Martini Enfield rifle (not carbine) in .303

[recoil]

I have for years owned a Martini Enfield in .303 . It came out of Newfoundland and Labrador and is in stunning condition, Certainly the wood is very figured and not run of the mill. it had very little, verry little wear on rifling and appears devoid of any markings on the wood. zero rust and obviously was carefully stored before I acquired it. The breech and barrel are marked as "WW Greener Maker Birmingham. it has a stamped serial number 5### on the reverse side of the chamber to the greener markings. interestingly the mid barrel band has a WD broad arrow stamp and what appears to be a crown with E below it. I 've shot this several times with my mild handloads and it shoots fine, although has about as heavy a trigger as you might imagine.

The seller who had owned it for 50 or so years speculated that it was either a straight civilian sale or a rifle that had been imported by an Officer to the then colony, or perhaps a constabulary rifle although I'd expect markings if that.. I'm realizing that my log shows I've fired less than 40 rounds in the 10 or so years I've owned it and I'm thinking about selling it. I have NO real idea what "museum quality: actually looks like in a rifle this old but the condition to my eye is excellent. I generally cringe at "what's it worth?" posts but I've got to start somewhere, and it would help me greatly to decide I think. it's the third rifle down below the MH's in .455 and .22. sling is one I made and not original. I appreciate any help/thoughts on origins and on potential value..

 

[tonykimatpl]

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, W.W. Greener converted surplus Martini-Henry rifles—originally chambered in .577/450—into .303 British caliber. These conversions were part of a broader effort to modernize older firearms to use the then-standard .303 smokeless cartridge, resulting in models like the Martini-Enfield and Martini-Metford. Greener’s work included both military-style conversions and civilian target rifles, some of which were later adapted to smaller calibers such as .22 and .310 for training and competition purposes .

Value wise, probably on par with original MH examples, maybe a little less. I'd say $1000 tops.

 

[bearhunter]

OP, I sold a similar rifle to that in your photo for $1200 last year. It may or may not have sold for more, but Martini admirers are a "niche" group and many mistakenly believe these actions are weak.

I have one left, chambered for the 303 Brit, and its been fed a steady diet of IVI made 303 British, surplus Radway Green and modern commercial offerings for the past 50 years, without any signs of damage, wear, or stretching.

I've magnafluxed the receiver several times, mostly out of curiosity and there aren't any "cracks" or "stress" striations.

Don't be afraid to shoot full power ammo in that rifle. I can fully understand why you wouldn't want to, but it's plenty strong enough for the job.

I've seen these rifles converted to some very powerful cartridges, such as the 7x65R and loaded to the nuts, giving similar performance to the 280rem. I actually have one in that chambering and have taken a few Deer, as well as one Black Bear with it. I won't be using it for hunting anymore as my eyes don't work well with the iron sights on it. the rear sight is a flip up diopter type, mounted on the butt socket. Lovely rifle.

 

[RRCo.]

The forend and butt have been sanded quite heavily. The receiver appears to have had the finish polished off which is not surprising considering the heavy pitting along one top side. The screw in the band has had the head peened to restore the slot etc. The band is military marked, so probably not original to a Greener rifle. It's a nice enough example, but not fully original. I mention that not to knock your rifle, but because you are presumably looking for honest feedback and that's mine.

 

[milsurpo]

The serial number on the barrel may well be the number assigned when inspected to confirm conformance in certain key areas with government pattern rifles for official military-type target shooting matches. Very commonly seen on commercial Sniders and Martini-Henrys but usually accompanied by a Crown/1B or somethin g similar. Market value for these is tough to gauge—my guess would be that in a large auction it could go for anywhere from $800 to $1200. There is a demand for .303 Martinis among those who want to shoot the classic action but don't want to get into loading .577/.450. I sold mine because it wasn't happy with full-on .303 loads. It was a tired old gun.

milsurpo

 

[Jon9021]

The forend and butt have been sanded quite heavily. The receiver appears to have had the finish polished off which is not surprising considering the heavy pitting along one top side. The screw in the band has had the head peened to restore the slot etc. The band is military marked, so probably not original to a Greener rifle. It's a nice enough example, but not fully original. I mention that not to knock your rifle, but because you are presumably looking for honest feedback and that's mine.

Pretty much this. $750-900 in my humble opinion.

 

[AlexisCreek]

Desirable to anyone with a BSA Martini in 22LR.

 

[bearhunter]

The forend and butt have been sanded quite heavily. The receiver appears to have had the finish polished off which is not surprising considering the heavy pitting along one top side. The screw in the band has had the head peened to restore the slot etc. The band is military marked, so probably not original to a Greener rifle. It's a nice enough example, but not fully original. I mention that not to knock your rifle, but because you are presumably looking for honest feedback and that's mine.

This is bang on. The rifle I sold was unmolested, with an excellent Metford type rifled bore, all cartouches were sharp and there were very few handling marks. Overall condition was 90% with an excellent bore.

Condition is everything. I put down the light colors in your pic to "lighting" but as RRCo points out, no original finish left and some add ons which were correct for appearance only. I assumed it may have had a light stock from the factory, as I've seen that occasionally on non milsurp Martinis.

So, depending on the bore condition, 600-800 would be fair to either the buyer or seller

 

[recoil]

Appreciate the weighing in and frank observations and thoughts. I know that this community is a remarkable source of information.-- some new stuff here for me for sure. I love the rifle, and am currently in tht tug of war "do I keep it even though or...." internal discussion you all know, thanks my friends!

 

[hickstick_10]

Not an arsenal conversion obviously, the opposite side of the action would have the crown and Enfield stamp along with the date of the conversion, it's lacks the roadmap of arsenal marks on the action. Some of them are quite deep. My own LSAco match rifle started life in 1886 and was converted in 1899, and you'd be sanding alot to get through the marks.

Match rifles often have a club shield in the toe of the stock (I never have found out what mine meant), the main provision for single shot military match rifles was any single shot action you wanted.......but it had to be able to mount a bayonet.

The barrel is odd, the shank looks round in front of the receiver and lacks the big flat lug on top. The front sight is not martini at all, that ramp looks like a lee metford, same with the stock and finger grooves.

See the similarity? Right down to that little hole in the stock behind the first barrel band.



Id say commercial conversion, post ww1 for sure, probably 1930s to 60s. I would remove the block, just to make sure a piece of hardened steel is dovetailed into the face of the tipping block to bush the firing pin. That's probably the most critical part of the conversion, but im sure its there, Greener made good stuff.

They are wonderful guns to shoot, feed mine factory ammo all the time. Bought mine for 500$ in 2010