Ever tried 577/450 Martini Henry to 45Colt Caliber Adapters?

Nic3500

Nic3500

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I have a Martini-Henry, and can't find any ammo for it. And I do not reload (much more complex than modern reloading from the videos I have seen).

Have anyone ever tried a calibre adaptor? I wonder if they are any good, or if the bullet "bounces" around the barrel since the size is not proper?

Last question, do you think such an adaptor would go through the border? I have found 2 companies in the US which have these.

Thanks!
 
You should join the martini Henry forum on Facebook lots of good info there.I have read that the accuracy of those adapters are hit and miss,some happy with them some not so much.Also they can get jammed in the breech making them hard to remove as well.
 
chasseur said:
You should join the martini Henry forum on Facebook lots of good info there.I have read that the accuracy of those adapters are hit and miss,some happy with them some not so much.Also they can get jammed in the breech making them hard to remove as well.
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Martini groove diameter can be .457 to .461. So firing 45 Colt.451 I wouldn’t expect great accuracy. If you where casting your own bullets to a larger diameter I can see it working.
 
I have a 45LC/MH adaptor made by the former owner of a MH CC which I acquired. Shoots well up to 50yd with handloads using soft lead bullets.
 
The .454/.455 bullets have a long way to go from the chamber through the throat to even touch rifling they could grip. I have one mines made up for .45 colt and .410 so it’s around .470 at the case neck inside. I have shot .45 Colt at around 800fps and all you hear is the striker and the Rus at the back of the range. The bad is I have never got a .45 colt on paper I am pretty sure they are tumbling. It’s a tack driver with .410 slugs though.

I may try lee real bullets as a heeled bullet in mine one day.

The British made martini henery rifles need a .465 to .470 bullet depending on which Mk you have the mk 4 likes the bigger end of that. They have a throat that is larger then groove diameter and it tapers for some 13 inches of barrel.
 
As antiqueguy has said; the groove diameter of a 450 577 martini is roughly .470 and the diameter of original paper patched slugs is .469 to .470. I think your only hope for using a 45 colt adaptor would be to shoot a round ball around 450 to 460. I am sure that elongate projectiles would tumble because they would be much too small to grip the rifling. You can make shells from 24 guage brass shells and could try paper patching a .458 slug for a 45-70. I have tried using a chamber adaptor chambered for 45-70 shells but unless the neck of the adaptor is an exact match for the individual chamber and unless the 45-70 shells are trimmed so that they do not extend beyond the end of the adaptor. the fired shells have to be forced out of the adaptor and you still have the problem of an undersize slug. A final option would be to make shortened 45-70 cases which end at the shoulder of the adaptor and load them as blanks and seat a .470 slug on top of the powder (no gap between powder and lead).
Bottom line is reformed 24 guage brass shells and .470 paper patched bullets

cheers mooncoon
 
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Indeed @mooncoon, reloading specific ammo for it would be the best option.
But I have no experience in reloading at all, let alone equipment. The learning curve would be significant. Maybe when I retire :)
 
green said:
I have a 45LC/MH adaptor made by the former owner of a MH CC which I acquired. Shoots well up to 50yd with handloads using soft lead bullets.
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Yup, my Martini shoots them just fine with soft cast, hollow base bullets as well, through the adapter.

OP, do you reload????

Although very expensive, loaded cartridges are available. Have you looked online????

Bertram, Graf and a few others also make the cases with Boxer primers

Dies are over $250 the last time I looked.
 
Snider shooter said:
Martini groove diameter can be .457 to .461. So firing 45 Colt.451 I wouldn’t expect great accuracy. If you where casting your own bullets to a larger diameter I can see it working.
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Ummm if you're really lucky, a Martini bore diameter will be within those parameters. Add about .005 on either end and you will be in the overall ballpark.
 
bearhunter said:
Yup, my Martini shoots them just fine with soft cast, hollow base bullets as well, through the adapter.

OP, do you reload????

Although very expensive, loaded cartridges are available. Have you looked online????

Bertram, Graf and a few others also make the cases with Boxer primers

Dies are over $250 the last time I looked.
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Obturation is a wonderful thing..... ;)
 
antiqueguy said:
The .454/.455 bullets have a long way to go from the chamber through the throat to even touch rifling they could grip. I have one mines made up for .45 colt and .410 so it’s around .470 at the case neck inside. I have shot .45 Colt at around 800fps and all you hear is the striker and the Rus at the back of the range. The bad is I have never got a .45 colt on paper I am pretty sure they are tumbling. It’s a tack driver with .410 slugs though.

I may try lee real bullets as a heeled bullet in mine one day.

The British made martini henery rifles need a .465 to .470 bullet depending on which Mk you have the mk 4 likes the bigger end of that. They have a throat that is larger then groove diameter and it tapers for some 13 inches of barrel.
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Are the 410 slugs Hollow based? For some reason I peeled open a 410 slug, it had a really big hollow base. Looked about like a little egg cup.
She'd sure bump up easy...it's probably still laying around. But I'm away at work sadly.
A thought to ponder.
 
tokguy said:
Are the 410 slugs Hollow based? For some reason I peeled open a 410 slug, it had a really big hollow base. Looked about like a little egg cup.
She'd sure bump up easy...it's probably still laying around. But I'm away at work sadly.
A thought to ponder.
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Yes standard foster/rifled slug. My guess is the gas seal is grabbing the rifling but the slug expanding could happen too.
 
Nic3500 said:
Indeed @mooncoon, reloading specific ammo for it would be the best option.
But I have no experience in reloading at all, let alone equipment. The learning curve would be significant. Maybe when I retire :)
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If you get your brass from someone who has formed it reloading it can be pretty simple. A .480 Ruger die can be used to neck size your brass. You will need to decap reprime then load your powder(85 grains of single f black powder) some cotton ball(100% real cotton) to take up the air space to the base of the neck and then seat the bullet. The proper bullets for these should be .465-.470 grease groove bullets but paper patching a .455-.458 bullet up works. Under the bullet whatever is used a thin card wad followed by a cookie of black powder lube and another card wad or 2 this adds lube and takes up a bit of airspace.

Some guys would use cream of wheat or other granular filler on top of the powder in the bottle neck of the martini case this can cause the granular filler to act as a solid and create a huge pressure spike. Fillers like kapok and cotton balls(100% real cotton) should be used. Avoid synthetic fibres like polyfil plastic and black powder make a real mess.
 
I went down this rabbit hole years ago but ultimately ended up finding the best way to shoot them was the way they are intended. It always seemed adapters had issues or lacked performance with the smaller rounds. Though it was not the cheapest option I got all I needed to make historically accurate rounds. Dies are an expensive but one time only cost. I got my brass from Beaks and Brass in Canada and it was pricy but should last a long time. Even with reduced smokeless loads if you want to avoid the cleaning that comes with BP. Beaks and Brass also offers the historically correct bullet and will even sell it paper patched. Again this is not the cheapest option but I found it to be the best bang for my buck at the end of the day
 
I made an adaptor for a friend that would work with 45colt as well as Schofield. At the time I was loading Schofield light loads for the webley No5 with jet bullets hollow base wadcutters. This actually shot very well. They even shot to point of aim at 100m. In a couple of shots I managed to hit a can of spray paint at 100m. So 45colt can work but in my experience it's best to reload those. Also speaking of which now jetbullets is out of the game not sure where I'll get my cast bullets fix..
 
Webley No.5 said:
I made an adaptor for a friend that would work with 45colt as well as Schofield. At the time I was loading Schofield light loads for the webley No5 with jet bullets hollow base wadcutters. This actually shot very well. They even shot to point of aim at 100m. In a couple of shots I managed to hit a can of spray paint at 100m. So 45colt can work but in my experience it's best to reload those. Also speaking of which now jetbullets is out of the game not sure where I'll get my cast bullets fix..
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I get cast bullets from Rusty Woods Trading company and as mention above check out Beaks and Brass they have an assortment of cast bullets. There is also Track of the Wolf but shipping from them is murder
 
I made an adapter to shoot 45 acp. I load it with 20 grains of 5744. With a 230 grain jacketed bullet. Load it to overall length 1.42". It's definitely accurate out to 50 yards. Hits the steel plate hard and doesn't kill your shoulder like a real round of 577-450. I had chronograph data but can't find it now
 
To get started reloading for Martini all you have to do is buy 25 or 50 formed cartridges from X-Ring Sevices, along with his simple neck-sizing only die set (if memory serves me it threads into standard press threads). Grease groove bullets are available commercially and you can learn how to lube those with 5 minutes spent on you-tube. Really not super expensive or complicated. If you also buy a mold you have a wide variety of bullet sizes available. There's lots who use big fat bullets but they compound lube issues (if you have to blow-tube or dip the bullet in udder-creme you don't have a proper MH load). My best results (by far) have been with .45" smooth sided bullets patched up to about .460" with paper. That matches the original military ammo pretty closely. Great fun to shoot these and highly recommended.

milsurpo
 
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