[roverboy]

Anybody ever seen a Martini-Henry in .303 British?
Correct me if Im wrong. But I think i saw one the
other day. Any info would be appreciated. Did
they ever make any?

[squirrelblaster]

oddly enough i saw one in 303 brit just last week at a local pawn shop!

[Cyrano]

They show up all the time in the Southern Ohio Gun catalog, roverboy. They aren't cheap, and SOG warns that they were made for blackpowder cartridges, so DON'T try to shoot a cordite-loaded cartridge out of them. They aren't exactly selling them as wall-hangers but they certainly are engaged in CYA in case anyone wants to shoot one.

What I've been wondering since the last time I watched Zulu is if a load exists for the .303 using blackpowder instead of modern smokeless powder; or if anyone has the specifications for the original blackpowder load used in the pre-smokeless powder days. I'd love the chance to shoot one some time.

[roverboy]

Thanks, I thought maybe it might have been a rechambering.

[wcassidy]

Cyrano, maybe this'll be an interesting read for you, i had to google it myself after you mentioned .303 BP loads Blackpower .303 eh? [Archive] - Cast Boolits

[Cyrano]

Quote:       Originally Posted by wcassidy

Cyrano, maybe this'll be an interesting read for you, i had to google it myself after you mentioned .303 BP loads Blackpower .303 eh? [Archive] - Cast Boolits

Thanks for the link, wcassidy. A very good read indeed! What I got out of it was that were you to buy one of SOG's Martini-Henrys that was made for blackpowder originally, you can indeed work up a load that will shoot safely in the rifle. Further, the fouling should not be too bad because the rifling was intended for BP use. It's definitely a handloading project, but everything you need to build a safe cartridge is already on the market and readily available.

So what's my next step? Buy the Martini-Henry and then buy the reloading setup, using the former to justify the latter to Her Imperial Majesty; or buy the reloading setup first, start reloading pistol cartridges, and then justify having the reloading gear to explain the purchase of the Martini-Henry?

[tcpruett82]

I saw plenty in Afghanistan. They can do some pretty crafty things with what they have. It appeared to be a martini-henry action mounted on a lee-enfield barrel. But i have seen a lot of them for sale in the states in .303.

[Beerhunter]

Quote:       Originally Posted by roverboy

Anybody ever seen a Martini-Henry in .303 British? Correct me if Im wrong. But I think i saw one the other day. Any info would be appreciated. Did they ever make any?

In .303 that would be a Martini-Metford or a Martini-Enfield, rather than a Martini-Henry. The last bit refers to the barrel rifling: Metford for black powder and Enfield for smokeless.

[pathdoc]

The Martini-Enfields (M/H rebarrelled to .303) would have been nitro-proofed, else there's no point in rebarrelling them for a smokeless cartridge.