BSA Martini

I have an elderly 54 Super Match that came to Canada with a load of military surplus from Bangladesh. Ever see an Anschutz that looks like a third world military surplus rifle? Spent a lot of time steaming and sanding the stock. Recently obtained a more conventional stock for it.
 
Bearhunter is your martini engraved like this

image.jpg

No, just light engraving around the edges.
 
Given that mine is a takedown, I'm tempted to look at having a second barrel made. Does anyone know how much difficulty would be involved in having something like a 22 Mag, or 17 barrel made? I haven't looked at it seriously at this point - maybe even just another 22 LR in a different profile?

Just a reamer and proper bore diameter, a smith that's good at cutting threads and maybe slightly opening up the extractor to accept the magnum cartridge. There has to be a relief cut for the extractor on the face of the barrel. Just have him copy your original bbl profile.
 
I think it would be interesting to have a couple of calibres and maybe a couple of different profiles. Given the strength of the action and the availability of fore ends, it shouldn't be too tough.
 
Just a reamer and proper bore diameter, a smith that's good at cutting threads and maybe slightly opening up the extractor to accept the magnum cartridge. There has to be a relief cut for the extractor on the face of the barrel. Just have him copy your original bbl profile.

The relief for the take down pin needs to be done with some care as the rigidity of the fit between the action and barrel relies upon it properly side loading the threads in the receiver.
Best as I was able to measure the included angle of the taper pin used by BSA is 4 degrees. I would expect to have to make up a jig to use to hold an appropriate tapered cutter in the correct location, or spend some quality time setting it up on a mill.


A while back I did up a drawing of the general geometry of the extractor and posted it here on CGN. Not super complicated to make if you don't have a ready supply of parts to modify.
 
The relief for the take down pin needs to be done with some care as the rigidity of the fit between the action and barrel relies upon it properly side loading the threads in the receiver.
Best as I was able to measure the included angle of the taper pin used by BSA is 4 degrees. I would expect to have to make up a jig to use to hold an appropriate tapered cutter in the correct location, or spend some quality time setting it up on a mill.


A while back I did up a drawing of the general geometry of the extractor and posted it here on CGN. Not super complicated to make if you don't have a ready supply of parts to modify.

Yup it's all doable. I have custom Martini rifles built on small actions, with both the standard and heavy walls. 257 Maximum (357Maximum made into a bottle neck 25 cal) 225 win. A 30 cal cartridge made from 357 mag brass and tapered to hold a 30 cal bullet. This is an interesting cartridge. You don't need a press to reload it. The primers are removed with a hand punch and hammer, powder charge, from a dipper, poured in and the bullet inserted by fingers is held just tight enough to be able to chamber it, and a 22LR.

I have three custom rifles built on the Peabody type large actions. 7x65R, 30-40Krag and 30-30 Win.

Of course there are the obligatory 577/450, 303 metford rifled, 303 Enfield rifled, 310 Cadet and 22 LR.

Yes, I really like Martini rifles in all their forms. Very stable platform to build on. Marstar used to sell receivers and internal parts. I don't believe they have any left.
 
Made a scope mounting bracket for my Mk. II International. Used a piece of angle. Attached to the left side of the receiver using the holes for the aperture sight base, with an additional 6-48 screw into the rear scope block base hole on the barrel (right through the block). Mounted a base for a 336 Marlin on the top of the bracket, and have installed a vintage Weaver T-25. Haven't finished it cosmetically yet; will wait until I've shot the unit, just in case changes are necessary.
 
Yeah, but it throws the empties down the wrong Guy's neck, a couple bays over!

Ummm NO, the ejection is controlled by the force used on the lever. It's a direct and proportional link. Single shot, not semi.

I kind of like the left loading port, cut out of the side. If the rifle is being shot off bags, on the bench, it makes cocking/ejection/loading very handy.
 
Ummm NO, the ejection is controlled by the force used on the lever. It's a direct and proportional link. Single shot, not semi.

I kind of like the left loading port, cut out of the side. If the rifle is being shot off bags, on the bench, it makes cocking/ejection/loading very handy.

"Ummm NO", yerself.

Not on the Internationals. They have a system very much like a shotgun's case ejector, that uses a separate heavy duty spring that snaps the case HARD out of the chamber!
 
"Ummm NO", yerself.

Not on the Internationals. They have a system very much like a shotgun's case ejector, that uses a separate heavy duty spring that snaps the case HARD out of the chamber!

I know what your saying but none of mine do that, at least not to the extent you were describing, unless I really apply a lot of force to the cocking lever.

They just fall out on the bench within a foot of the rifle. When the block drops, controlled with the cocking lever via the tumbler, it drops onto the base of the leaf on the extractor, which causes it to rotate on the pivot pin.

Before the block gets to the bottom, the firing pin spring tops out and the rest of the extraction is controlled by the shooter, directly through the lever.

Likely one of the best extraction systems I've seen. Covers at least half the circumference of the rim.


I did not know that about International models. The last one I had was quite a while back and may have had that feature disabled? Thanx for the info.
 
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I know what your saying but none of mine do that, at least not to the extent you were describing, unless I really apply a lot of force to the cocking lever.

They just fall out on the bench within a foot of the rifle. When the block drops, controlled with the cocking lever via the tumbler, it drops onto the base of the leaf on the extractor, which causes it to rotate on the pivot pin.

Before the block gets to the bottom, the firing pin spring tops out and the rest of the extraction is controlled by the shooter, directly through the lever.

Likely one of the best extraction systems I've seen. Covers at least half the circumference of the rim.


I did not know that about International models. The last one I had was quite a while back and may have had that feature disabled? Thanx for the info.

The International models have a spring loaded, trigger fired, extractor, that fires the empty out and you have no real say in the amount of effort that it puts in.

Essentially, the block coming down hits a trigger/sear unit that 'fires' the extractor.
The block closing, re-cocks the mechanism.

The International models have almost NOTHING in common with the regular BSA Martini Actions!
 
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