Hello,
I have had several Martini rifles built over the past 40+ years and I think I will start another. My original thoughts are, find one of the large frame actions with a safety, put a nice piece of maple on it with pre 64 Win red stain, 1/2 or full octagon barrel with 4 leaf express sights, cartridge trap, and a few other bells and whistles. I intend for this one to have a full length forearm, and sporting case colors on the reciever, trigger guard and lever. If anyone has any ideas or pictures of existing custom Martinis, I would love to hear from you. The caliber is up in the air at this point so open for discussion. Thanks in advance and God bless. cordell

sounds great.......git to it!!! make it a half octagon out to 10 1/2" from the breech face and let the slim english style, keyed, ebony tipped forend terminate at the octagonal section of the barrel. a 1/8" wide wedding band between the octagonal and round sections of the barrel would be nice. chamber it for 577/450. just send it on when you're finished and i will thank you.

Sounds cool.

I'd go with 9,3x74R if in a continental mood, .38-55 for domestic. Or maybe .25-35 in a lightweight.

Cordell-

I have always wanted to do a .22 Hornet on a Martini, Cadet or small action.

Where can you find those actions?

My custom Martini is on a Cadet action in .32-40 winchester.

Great little shooter with both cast and jacketed bullets.

Even had some old once fired "Duke" commerative brass available so it's all reloaded with the jacketed soft point bullets for my next deer season here.

Large frame Matrini caliber of choice for me would be the old 303 Brit. always wanted one in that caliber, just don't like the original military ones in the .303 so a custom, slimmer wood, half octagon, scoped etc would be sweet.

Hello All,
Well it looks like we have something started here . If someone knows how to post pictures, I still have the last Martini I had made, and maybe if we can get a few pictures on here we can get some additional input. You have hit on several of the calibers I had in mind, with the 9.3X74R being right up there close to the top. I had also considered the 577/450 and the 450/400NE (3"). But again that is down the road a bit. 30 Caliber Mag Fan, I am looking for a large frame at this moment (help is needed) but if I run across a site for the small frame I will post it. Now anyone willing to post a few pictures??? If so PM me and I will forward them. Take care and God bless. cordell

I've got a couple of Martini action action and have a couple of ideas in the works. One I've had for quire a while - since 1981 if I recall - is a small frame BSA in .297/250 rook. Neat gun but shells are a bugger to find- I have only a few.

I bought a couple of the Greener Police guns bake in the early 80s and need to do something with them. These guns are almost new and should be about the latest of the Martini actions. One thought was a 12 bore rifle using one of the rifled 12 ga barrels that normalyy go on shotguns for slugs. I looked at putting a .500 NE on one but it looked like the long case would make it clumbsy to load. A friend bulit a .577 NE on one I may go that route rather than the .500.

I also ahve one of the Cadets rebored to .357 mag. Its fun to shoot and with wadcutter target loads is almost silent.

Hello Guys

Heres one a little after the style you were suggesting. This old fellow is an 1877 action (yes "Enfield 1877") that was next through the amouries in in 1898 for a rebarrel to 303 and then to New Zealand in 1899.

When I got it I think it must have been the toughest ever pig hunters rifle since about 1900 - it was very rough and had NO rifling left - NONE !!

Anyhow I was a bit leery of rebarreling to 303 Brit as there is still a lot of full house ammo produced here. Since I had a brand new P17 barrel in 30-06 I thought a 30-40 Krag would be ok (the 30-40 is practically unknown here, and a 303 won't chamber (the rim is too thick) for the old boy.

My friend Wolf made a stock and here it is. It is Fun (with a capital F) to shoot and with lead projectiles is my go-to rabbit rifle when I just want to go for a walk.[IMG:left] [/IMG]
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Tentman-

Thanks for the pictures!

One question - what is the rear sight on the gun? I don't recall ever seeing anything that that before on a Martini.

Thanks

Thats because it is a homebuilt sight to fill in a dovetail some idiot had made in the rear of the action. One of the tidy up jobs I will have a smith to do is fill the dovetail. Hoowever it works ok so I have used it in the meantime.

Hello Guys - Here are the pictures of Cordell's very nice Martini, now this is a classy rifle . . . enjoy (more to come later)

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Tentman,
Great job they came over very clear. This is pretty close to what I want to have built, with the next one being something other than the 45-70. I love the 45/70 but have several and just want something different! This rifle has a 34 inch barrel with 12 inches (octagon) under the forearm with the remainder being round. I would want to shorten that to 24 or 26 inches, add the 4 leaf express sights, cartridge trap, and any other bells and whistles we may come up with here. I am still looking for a suitable action, this one is built on an 1887 Enfield and works flawlessly. I had considered a safety but I understand they never did work properly on the sporting Martinis and shotguns so we can discuss that as well. O.K. I think Tentman is going to post a few more pictures of this Martini and we can take it from there. Take care and God bless. cordell

HOT DANG THAT'S NICE!!!!

your ideas for the next one sounds great!! For the front sight use a classic ramp style bead with the flip up "night" sight. Skip the safety. And i aslo like the idea of making it a 12 bore....even better if you could make it paradox bored. Of cour blind screw in chokes could sort of accomplish that end. You do great work.

Oh and a trap door grip cap.

degoins, and all,
Please forgive me if I led you or anyone to believe I built this rifle, or intend to build the next. I assembled the parts for the pictured Martini over many years and John Mitchell of The Classic Rifle Company in Bend Oregon built it for me!!! He builds custom Sharps rifles, but was kind enough to help me out with my project. The stock blank came from Ron Griffey (sp ?) in Maryland, the barrel came from a barrel maker in Pennsylvania (I am having a senior moment but will remember his name later and post it) and the action and buttplate were items I had since the mid 80's. The rest is just hard work on Johns part and although a bit barrel heavy (it was made for long distance shooting) it is a doll. Tentman will be posting some additional pictures that will further point out Johns talents. I have built several rifles back in the 60's and early 70's but realized early on that I was not a gunsmith nor a gunmaker. And that it was far easier to write a check up front and have it done right, than to have someone explain to me that the stock I had been working on could not be saved (one of my early projects ). I am at this point just gathering the items, and input from you guys, to have another rifle built. Sorry for misleading anyone, I AM NOT A GUNMAKER. Now where can I find a good action !!! Take care and God bless. cordell

Everything I said before still applies!

I dont know where you could get an action only. I know Navy Arms used to sell them, but I dont know if they still do or not. Atlanta Cutlery sells the complete rifles, they might have some beaters reasonable enough to get a good action out of.

More Prictures of Ricks rifle:

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quote:

Originally posted by 30 Caliber Mag Fan:
Cordell-

I have always wanted to do a .22 Hornet on a Martini, Cadet or small action.

Where can you find those actions?

Hello 30 Caliber Mag Fan,
There is a small Martini action for sale on Guns America item #3929906081. I hope it's what you are looking for. Take care and God bless. cordell

Tentman and degoins,
Tentman, thank you for posting the pictures you did a fantastic job!!!! Now if we can just find an action to get us started . degoins, I will try Atlanta Cutlery maybe they do have a clunker or two I could buy and break down!!! I will keep you posted. Take care and God bless. cordell

Friends-

About a week ago I received a flyer from Southern Ohio Gun or SOG; www.southernohiogun.com

They have some Martini rifles in stock. Some are the "big" action that are currently chambered in .457 caliber for $395.95. In addition they have some in .303 British in the $279.95 to $300.00 range.

I thought that may be of interest to some of you looking to build a Martini.

Good luck!!!!

30 Caliber Mag Fan,
Thanks for the tip, because of you we have a carbine on the way!!!!! I will see if Tentman will be gracious enough to post the pictures of the rifle when it arrives and we can then get the project started . As soon as I get it we can start accumulating some additional parts such as the express sights, cartridge trap, etc. How about some ideas on a few bells and whistles!! Take care and God bless. cordell

Well, I was gonna ask about how much these actions cost and where to get them and I see it posted. I just have two more questions... About what is the largest caliber one could chamber on the large action, and what pressures are these rated to roughly?

I was ready to buy some of these Martinis until I starting reading on various forums as to what these guns actually are: Kyber Pass copies made of inferior materials made generally by hand and most likely dangerous to even shoot.

There are a few key hints on these in the SOG descriptions including receiver date stamps long after the Bristish stopped making them and non-standard barrel lengths.

Do some research before you waste your money on this junk! I don't have the links handy but a google search should turn up lots of sites and forums discussing these crude copies.

Buyer Beware!

quote:

About a week ago I received a flyer from Southern Ohio Gun or SOG; www.southernohiogun.com

They have some Martini rifles in stock. Some are the "big" action that are currently chambered in .457 caliber for $395.95. In addition they have some in .303 British in the $279.95 to $300.00 range.

I thought that may be of interest to some of you looking to build a Martini.

tvfinak,
Thank you for the heads up on the Kyber copies. As it turns out I received an email last night from S.O.G. stating that I had to send a copy of my drivers licence and fill out a waiver to get the carbine. I then read your post and was able to cancel the order this morning!! O.K. we are back to square one looking for an action, anybody have an idea where I can get a decent large frame action????????? Take care and God bless. cordell

It appears to me that the best bet for a nice shootable large martini action is one of the Greener Police guns. The ones I have and the others I have seen are post WWII guns in excellent mechanical condition. While you do have to modify the firing pin and close up the two holes in the breech block face you really don't have to do any other work other than matching the extractor to your case. With a worn used action from a BP rifle you are going to need to bush the firing pin hole also and may need to fabricate new pivot pins and or screws etc. If its a nice shootable orginal rifle i.e. nice action it would be a shame to tear it up anyway.

If someone knows of any other problems or disadvantages to using the Greener Police gun actions please or has any other information on using one to build a custom rifle please let us all know.

A bit more info:

An authentic .303 Martini is increasingly hard to find among the flood of fakes now on the market that will be haunting the hobby for decades to come. A few ardent souls have experimented with these and found that even the good looking ones start experiencing failures in as few as 20 rounds, with receiver stretch apparently the first sign of really bad things to come. Even otherwise reputable dealers have had these sneak by them, so buying from an established dealer only provides a certain level of protection. Personal knowledge, whether yours or someone you know to be an expert, is the only real protection in purchasing a .303 Martini these days……just too many good fakes out there.

The above said, there are good solid authentic Brit and Belgium .303 Martinis for sale to be found on GunBroker and other auction sites as well as in the "for sale" areas of some of the various on-line forums. However unless they are a "Bubba Special" they won't be cheap and in the over all scheme of things, the high cost of 577/450 brass will look less significant.

Whatever you do, don't try talking yourself into the trap of buying a Khyber Pass fake with the assumption that it will be good enough. They are wall hangers and presents for your worst enemies and nothing more. Some background on the Khyber Pass Martinis can be found at: http://www.martinihenry.com/khyberpage.html

Some general rules:
1. If it is freshly blued, RUN.
2. If it is marked V.R. and dated after 1901, RUN FASTER
3. If it came from SOG, you ought to be reaching for Warp Drive

quote:

Originally posted by .530Woodleigh:
Well, I was gonna ask about how much these actions cost and where to get them and I see it posted. I just have two more questions... About what is the largest caliber one could chamber on the large action, and what pressures are these rated to roughly?

The largest caliber as I have read and seen pictures of was a 12 bore rifle . I cannot answer all the other questions..sorry