A Brief Look at My 1887 Martini-Henry Rifles - Part One

        The Martini-Henry rifle was the front line, standard issue infantry firearm - inclusive of all variants and marks - of the British Army from about 1874 until somewhere around the turn of the century.  I am still reading up on the history of this quite remarkable rifle, so I shall not pretend to know an awful lot about it. (There are some links at the bottom of this post to the Martini-Henry website if you want to read more about this firearm.)  However, I do know that it was the first service rifle for the British Army to feature a cartridge style breech block loading system - as opposed to muzzle loading rifles. The cartridge was slipped in the rear of the barrel directly into the firing chamber, rather than being dropped and rammed down from the top of the barrel. It uses a lever under the butt stock, behind the trigger assembly to access the chamber and cock the firing mechanism. 

        I own two of these rifles. These particular examples were made in England at the Enfield factory for the British Army.  The beginning of the service use of this rifle occurred during the South African conflicts between the Zulus, Boers and the British. One rifle that I own is an early variant: a Mark I Pattern 3. It is marked 1887, but I believe the build date is actually earlier.  My other one is a Mk. IV Pat. B type and could be argued is one of the most reliable and effective out of the many variants. This one was surely manufactured in 1887. It is the one I am firing in the videos. That being said, here is a video of me firing my Mk. IV Martini-Henry:

And here are some pictures of both rifles:

The one with the white sling is restored, whilst the other isn't.

Photographs of both my Martini rifles together.

Restored Mk. IV Pat. B         Un-restored Mk. I Pat. 3

On the left, a restored butt stock; on the right, the un-restored example.

        And here is one more video - despite the audible nearness of the freight-train locomotive, I was quite far away, and at a legal distance, from any property other than that on which I had legal permission to shoot. I plan on doing another post outlining a little bit of the personal history of my rifles, how I restored the Mk. IV, and how I manufacture historic ammunition to shoot.

Links to histories of my particular examples of Martini-Henry rifles:

http://www.martinihenry.org/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=52

http://www.martinihenry.org/index.php?route=product/product&path=61_59&product_id=97

http://www.martinihenry.org/index.php?route=product/product&path=61_59&product_id=56