Martini-Henry Fans?

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millwright

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Well I did a bad thing.I passed the line this time.The time line that is.Bought a 1882 Martini-Henry rifle made by Enfield.Full stock, on the right side of the receiver it has The Queens crown,VR underthat,then ENFIELD,then 1882,then what looks like another small crown with no jewels and a broadfoot arrow (pointing down),Roman numerals 111. and under that the roman numeral 1. On the rear stock its stamp enfield in a circle on the right side and on the left is D.C. in a sideways diamond.Lots of other small proofmark stamps all over the rest of the rifle.I have to go to work so no pics.Just thought I'd brag a bit.Any mother lode of info out in the web for these babies?Well gotta go see ya after midnight.Jim:)
 
Have had my Martini Henry for about 6 months now and I love it. They are very accurate if the proper loads are used! Unfortunately I've also found that tracking any info about these is VERY difficult... Good luck to you!
 
I just bought one about 2 weeks ago.

Never had one apart before, so I took it all apart to clean out the gunk and old cosmoline.

Took a bit of figuring about to get it all back together,

If you take it all apart you need to pull the trigger while reassembling it to get the trigger pin / cocking indicator back in.

Now I need to get set up to reload. :eek: :runaway: :runaway: about $2.40 per brass and $80 for dies :runaway:
 
I love the look. Never even held one, but am waiting for a neighbor to get bored of the one he's had hanging on his wall for the last few years. He's convinced it's worth $5000:rolleyes:

I'm really wanting a .303 or .22 version though.
 
I wanted one but the price and the proposition of pricey reloading scared me off. . . instead I got a Greener police shotgun, for less than 300, but it needed work, ended up spending quite a bit to get it worked on! :runaway: one of these days I'm going to try it out with slugs for ####s and giggles, haven't fired it yet.
 
For those looking for a bullet to fit the larger than .458" bores may be interested in a new .475" 480gr. bullet from M.T. Chambers.
 
Ya know I've seen these rifles off and on but they never really spoke to me untill this one was thrust into my hands.The resident Martini-Henry expert is out of the country at the moment so all I plan on doing is the historical research on the web.Thanks for the info and replies.Jim
 
woodchopper said:
I just bought one about 2 weeks ago.

Never had one apart before, so I took it all apart to clean out the gunk and old cosmoline.

Took a bit of figuring about to get it all back together,

If you take it all apart you need to pull the trigger while reassembling it to get the trigger pin / cocking indicator back in.

Now I need to get set up to reload. :eek: :runaway: :runaway: about $2.40 per brass and $80 for dies :runaway:
Click to expand...

You should go to www.martinihenry.com
Complete illustrated instructions for takedown and assembly. the Breechblock is the last item to go in the reciever and the only thing that soldiers were allowed to remove for cleaning.

Oh, by the wan, the 1 under the III means it was a first line weapon.
 
John Sukey said:
You should go to www.martinihenry.com
Complete illustrated instructions for takedown and assembly. the Breechblock is the last item to go in the reciever and the only thing that soldiers were allowed to remove for cleaning.

Oh, by the wan, the 1 under the III means it was a first line weapon.
Click to expand...

Thanks. :D

I'm fairly mechanically inclined and figure if I can take it appart I cam put it together :redface: most times

Interesting how the mechanism works, taking it appart and then workginout how it works and puting it together was very educational. I wont do that again now that I have done it once. Unless I get another rifle and it needs cleaning :runaway:
 
Ya know Woodchopper the more you do it, the more familiar you become with the process.Not like your going to wear it out. How's the web page doing?Haven't been there in a while.
 
I'm definitely a Martini lover! :dancingbanana:

I've got three Martini-Henry rifles in .577/.450 (a Mark I upgraded to Mark II, a Canadian-marked Mark III like yours, and a Mark IV) as well as a .303 Martini-Enfield carbine and a .22 BSA Canadian-marked cadet rifle.

The "DC in diamond" stamp was the Canadian government acceptance and ownership mark adopted after Confederation - denoting "Dominion of Canada", of course. However, as has already been alluded to, unlike the rest of the British Empire Canada never did adopt the Martini-Henry as a primary-issue military firearm. Because of the Fenian emergency, Canada got preferential treatment in being provided with the Snider-Enfield breechloading conversion adopted in 1866, with the first several thousand rifles being received in 1867, and about 60,000 in total by 1875. Snider-Enfield rifles and carbines remained the primary-issue longarms of our military forces until adoption of the Magazine Lee-Enfield rifle ("Long Lee-Enfield") in 1896.

Canada did acquire 2,100 Mark I Martini-Enfield rifles in 1871, but other than a hundred or so issued to the Royal Military College, and some others to Militia Rifle Associations (so they could compete with other Empire shooters with the current British military rifle) the arms all remained in Stores. When the 1885 North-West Rebellion broke out, Canada hurriedly ordered 10,000 of the latest pattern Martini-Henry, the Mark III. Our troops went into the field armed with the Snider-Enfield, however, and the order was later reduced to 5,000 M-H rifles, the majority of which were also never issued. Your rifle is one of that batch, as is my Mark III which is shown here (with an 1889 photo of members of the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada rifle team as a background) -

mkiiiqor.jpg


I shoot my Martini's (primarily my MkIII) quite a bit. At the last two Annual Musters of the Grand Army of the Frontier (an organization which melds cowboy action shooting with late-19th century military history and re-enacting) I have competed my MkIII M-H in the Single Shot Battle Rifle category (along with my 1890's Webley 'WG Target' revolver) and have placed first both years! The most recent occasion was just over a month ago in Nebraska - and FWIW here are a few photos of me in competition (the uniform is circa-1885 Queen's Own Rifles) -

dscf0869_b.jpg


Roger09-1.jpg


Muster08_4.jpg


Since you are located in Alberta, you'll want to consider joining us at the annual "Alberta Old Gun Shoot", an informal shooting gathering and "playday" which is held every summer west if Inisfail - it is an outgrowth of the British Militaria Forums someone has already posted a link for - here is a direct link to the discussion about the 2008 shoot (with losts of pictures starting about page 7) - http://britishmilitariaforums.yuku.com/topic/2331

And here's a link to the discussion already happening on the 2009 gathering - http://britishmilitariaforums.yuku.com/topic/7535
 
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My dad had several, and I consider myself fortunate to have fired them all. So did my kids, and they really enjoyed it. Not many teenagers these days can say they've fired a Martini-Henry.
 
Nice.I ended up taking mine to the gentleman I mentioned as being the local Martini-Henry guru (thanks,Jack) and too say he was excited was a understatement.He stated it was the tightest one he had seen in a very long time as he showed me how to disassemble it. And the fact that the cleaning rod was still there and the wood was in pretty decent shape,made it that much better.Gonna take some pics soon and go thru the pic post hell routine to share with you folks.Later
 
bdft said:
Try this site. These guys are the Martini-Henry experts. http://britishmilitariaforums.yuku.com/forums/1
Click to expand...

x2- aside from our own GrantR, of course, who has chimed in with great pics and info as usual. His counterpart on the British Militaria Forums is "DoubleD" (Doug Dickens**), who, along with several others there, are the World Compendium of All Things M-H.

Millwright, be warned- you are now hooked. There is no escape but to buy more!

** GrantR- I recall reading on some forum - now lost to the immeasurable vastness of the internet - that "DoubleD" is of Canadian-Scottish descent. One of us, although he lives in Montana.

:) Stuart
 
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