Finished my Martini

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SW28fan

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About a month ago I got a untouched Nepali Cache Martini 1878 Francotte pattern

It was rough, here is a close up of the action:
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Well after a month of scrubbing fitting a new stock and in a few cases fabricating parts here is the result
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I still need to scrounge/make a rear sight base but other than that its done
 
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That wood looks pretty good, to good to be the old stock. Did you make a new one from scratch or fit another spare martini stock?

Nice work!!
 
Atlanta Cutlery has a repro Mk II Martini stock set. It is not a drop in and needed a fair amount of fitting but in the end it worked. The old stock was rotten through under one band and the buttstock was in very bad shape around the stock bolt. I tried splices but the old wood was just to far gone.
 
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The action is very smooth but it is not to be shot. The pitting on the barrel was very bad along the wood line I suspect it would split. Besides 577-450 is $89 for a box of 20 in the U.S.
 
SW28fan said:
The action is very smooth but it is not to be shot. The pitting on the barrel was very bad along the wood line I suspect it would split. Besides 577-450 is $89 for a box of 20 in the U.S.
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just getting set up with brass and dies to reload will set you back as much as getting another martini. :eek:

but once you start reloading 577/450 there is no reason not to buy more martinis :D
 
WOODCHOPPER has it 100% right.

Martinis are a lot of fun.

One box of brass, if you look after it, will last a lifetime.

For a smokeless load which oes NOT eat your expensive brass, try SR-4759, about 27 grains to start. Don't go over 32.3 grains of SR-4759: that is the TOP load. You get original ballistics with original pressures...... and no muss and fuss.

If you ar shooting Black powder in a Martini, the charge is 85 grains with a WAD to hold it in place. Drop your brass from the rifle into a jar of water; that will keep the powder residue from starting to eat the brass.

Most important of all: have fun!

You have done too much to this old baby NOT to have the pleasure of a few shots.

BTW, Lee makes dies ($85 from Factory Sales) and you can make brass by sizing down MagTech 24-gauge brass empties, which are about a buck each. Trim to 2.34 inches after you size them. Even I can do it!
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I bought 50 pieces of jammison brass and load using cast 405grn 45/70 bullets, a wee undersized but accuracy is ok. 38grn IMR4227 smokeless and some wadding to keep the powder against the primer.
 
My recommendation is NOT to shoot a Nepali Francotte. A good many have already been blown up that way.

The Francotte is a novel idea, but they took the BSA-designed .22cal firing mechanism and up-sized it to a .577-450 and used essentuially iron to make it vice the steel used on Brit .22's.

Next factor in a crudely lap-welded barrel made with third world technology that was hand-rifled and likely only measures .455" or .458" groove diameter when it should measure .468" to .472". I would shoot a Gahendra with reduced loads as it uses a Martini-style bolt and knuckle, but not a francotte.

YMMV.
 
I was not planning on shooting it. It is my representative example of a Martini to go with my Enfields. It seems to be quite happy having a place in a collection of Military bolt guns and not laying in a pile of forlorn rifles in the back room of an arsenal in Katmandu wondering if it is to become fodder for a steelmill. I have plenty of shooters No4 Mk1/2 Faz, P-14, M1917, Mas 36 plus several others that occasionally go to the range.
 
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