New film of me shooting an 1882 Martini-Henry rifle with bayonet

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crusoe

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Here's 'take two' on my film, shot with a GoPro camera on my forehead and first posted here a few weeks ago. After trying it again with other rifles I became unhappy with the camera angle and a few other details in my original film, so I redid it. I've also added some stills of the rifle and the shoot at the beginning and end of the film.

Note my right thumb in the correct position on the rear of the receiver as I shoot.

I stiffened the load from my first shoot to 75 grains Goex 2F beneath a 405 gr paper-patched bullet (the 45/70 bullet commonly available in gun shops with BP supplies here in Canada; I haven't yet got a mould for casting the heavier original bullet). As before, I filled with compressed carded wool and a lube plug made from Wonderlube pistol wads. This load I believe approximates to the 'carbine' load for the M-H I've read about of 75 grains of Curtis and Harvey No 6 beneath a 415 gr bullet. This load is pleasant to shoot and accurate at the maximum 120 yards I've tried it, shooting a little high at point of aim, though I've not yet shot it enough to say anything more in detail. I've only had the rifle for a few months and have been cautious about working up to a full load equivalent to 85 gr Curtis and Harvey and a 485 gr bullet, but meanwhile am happy with the load I've got here and feel it gives me what I need at short ranges below 150 yards.

As you can see, the rifle is in lovely condition. I acquired this particular one because I wanted a rifle that would have been in service at the time of the 1884-5 Nile expedition, the setting for a large part of my recent novel Pharaoh (where there are scenes with this rifle as well as Remingtons) - though in this condition it's pretty unlikely that this particular example saw field service, I think.

I've also posted this on the British Militaria forum and several of the forums for GoPro enthusiasts.

You can read a bit more about my novels at www.davidgibbins.com and www.facebook.com/DavidGibbinsAuthor.
 
Nice rifle....does this mean your new book will be out soon?. I am looking forward to it.

I started with carded wool but I find that cotton wool is a lot easier to load consistently. I think that the MH switched to cotton wool (from the Sniders carded wool).

Cheers,
Peter (in Ontario)
 
Thanks Peter! I moved to the MH from reloading for my Snider with carded wool for authenticity, using an old sheepskin rug and a dog brush. I can certainly see how cotton wool would be easier to 'size', as you say. I've been tamping in the carded wool in using a dowel and adding or subtracting to get the right amount to fill it up to the neck, but it's a bit laborious. I also remember reading somewhere about the transition from carded wool to cotton wool and will try to remember the reference.

Pharaoh is out in the large-sized 'trade' paperback in Canada already but the smaller (and cheaper!) mass-market paperback is out on 6 November. I hope you enjoy it! I'm adding blogs to my website on facts behind the fiction related to the Nile campaign - on General Gordon, Kitchener, etc - and am looking forward to getting something up on Remington and MH rifles soon, with this little film being part of it.
 
"A sheep skin rug & a dog brush". There's something I never thought of, I bought my first lot of off Ebay & then I got lucky. Took my wife to a knitting show up in Kitchener & found to my surprise several dealers there selling big bags of carded wool. For $15 I got enough for a lifetime...even got the name & saw a picture of the sheep :). I will look for "Pharaoh".
Cheers,
Peter

crusoe said:
Thanks Peter! I moved to the MH from reloading for my Snider with carded wool for authenticity, using an old sheepskin rug and a dog brush. I can certainly see how cotton wool would be easier to 'size', as you say. I've been tamping in the carded wool in using a dowel and adding or subtracting to get the right amount to fill it up to the neck, but it's a bit laborious. I also remember reading somewhere about the transition from carded wool to cotton wool and will try to remember the reference.

Pharaoh is out in the large-sized 'trade' paperback in Canada already but the smaller (and cheaper!) mass-market paperback is out on 6 November. I hope you enjoy it! I'm adding blogs to my website on facts behind the fiction related to the Nile campaign - on General Gordon, Kitchener, etc - and am looking forward to getting something up on Remington and MH rifles soon, with this little film being part of it.
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Thanks biggles. You just have to keep quiet to people who love their rugs and if spotted doing it try to convince them you were just giving it a nice brushdown to clean it up ...
 
Great video, and I hope you remembered to wipe down that bayonet before putting it back in the scabbard!
Also - cool, another author to check out! You never know who's on these forums. Sounds like your books might be right up my alley. I'll have to look up your stuff the next time I swing by Chapters. Need something to keep me entertained now that I've finally finished A Dance with Dragons.
 
Thanks everyone. That's what struck me - messy bayonet but probably sterile (I'll have to try rubbing BP residue into my next cut and see what happens). The bayonet charge was a bit of spontaneity at the end so I was probably not holding the rifle in strict accordance with 1880s infantry training procedure (that's one thing they didn't teach us in the Royal Canadian Air Cadets in the 1970s, though the Lee-Enfield .22 conversions we used did still have the bayonet lugs, as I recall - really an oversight on their part as it would have been a very useful life skill). I did feel that were I to have carried on and plunged the bayonet into something it would probably have broken, and I remembered reading about the furore following the Zulu War over this problem with the Pattern 1876 bayonet - I don't have my notes to hand, but I think there was a heated exchange in the British newspapers about how our boys were being let down by poor equipment. As a result some units in the Nile campaign had the sword bayonet, though I think the Pattern 1876 was still standard equipment and saw plenty of use.
 
There is some controversy among the Zulu war aficionado's as to actually which bayonet the 24th were using at the time of Rorke's Drift/Isandlewana. The consensus seems to be that the two battalions were using different bayonets as one battalion had come from the UK direct & were probably using the new pattern 1876 long socket bayonet. The other Battalion had come direct from foreign service (either Malta or Gibralter from memory) & are thought to have still been equipped with the shorter Pattern 1853 rebushed Snider bayonet.

There was a lot of trouble later in the Sudan when some of the P1876 bayonets (purchased on contract from Germany) were bending. They were found to have been improperly tempered & would so not reliably penetrate the Dervish shields (either Rhino or Hippo hide, again from memory).
 
Thanks Biggles - very interesting. My memory, still without my notes to hand, is that the Camel Corps in the Sudan in 1884 was issued with the Pattern 1860 'Yataghan' sword bayonet (approved I think for the Martini-Henry in 1874), and that their experience was one factor behind the adoption of the 1887 sword bayonet for general issue. I'll find that newspaper exchange and post it here when I do as it's quite interesting for showing how involved the general public could be in the specifics of weaponry at this period.
 
I get the impression that people back then were generally a lot more involved in "writing to the Editor" etc. In "ZULU", one comment by Bromhead always sticks in my mind. Something along the lines of: "can't have two massacres in one day old boy, upsets the civilians at their breakfasts".

crusoe said:
Thanks Biggles - very interesting. My memory, still without my notes to hand, is that the Camel Corps in the Sudan in 1884 was issued with the Pattern 1860 'Yataghan' sword bayonet (approved I think for the Martini-Henry in 1874), and that their experience was one factor behind the adoption of the 1887 sword bayonet for general issue. I'll find that newspaper exchange and post it here when I do as it's quite interesting for showing how involved the general public could be in the specifics of weaponry at this period.
Click to expand...
 
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