Martini pistol loads?

dixda

dixda

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I have this old Martini Enfield pistol (probably antique)that is chambered in 303 British, and quite frankly I'm scared to fire factory rounds in it.
It has so many stamps, that it's either a good East Indian knock-off, or been back to the armouries many many times.
Anyway, I was just wondering what kind of loads might be good to start with? I was thinking maybe a cast 150gr bullet over 5.5gr of Bullseye with a cotton wad between. I'm hoping one of you fellows might have shot one of these, and could share your thoughts. KD
martinipistolsn6.jpg
 
Thats a neat rig :D
303 ya say.
Ya id stay away from factory ammo tho i bet others have shot it in that gun. Maby they passed on and thats how you got it ;) LOL

I dont load the 303 myself but id go with a very light load and work up to what your comfortable with.

I shoot a 50 70 Rolling block pistol with a full case of Pyrodex and a 50 cal Rd ball. It hurts when i shoot it but it will kill near anything in my way and is alot of fun.
I dont know if Pyrodex would work in a bottle neck case tho.
Hope someone else can help you out there.
 
You should post that in the Martini-Henry forum at http://p223.ezboard.com/bbritishmilitariaforums
Those guys have forgotten more about Martini's than most people know. I wouldn't be too surprised to find that was a Khyber pass job built out of cut up Martini-Enfield. It looks nicely done though. I'd love to own it. I don't think I'd want to be attached to it when I cut loose a factory 303 round.
 
It is a Khyber made item. International,Montreal imported these and .303 ME Khyber rifles in the 60s. Had some experience with them and IMHO they should not be fired atall.
 
If it were mine id rechamber it in 45 colt or bigger ;)

just get a good chunk of Barrel with a chamber already there and swap it with the orignal 303 Barrel.
Or just bore out the 303 barrel and chamber so any strait sided Case could be used like 45 70 :cool:
I wish i had a 45 70 barrel when we did up my rolling block pistol.

If thats a Martini Action a real one? not some kyber pass copy its a very good strong action and would handle 45 70 BP loads no problem.


This Rolling Block pistol was orignaly 50 cal but we put in a new 50 70 barrel.
Its a blast to shoot but a little hard on the hands.
 
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Are we sure that the chamber really is .303? Maybe whoever chopped this down also took out some/all of the orig. chamber and left it way shorter? They must have known that retaining that chamber would result in a not very usable pistol? This is just thinking out loud by me as I don't have the gun in front of me. They may have changed the chambering and left the orig. markings?
 
I had one sold it to a friend I only shot it with black or pistol pyrodex with cast bullets lubed for black they are called Kyber Pass specials for a reason the bore on mine was pretty bad got the best results with 32 cal round balls and a light load mine was not a cut down rifle the action was slightly smaller mine was probably made from stolen railway lines as were many . I also de-registered mine .303 is not on the list for pistols if it was a rifle you would have to register it. Ther are a few floating around out there and yes they were chambered for .303brit. I never tried smokeless . and yes I wish I had never sold it but I was too tempted to re-barell to another cal .and my friend wanted it to add to his collection next time I see him I will try and get some pics
 
ben hunchak said:
Are we sure that the chamber really is .303? Maybe whoever chopped this down also took out some/all of the orig. chamber and left it way shorter? They must have known that retaining that chamber would result in a not very usable pistol? This is just thinking out loud by me as I don't have the gun in front of me. They may have changed the chambering and left the orig. markings?
Click to expand...
It chambers and extracts a 303 British case, and although the bore is pretty bad, there is still some rifling. Not that I expect anything resembling accuracy, I just want to be able to say I shot it.
Mind you, it would be interesting to see what it could do. KD
 
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