Hi,

I was asked to help a friend who has come into possession of some old firearms and two of them have me stumped:

1)Rifle "Martini", cal. about 9mm, breechloader. Sr nr 260XX

2) Rifle "A.v.V of H", cal. possibly .577. Breechloader, sr nr 7XX

If anybody can help me with this data I´d be glad. I didn´t really have time to look at other markings and I used my Leatherman to measure the boresize

Any chance of some photographs? That would really help. And "breechloader" covers a lot of ground; please describe the action.

Posting pics isn´t my strongest side but I´ll se what I can do. The "A.v.V. of H" is interesting, could mean "of Holland" or "of Hell" for that matter. "Martini" is pretty straightforward but I´ve mostly heard of "Martini-Henry".

That is why a couple photos would be very helpful. Yes, we have a basic idea what a Martini action is. But is it a sporter/commercial Martini or a (Mark I, II, III, IV) in 450/577?

And the breechloading .577 could be a lot of things...a Snider of some type?

I´ll get back to you after the holidays, things are getting a bit crazy here (wife on a business trip, I´m trying to hold down a job, keep house and write an article on the history of Sako -man am looking forward to my month in Africa).

Merry X-mas for the time being!

I´ve now done some homework and the A.v.V CF H is a rolling block mechanism that looks a lot like a Rem.

The Martini has "Martini patent" written on it and what loks like to flags crossed over that. This gun has been badly raped with the bluing buffed off and new forend "stock" (shoddy work) and the mechanism looks like a Marinti Henry.

I´ll try to get some pics tonight.

Look forward to seeing the photos.

I know Sweden, Denmark, and Norway all used a Remington Rolling block military rifle starting in the late 1860's. Most of them were 11-12mm variants, first rimfires then converted to centerfire. A lot of Swedes were later converted over to an 8mm cartridge.

I'm going to guess that your rolling block was originally a Swedish version, perhaps made by Husqvarna as they would mark their stuff with an "H".

Does it look something like this...

http://www.allans-armory.com/aapictures.php?ItemId=SRB17

Yep, that´s the one. I measured the diam to 12.3mm so I was way of with the .577 (wishful thinking). I don´t think it´s been converted. The H would be Husqvarna, never thought of it.

The Martini is 9mm and quite small and handy. Maybe it can be restored? That is if it´s worth anything.

PS boha has the pics -finally- and he might be posting them on Monday.

Husqvarna also made a rifle using a Martini action. Examine it closely for other markings like a small Crown over a script H.

Hi,

No pics yet, I guess Boha has been busy, but I think I´ve been able to identify the Martini: Under the the crossed flags (of swallowtail type) there is a "B" stamped. According to my gunsmith this could mean Birmingham. The barrel is marked "380 or 350 No5" and in front of the receiver there is a "JP" marking. Looks like it might be some sort of rook rifle!

The rolling block is identified as a Husqvarna 1871 made for a rimmed case 12.?x44R

If anyone has any more info I´d be glad to hear it.