Martini help needed

KePet

KePet

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Okay guys. I dont remember running into too many firearms over the years that I know pretty much nothing about, but this is one. Elderly lady whose husband passed away contacted me to see if I could tell her anything about this rifle that her husband had hidden away in the closet. He told her that it had been used in the Zulu War, and kept an old VHS copy of the movie with it, but has no other provenance with it, so I explained that without that it's just an antique military surplus rifle. Any info you could give me would be appreciated, and maybe some idea of what it's worth.

If there are any other pictures you would need to see please let me know.

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Thanks in advance for any help
Kevin
 
looks like a mk 2 martini henry made by BSA don't think it was Canadian issue but these served all over the British empire you will likely never find out where it was used only the units it was issued to
 
I was given one from a family friend.

I took it to the local gunsmith, he said it was worth $600 or so & that it was in shootable shape.

I sourced some 577-450 brass & projectiles and some day I will take a deer with it...

Cheers
Jay
 
Jay said:
I was given one from a family friend.

I took it to the local gunsmith, he said it was worth $600 or so & that it was in shootable shape.

I sourced some 577-450 brass & projectiles and some day I will take a deer with it...

Cheers
Jay
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deer hell you can take just about anything in North America with it
 
Looks like it was in Nepal by the stamps on the butt. International, Montreal sold these in the early 60s.
 
i would agree with most of the above. I would say it is worth more than $600 thou. $600 would be the bottom. if you are on FB there is a group for Martini henry's with some very knowledgeable people.
 
dakotamar said:
i would agree with most of the above. I would say it is worth more than $600 thou. $600 would be the bottom. if you are on FB there is a group for Martini henry's with some very knowledgeable people.
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they are common enough that if not in decent shape they don't go for a lot I paid $325 for a mk4 from epps that had a dark bore turns out it was just grease the butt stock has seen better days and there's some lit pitting on the barrel at the wood line(common) but other then that its near mint
 
Loading is a real technical nightmare but once you get it right its a wondeful cartridge to shoot takes 85 grains 1 1/2 black powder to duplicate the original load plus 3 card wads a lube wad and a 480 tapered paper patched bullet. All very time consuming.
 
It's actually a Mk1 converted to Mk11 the clue is the Crown, where one of the digits is directly under the crown rather than the crown being evenly spaced above the numbers it's an indication that the rifle has been re stamped. usually it's to the muzzle end but on this one it's toward the butt where the additional 1 appears. nice rifle, upgraded by fitting longer lever to overcome extraction problems encountered in the Mk1
Edited to add it was made at BSA in Birmingham, the BSA and M Co was how they were known at that time.
 
That looks like a 99 stamp over the cartouche on the but stock. My eyes or my computer are not as good as they used to be.
If it is indeed a 99 then it stands for 99th (Lanarkshire) Regiment of Foot and they did participate in the Zulu wars.
Stole this quote from Wikipedia ...
" From 1865 until 1868, the 99th served in South Africa.[9] While in South Africa, Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh, inspected the regiment as part of a tour of the colony. The regiment impressed him so much that he took a continued interest in the regiment for the rest of his life. This culminated in permission being granted to re-title the regiment. In 1874, the 99th (Lanarkshire) Regiment of Foot became the 99th (Duke of Edinburgh’s) Regiment.[1] After returning to England in 1868, the regiment returned to South Africa in 1878 in time to take part in the Anglo-Zulu War."
Someone more knowledgeable on stock cartouches and with better eyes will be along to correct me if I am wrong
 
TimC said:
It's actually a Mk1 converted to Mk11 the clue is the Crown, where one of the digits is directly under the crown rather than the crown being evenly spaced above the numbers it's an indication that the rifle has been re stamped. usually it's to the muzzle end but on this one it's toward the butt where the additional 1 appears. nice rifle, upgraded by fitting longer lever to overcome extraction problems encountered in the Mk1
Edited to add it was made at BSA in Birmingham, the BSA and M Co was how they were known at that time.
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there is reason that mk1's are almost non existent most were converted to mk2's the good majority of mk1's that survived is because Canada did not want to upgrade their rifles
 
From what I can tell it is a converted Mk I. The large number 2 on the receiver implies second class arm.

The cartouche with the 2 under it (on the butt) shows a date of what appears top be 1894 - likely the date it was downgraded to 2nd class. I believe that the cartouche also will show what armoury (in India/middle East likely) that received and re-issued it once the Brits were done with it.

The guys at BMF will be able to decode it for sure.

Re Zulu War provenance - highly unlikely as nothing identifies it as such (less the fact that it was a Mk I/II)

I would suspect going rate at a show would be $500 in these parts. Lots around, Indian(?) re-issue marks, Second class arm, incorrect sling, pitting, barrel band (seems it is from a Mk IV

Key items to adjust this estimate from would include: unknown bore condition, unknown what pitting lies under the forestock, unknown breech condition and overall serviceability.
 
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