Martini in 45 Colt?

tactical870

tactical870

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
136   0   0
Location
Buckhorn, Ontario
Picked up a BSA Martini #3 sporter last night. Chamber had a little rust so I filled the bore with evaporust overnight then gave it a thorough scrubbing this am. Slugged the bore at about .454-456 (5 groove rifling made it hard to measure) and cast the chamber at about 1.44" long by .480. It appears to be chambered in 45 Colt? Anyone else seen one of these before? Curious if this is a one off gun or something along the lines of a Bannerman's conversion. Any thoughs on loading for it? I assume it could handle factory 45 colt.... Will post pics later.

Edit: Just fired it for the first time with a light handload of 3 grains trailboss behind a .454 250 gr RNFP. Almost silent and seems quite accurate, at least "minute of firewood" ;)
 
Last edited:
Took some pics tonight along with a few more shots.... :D

martini002.jpg


martini001.jpg


martini004.jpg
 
I pulled the forestock off it tonight which confirmed the caliber has been altered. The original barrel has been cut off just ahead of the reciever and the new barrel (most likely the rechambered part of the old barrel) has been sleeved inside it and welded into the factory barrel stub. It's actually quite well done with a nice custom extractor. The forestock has a second hole where it originally mounted to the barrel lug and was redrilled. Too bad someone didn't just resolder the lug in it's new location. Looks like Bubba's been here too. :rolleyes:
 
Quite an interesting rifle... I always wanted to buy a cheap beater M-H action that I could feel good about converting to a more common big-bore pistol caliber, but never managed to find one.

If it were me, I'd have this gun professionally reblued and I'd store it as a post Liberal gun confiscation SHTF rifle, lol! But if I were to rebarrel one of these from scratch, I guess I'd go with a .44 Magnum barrel instead (and primarily use .44 Special in it)... but a M-H in .45 Colt sounds sweet too!

Congrats on your find!

:)
 
Took it to the pistol club tonight to try out. The subsonics are good for 1-2" groups at 20 yards and while I don't have a chronograph I'd suspect speed was between 400 and 500 fps. With my regular 45 colt loads of 7 grains 231 behind a 250 gr RNFP it cuts one hole groups. Gotta say I love this thing already! I'll try to get it out this weekend and try some longer ranges. Have to load up some hotter ammo as well to get it to reach out properly...
 
Oh now you guys got me thinking! A 455 Eley on a Lee-Enfield CNo7 action with a new german trigger from pits of pieces, a Green Mountain 45 cal barrel blank and a chunk of walnut, and go nutz!Dale Z!
 
I saw a conversion kit at the High Prairie gun show a couple of years ago. Some sort of a chamber insert.. Didn't look at it too close tho. I allowed you to shoot .45 colt in a martini henry
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom