Martini Henry Mk IV 577-450, 1st gun I ever held, FIRST gun ever given to me!

[Jay]

Hey Guys, UPDATE, I found 10 formed brass and 35 cast projectiles from a fellow CGN!!! As usual, CGN comes through again!!! To the CGN who helped me out & provided some guidance and info... Pics will be forthcoming when the deer is down!!! THANKS!

Now back to our regular program...

Some of you on here will remember me asking about values for some old guns that a family friend, Ed, had and wanted to sell. When I initially went over to Ed's place, he asked me if I was interested in the guns. I told him that I was only interested in the Martini Henry because I had held one as a child in Afghanistan. It was actually the first gun I ever held and my parents used to keep it under the bed. It was bought at a bazaar in Kabul. That rifle is long gone now, no one in the family seems to know where it went... But, Ed listened intently to my story and we agreed to meet again when I had a rough idea of what all his rifles were worth.

Well, it wasn't long and we had values for the rifles. I sold all the "modern" rifles on CGN and helped Ed call the CFC to transfer them. I got boxes from work, newspaper and tape and wrapped them up and labelled them for shipping.

When all of this was completed, Ed was left with two antique rifles, a Martini Henry and a Robbins Lawrence. Ed asked me if I was interested in the Martini Henry and I said I was, but that I couldn't justify spending the $ having just finished up my engineering degree and my wife just finishing her Bachelor of Education, plus moving provinces and setting up house...

Ed then said, "I want you to have this rifle, it means alot to you, and it would mean alot to me for you to have it."

I couldn't believe it, no one had ever given me a rifle before!!! Now I had a rifle that meant soo much to me in my childhood!!!

Now I am on a mission, I want to harvest a deer with this rifle. And I want to do it as soon as possible. You see, Ed is 87, (his 60th wedding anniversary is in 4 months), and his wish is that his guns be used as they were intended, for hunting!

Ed even hand wrote a letter, that he dictated to me and I emailed to one of the buyers of his guns. Ed's request of the buyer was he wanted a picture of the caribou hunt that the young man was buying the rifle for. (I have my fingers crossed that Ed gets to see these pics, and that the buyer doesn't forget to send them along as soon as he gets them.)

So, on my end, I need to source some rounds for this rifle... I have had the rifle checked by a gunsmith and it's in good shape, good enough to hunt with!

I'm hoping that some CGN will see this and be willing to sell me some non corrosive rounds that I could use to take a deer in the fall. I think 10 or 20 rounds would be fine, enough to see where it is on paper at 50 and 100 meters, with a couple left over for a deer. I'll even promise to return the brass to the seller!

Here are pics of the rifle!!!

Cheers
Jay

 

[ben hunchak]

If it were me I would reload some up myself as they can be reloaded by hand with out dies or a press, no fancy measuring tools either, get some brass(they are expensive) some 2fg black powder, some Fed. 215 primers, some cast bullets,(try .459" to start) or slug the bore and Bob's your uncle!

 

[Bob]

Sorry to steal the thread, I just picked up a MkIV myself but it needs some TLC. Ben how do you resize the brass and seat the bullet without the dies....Bob

 

[mooncoon]

Being a single shot you don't have to resize them; just press the slug in on top of the powder. If you are going to the range, be careful how you transport them so the slugs don't jostle out. In a hunting situation, I suspect a drop of airplane glue would keep the slug from coming out while the shell is in your pocket.
I would suggest getting a copy of "the Paper Jacket" by Paul Mathews for loading instructions for BP cartridges in general. Also recommend using a soft lube of 50% animal fat and 50% bees wax.

cheers mooncoon

 

[Bob]

Yea I don't resize for BPCR, it was the hunting situation that was on my mind. Thanks Mooncoon. Will get more info from Ben when i order so bullets....Bob

 

[ben hunchak]

You must make up a "try" case in order to determine how far out the bullet must be to barely touch the rifling, once you have this dimension, you can fill the rest of your cases with blackpowder(settled), leaving NO AIRSPACE. Bullets should be soft cast and lubed with BP lube and can be slid into case to rest on the charge of BP and thus will be seated to the right depth as they can go in no further due to powder. The try case is diff. only because you will need some neck tension to get your seating depth measured without the bullet moving after you have touched the leade(rifling). Does any of this make sense?? i understand it!

 

[bdft]

That rifle looks in beautiful shape. I haven't got around to buying one yet but its on my list. A lot of history behind those old rifles. They've probably fought in more brushfire conflicts than any other "assault rifle" except maybe the AK-47.