Martini Henry Re-Barreling?

The .303 blocks were made from the 577/450 blocks by bushing the firing pin. 1 block from a specific mark should drop into another of the same mark.

IE: mark III block with bushed firing pin into mark III.

If you're planning on re-barreling a .577/450 gun to .303 you will need a new extractor and the extractor cut made in the barrel as well.

J
 
Hmmm... what about rebarreling Martini Henry's to .303 British? How much would it cost to have done approx? Would they be safe to shoot, providing I had the firing pin/block face bushed?
 
A martini rebarreled to .303 brit is called a martini-enfield (or a martini-metford depending on the rifling pattern) and it's what the brits originally bushed the firing pins for. No idea what the cost is, but I believe marstar has barrels, and possibly extractors. Give them a call.

Cadet martinis in .310 cadet were often the source of actions for rebarreling to .357. Once again, you'd need an extractor, but this extractor would have to be a custom job. That means $$$$.

J
 
I wonder if Marstar has carbine barrels... we'll see.

I was thinking of convering a M-H to a M-E someday in the future, is this advisable or should I just try to load for the caliber?
 
Not meaning to cut-in on your posts, but just looking for some related information..
I just yesterday purchased a Martini-Metford Carbine (21" barrel). It is marked MK. 111
and in 303. Barrel is nice and sharp with no pitting, and the action locks-up nice and tight.
My question is, Would one use modern loaded 303 British rounds, or would this gun need something in Black Powder, or smokeless equiv.?

Thanks in advance, for any info you can provide.

Bill
 
"...make .577/450 brass..." Got a lathe? I have a how-to for making .577-450 brass out of 3/4" brass bar stock, if you want it.
 
WRB said:
Not meaning to cut-in on your posts, but just looking for some related information..
I just yesterday purchased a Martini-Metford Carbine (21" barrel). It is marked MK. 111
and in 303. Barrel is nice and sharp with no pitting, and the action locks-up nice and tight.
My question is, Would one use modern loaded 303 British rounds, or would this gun need something in Black Powder, or smokeless equiv.?

Thanks in advance, for any info you can provide.

Bill
Click to expand...

This is just going from memory, but I believe that smokeless eroded metford rifling quite quickly. That was the original cordite loads, of course, and modern lower temp smokeless might not cause that issue.

I do know that metford rifling is excellent for black powder. It has no sharp edges to trap fouling. If it were me I would probably use a cast bullet like the Lee C312-185-1R.

If you're going to use a smokeless load, you'd probably want to check whether the firing pin has been bushed.

J
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom