My Martini 577 -.450

Sly Old Fox

Sly Old Fox

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In lalaland, that is Ottawa.
This rifle, pictured in the PB URL's below, was obtained about 1959, south of Hamilton, from a Toronto cartridge collector. I gave him about 10 original packs of 10 rounds each paper/brass wound of .577, wrapped in brown paper with the date etc. I had been given the ammo by an elderly friend, still on the old farm, who had liberated it from the local township hall (Fenian stocks) and he knew that I had a rifle, (See my post just before this on my Snider.)

150 years ago, there was no BS like C-68. If there had been, we very well could on Nov. 4th have a chance to vote for McCain for President.

I do not believe that this rifle was ever issued to the military. It was made by Webley. It is stamped "R.McVittie, Toronto." I have not researched this but suspect McVittie was sporting good dealer and the rifle was bought privately. Perhaps some of the gurus out there will shed some light on this.

Anyway, here are the images:

Snider1.jpg


Snider2.jpg


Snider3.jpg


Snider4.jpg


SniderButt2.jpg


Snider5.jpg


SniderBore.jpg









The round on the left is rolled like the .577s were. The second is an extruded brass case, and the last is a modern turned replacement case.
 
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McVitte was a Toronto retailer who bought from Webley and had his name stamped on the reciever....common practise then. Nice piece...definitely not military. Looks in great shape. The older we get we begin to feel mortal and the thought of liberating our collections begins to form. By the way, the 10 packs of cartridges would be worth about $1,250.00 in total in todays market....probably more than the rifle. Have you ever shot it or one like it? I am not too far and shoot mine all the time. If you have a desire to shoot one just let me know. Dave
 
My Martini .450

john@ said:
Very nice!

The markings are similar to the Webly MH I have.
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=265865
Does yours have similar markings on the left side and top of the barrel?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I did not take any images of the proof marks etc. when the posted images were made during the summer. The rifle is not here in the city but when can, I will take more images and post them. The rifle was sold by McVittie in Toronto and never issued, thus the fine condition.

Thanks,
 
I have one, saw it being fire by Dad, once, many many years ago.
I'll have to check again, as I remember it is dated 1876 and would be a military issue.
I just wonder where can I get ammo for it (I'm just not interested in reloading... this one anyway).
 
You can sometimes find reloads at gunshows, costing anywhere ~ $6 and up. AFAIK there is no commerically available 577/450 in Canada, I think there is one or two companies in the US that make it.

Reloading is your best bet.
 
Reloading is probably the only way to go. It would be very difficult to get someone to reload for you because of the liability issues. It would be a shame to shoot any vintage loads you can pick up at gun shows. Dave
 
The M-H 577 -.450 as a moose rifle

:runaway:
Dantforth said:
Reloading is probably the only way to go. It would be very difficult to get someone to reload for you because of the liability issues. It would be a shame to shoot any vintage loads you can pick up at gun shows. Dave
Click to expand...

This thread brings to mind a moose hunt in the late 1960's in the B.C. Blackwater area. We met a gent who had set up a tent camp, right on the side of the road and had an ex military M-H .450. I'm not sure which model it was. Anyway, early one morning, a fine bull started to climb the low hill he was on. At about 30 yds. he shot in the center of the chest and the bull folded. We were not there at the kill site but we met him later at his camp where he had some how managed to get him hung up. He said that the slug had penetrated very close to the rear end. But it was a sad story - he went for a short bird hunt, no, not with the .450 but a scattergun. When he returned, some creeps had stolen the moose. I don't think that I ever saw a more disturbed hunter.:runaway:
 
Very nice rifle, Sly!

Robert McVittie was one of the top competitive rifle shooters in the world in his day - he was described in the press as "the best shot in the British Empire", and earned the nickname "Bob the Shot". Born in Scotland, where he achieved his fame, he emigrated to Canada in 1888, and thereafter shot for the Dominion as S-Sgt. McVittie of the 10th Royal Grenadiers of Canada. He sold target rifles - of which yours is undoubtedly one. Keep in mind that the competitive rifle shooting in the Empire at that time was done with military-spec rifles - though not necessarily military-issue rifles.

Here's an image I happen to have of the Canadian team at Wimbledon in 1889 (the last year before the British NRA range was relocated to Bisley.) Robert McVittie is third from the left in the back row -
wimbledon2.jpg


The engraving on the left, below, was published in Harper's Weekly (September 16, 1882) while he was in the United States competing for Great Britain at Creedmoor. The photgraph on the right is from a McVittie family website page about "Bob The Shot" McVittie (link to that web page below the images ...)
mcvittie_lge.jpg
bob_sm.jpg


http://www.mcvittie.co.uk/Bob%20the%20Shot.htm

Another link of possible interest:
http://www.researchpress.co.uk/riflemen/scotland/mcvittie_r.htm
 
The crown &number mark by the serial number shows that this arm has been inspected and conforms to military spec allowing it to be used in military matchs.
 
Well Sly, I have to say she looks good in the pictures - but she's even better in person :) I was amazed at the apparent simplicty of use, when you explained the steps to me. I really wonder what kind of recoil these rifles would produce.

(note to readers - I know next to nothing about black powder and this is my first time visiting this section of Gunnutz!)

Lou
 
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