Martini Henry real or Khyber

fleury

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good day, I have the oportunity to try to bring back a Martiny Henry from the sand box. Now I know that a lot of them are fake around here. I did a quick search to try to find if it's real or not because the fake one where produced in the country that I am in. I don't mind bringing a fake one as a souvenir, however I don't want to pay too much for it. Any Idea how to spot a Khyber pass rifle, and if it's the case how much it's worth?

Thank you

Fleury
 
I assume the rifle is from Afghanistan.

The Afghans made Martinis at the Royal Ordnance Factory in Mejar, in 577-450 and 303 Brit.

The Afghan rifles were supposedly made from scratch as well as utilising british receivers.

If it's a 577-450, it will be quite obvious by looking at the muzzle.

Interestingly enough, the 303 Brit rifles have the same bayonet lug as the No1 MkI rifles and utilise the same bayo. Every part on an Afghan built rifle will have the last two digits of the serial number stamped on it. The finish and fit will be quite professional as well, almost as good as any British made rifle.

The Khyber rifles I've seen are a whole different ball game. They are very close but crude in most cases. There's always the exception though.

Usually, Khyber rifles will have only English letters on them in the case of the Martinis or Enfields. The nomenclature is often mispelled and sometimes the letters/numbers/crown are upside down or mispelled. I've never seen any Cyrilic letters on any Martini or Enfield. That doesn't mean they don't exist though.

The Afghan built rifles I've seen, are professionally made on high tech equipment for the time period. They are made out of as good of steel as any British Martini and quite accurate as well, when they have decent bores.

From what I gather, there are usually several available in the shops. Bayonets are quite rare though. Pick a rifle that has a shiny bore and see if you can also find a proper bayonet for the rifle.

Those rifles are quite highly sought after by collectors, if they are in good or better condition. i don't mean for their age either.

I recently sold one for $700 to a chap that just had to have an Afghan Royal Armory bring back Martini. It was in at least VG condition and had a bayonet with it but no scabbard.
 
fleury, google britishmilitariaforums and click on the martini forum for info on Afghan Martinis.
 
look for stock fit this is key as most of the khyber pass fakes ive seen the the stock does not fit well to the receiver

if you get a fake id plug the barrel with a rod(all the way through to the back of the chamber)

the fakes are made in modern times not pre 1898 and they fakes are getting better so be carful
 
a british made gun should have british proofs on the barrel. The only middle east made snider that I have owned, had no name on the lock and arabic style numbers on the rear sight (ie not the numbers as we know them). Workmanship on the gun that I owned was as good as the british sniders that I have owned

cheers mooncoon
 
Thanks for the info, so far I didn't see any big give away on those rifle, like miss spelling. However I am not god at reading proof mark, I did see many of them whit British arrow. I have been told that the marking are forged. I will try to get a picture some people on the board are pretty good for reading marking.
 
a british made gun should have british proofs on the barrel. The only middle east made snider that I have owned, had no name on the lock and arabic style numbers on the rear sight (ie not the numbers as we know them). Workmanship on the gun that I owned was as good as the british sniders that I have owned

cheers mooncoon
We use Arabic numbers. For the most part Roman numerals are a lost art.

Alot of the upside down numbers and such are Cyrillic characters. You use what you have. Look at the stamps a while if there is a something little off. Look at the Cyrillic alphabet if you find a match its a copy. However I am told that some of these copies are rather good and nice. Dollar value might not be there but what you buy might be unquie.
 
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good day, I have the oportunity to try to bring back a Martiny Henry from the sand box. Now I know that a lot of them are fake around here. I did a quick search to try to find if it's real or not because the fake one where produced in the country that I am in. I don't mind bringing a fake one as a souvenir, however I don't want to pay too much for it. Any Idea how to spot a Khyber pass rifle, and if it's the case how much it's worth?

Thank you

Fleury

If it's spelled 'Martiny' anywhere on it then it's definitely fake. :=)

tac
 
We use Arabic numbers. For the most part Roman numerals are a lost art.

Alot of the upside down numbers and such are Cyrillic characters. .

I recognize that we use arabic but at the same time I don't know what you call the letter form used by arabs and presumably by Jews since their writing characters to me look the same or very similar. Cyrillic as I understand the term is used by Russia and is quite different from all of the above. The characters I am thinking of are sort of squiggles and most closely resemble the sort of characters we see on the signs held by the various muslim protestors

cheers mooncoon
 
I recognize that we use arabic but at the same time I don't know what you call the letter form used by arabs and presumably by Jews since their writing characters to me look the same or very similar. Cyrillic as I understand the term is used by Russia and is quite different from all of the above. The characters I am thinking of are sort of squiggles and most closely resemble the sort of characters we see on the signs held by the various muslim protestors

cheers mooncoon


The Arabic alphabet is called "Aleph"
 
I recognize that we use arabic but at the same time I don't know what you call the letter form used by arabs and presumably by Jews since their writing characters to me look the same or very similar. Cyrillic as I understand the term is used by Russia and is quite different from all of the above. The characters I am thinking of are sort of squiggles and most closely resemble the sort of characters we see on the signs held by the various muslim protestors

cheers mooncoon
I believe but not sure the common language would be Arabic which has its own alphabet.
The jewish people use the hebew alphabet and the reason I say look Cyrillic charators is that russia is close and did evade that country a while back. When militaries leave equipment gets left behind. If you're a poor farmer making a copy and don't speak or read the language you would use what ever looked the best.
 
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