but that is another post.
Anyway here's the pictures:
That aside that is one real fine rifle , Take real good care of it .
