Martini Henry No. 4 Long Lever Test Firing .577-450

[diipii1]

Shoot that bloody dog !

[AmericanMuscle2012]

my dad says this gun kicks like a mule.....is that true?

[AmericanMuscle2012]

My dad gave me a martini henry but we dont hav ammo to shoot it :(

[1999CSVT]

Did you ever happen to do a video on making 577/.450 brass?

[morepaincom]

Could you do a video on how you make 577 450 ammo?

[GohModley]

Luv the vid just wish you were wearing yer skivvies

[Sunambra]

When I was at school teachers would always tell me about this rifle in the UK they would drop the i . Martin Henry

[swizzletik]

Now this is shooting fun!

[SOULFLYSI]

Nice redneck pants :)

[RabbitusMaximus]

Hey Eric.

Have you tried loading the reformed 24 gauge shotshell with a 405gr .458 (Lee's 45-70), wax paper wrapped bullet with a loading of 13gr Red Dot yet? Using the 13gr Red dot load for .30 cal rifle, I loaded some up and had very good results. Low Pressure (huge case tho' with considerable volume), point of aim accuracy, and hitting the 20" gong at 105 yds. Much easier on the shoulder than the 85 gr FFg loads as well. (Haven't chrono'd 'em yet).

[horselips]

Ideal for home, school and office, or when the Zulus are coming over the mealy boxes.

[ThePechanator2]

I would love to get a Martini Enfield or a Snider Enfield. Beautiful guns. I would like a single-shot breech-loaded metallic cartridge rifle.

[swanyAJ]

where do you find rfles like this?

[alneal100]

How come no Zulus? They could have used your help at Isandlwana!

[alneal100]

How come no Zulus?

[snidelywhiplash]

Damn, that thing is a cannon...

[RHLI62]

That sound signature is beautiful.

[ibidydo]

its not the rifle its the person who fires it

[RabbitusMaximus]

Quick Question. How much barrel pitting on the outside under the stock do you think is safe before becoming dangerous to shoot? Got mine all cleaned up and correct (whew....a labor of LOVE...not the for the faint). Now ready to order some dies and magtech brass....but wanted advice re: the barrel pitting along the stock/barrel joint.

[bobiscool308]

what caliber

[timwalker1950]

I live in the UK and I have a Martini-Henry made in 1898 by Holland & Holland. It's in great condition and I intend it as a shooter. Before that happens though, I have to jump through all sorts of hoops to get a license. If I don't shoot it, I can legally leave it hanging on the wall. The moment i use it I have to lock it away.............

[MrSteve112]

I loved the video on the Martini Henry. I have been looking at buying on of the 577/.450's and was wondering what you thought about shooting one. I am planning on buying mine from IMA and was wondering if you thought it would be safe enough to shoot? Also wanted to know if the weapon is rifled or smooth bore?

[Iraqveteran8888]

You are in luck. I am uploading a whole series of videos (one of which is up now) on disassembly/reassembly, headspace, handloading, and other safety considerations. Also, we will be working up quite a few handloads and doing a lot of range tests.

[DIVeltro]

@Iraqveteran8888

Is there anywhere a person can procure a shell casing for checking headspace? I have a Long Lever on the way, and I really don't want to buy a box of live cartridges and use one to check headspace...somehow I just don't think that would be a very good idea.

[jedimastercavanaugh]

I was curious if you new how to remove the slide and bolt out of a 20 gauge Remington Model 17

[Iraqveteran8888]

I'm not sure...I've never dealt with that particular gun. I'd be willing to be that Numrich has a schematic though.

[RcUniverseGuy]

@Iraqveteran8888 are there any cheaper rounds you can shoot out of these?

[camerl2009]

@RcUniverseGuy nope you have to reload good brass will run you $5 each + a bullet mold witch would be $85 from cast bullet engineering in australia(cheap and a vary nice mold i got mine from there) and of corse the real blackpowder(fake stuff is hell on brass) its alot cheaper in the long run the brit made martini's are the only ones id consider safe to shoot the francotte's is the most unsafe ones to shoot

[jusportel]

Mk.IV. The "I" beneath is only the "first class" mark, found on all British rifles of the time. The "A" pattern is distinguished by the short Nock's form, and block front sight. The Mk.IV "B" and "C" have the longer Nock's form and a ramp front sight. Some "A" patterns have the plugged hole in the butt, most don't. Butts often broke in service, and were frequently replaced. The "No." designation wasn't used until the late 1920's. Until 1871 or so, it was Pattern, then Mark.

[Iraqveteran8888]

Wow okay...the hell with it.

I love the rifle, that's all I know...lol

[jusportel]

Does it shoot way off to one side? My Mk IV shot several feet to the right at 200m. Mine wasn't Nepalese, but it was refurbed at Rawalpindi in 1908. Looked like they put the front sight on a little off-centre!

[Iraqveteran8888]

From my initial results, the rifle hits dead on in terms of windage, but shoots about 2 feet high at 50 yards. I hear that they are flat at 100 yards.

More testing will confirm or deny on my end. I plan on making a lot of videos about this rifle.

This is one that I am going to be taking to the range quite a bit I think. It is a blast to shoot.

[SektorStar]

Hey Iraqvetreran8888; I have a Turkish Mauser "The long rifle 1933", And i was wondering if you can do a review, And take down of the rifle. Mine is is Good condition and has very Little wear. If you can that will be great!, thank you

[Iraqveteran8888]

Where do you live?

[SektorStar]

I live IN South carolina

[ANGRYTACP]

@SektorStar  So do I.

[24GordonFan223]

beautiful M-H is the recoil as stout as it's been said?

[Iraqveteran8888]

Nah...not too bad. More like a slow hard push.

[24GordonFan223]

@Iraqveteran8888 oh ok, I remeber reading in a G&A mag that the brits had issues with recoil, jw if that was true, how's ammo for those nowadays still on the outrageous side?

[Iraqveteran8888]

Yeah ammo is a little expensive at $120 for 20 rounds.

Best to handload in this rifle!

[jusportel]

The original rifles had serious recoil issues, so they started loading ammo with a 410gr. bullet and only 80gr. of powder. Soon after, they lengthened the butt of the rifle, which solved most of the recoil issue, and the downloaded ammo was never issued with the infantry rifle.

[Iraqveteran8888]

I don't think the recoil is unbearable as is.

[TheSouthernGentleman]

Are these guns safe to shoot? I mean there really old and some were stored in less than ideal conditions.

[Iraqveteran8888]

Info coming soon as possible. We are doing a detailed video series on them.

[MDC33147]

Word of advice, could you upload the video in a better format fit for youtube? It takes a while for your videos to load and they're not even that long.

Have fun shooting.

[Iraqveteran8888]

Unless I am mistaken, the videos I upload are in the list of formats that Youtube lists as being ideal for it.

[tdblues]

awesome video, I have a similiar rifle that was converted to 303 british, its a carbine though.

[Iraqveteran8888]

I'd love to have one of these in .303 one day.

[tdblues]

should look for them now (real cheap), if you can get stuff down from Canada you can get those rifles, even long lever .303, with Royal Canadian mounted Police or Canadian Military stampings

[jusportel]

If it's a long lever in .303, it's a fake. In Canada, you can get a nice Mk.I or III with Canadian Militia markings for about $800Cdn. There were a few Mk.IV's used by the Montreal Home Guard, I think. Also Martini-Enfields and Martini-Metfords in .303, but the M-H Mk.III is the most common one up here. The M-H was never general issue in Canada, since they had ten times the number of Sniders. The M-H was used for target shooting.

[tdblues]

There were Mark IV long levers but were british conversions, however my carbine is a mark 3 and was NWMP, but itself was converted, but I have no idea when.

[assaultrecon28]

what up with the elevator intro music

[Iraqveteran8888]

@assaultrecon28

Its from "The Life Aquatic" by Mark Mothersbough.

You know...the band Devo?

[pintofshite]

gonna buy one of these, see lots of them in England, good vid

[jimifazer]

I 'm not 100% sure but you may find brasses in india or pakistan

[Iraqveteran8888]

The brass is form off 24 gauge shotshell hulls or you can buy drawn casings from Bertnam

[martykean1967]

Holy crap! Can you still buy brass for that gun? I can't belive you got the rounds you had! You can only reload so many times and then what? I have to admit that rifle does look very cool, but I just wonder how much you'll still be able to shoot and enjoy it.

[Iraqveteran8888]

Marty,

We are going to be doing a buttload of shooting with this rifle. I think this is going to be a rifle that comes to the range with me everytime I go.

Brass is formed off either 24 gauge shotshell hulls or you can buy drawn casings from specialty manufacturers.

The bullet molds is custom made though...

[martykean1967]

Thats good news! At least you'll be able to continue to enjoy shooting it well into the future. I had never even heard of this type of rifle until you sharred yours with us all thank you and continued safe shootin!

[MegaGewehr]

How did the British conquer 1/4th of the world's surface again? That rifle looks funner than a barrel of monkeys, but I sure as heck wouldn't want to fight with it, or carry it around for endless miles!

Why is the bbl so long? Since it's a black powder round it should be able to obtain 95% velocity in a much shorter bbl.

[rodneyastrother]

Great Video Eric.

[silver760]

Well done Chad on that last shot!! The long lever was added in an attempt to assist in the extraction of stuck casings,what it mostly caused was for the extractor to pull the base off the rolled brass casings,when they changed over to drawn casing the sticking and pulling of the cartridge base off was eliminated.

[silver760]

Grat to see you firing a MH at last been waiting for ages to see this!! Your is a MkIV Mk1 going by the marking in the video you showed the other day.I thought you might have gone with BP substitute to reduce or eliminate the corrosion producing problems of BP though,great vid!! Thanks!

[silver760]

I have been waiting so long to see you fire a MH Eric!! Hurrah!! Yours is a MkIV Mk1 going by the markings you showed in the video the otherday if I remember correctly,I wanna go!!

[ChromeFreak123]

There is enough smoke coming out of the muzzle, it looks like you blew the motor.lol Cool video and gun. 5/5

[NC77583]

Do you rent all those rare guns, or are they yours?

[abubacar]

geez the weather sure looks nice down there.

[stops914]

thhats so cool! this makes me wan2 go shoot my mosin

[TulaMosin1891]

HAHAHAHA! That thing is awesome!

[fjcaron]

Very cool rifle, looks like it's a lot of fun to shoot, plus you guys have a nice wide open area to go shooting without anyone telling you what to do, I'm envious ;-)

[Iraqveteran8888]

You are welcome in my neck ofthe woods anytime you want...

[fjcaron]

Oh most definitely, I hope to get out your way in the near future.

[Iraqveteran8888]

I look forward to it.

[tripwire1000]

hillbilly style

[cedaytonarydr]

Where did you get the ammo for it? Did you neck down 24 Gauge shotgun shells, or did you just buy new brass and load for it?

The "ten-x" shells are over $100 for 20 rounds!!!

[Iraqveteran8888]

Brass was formed off Magtech 24 gauge shotgun casings.

[cedaytonarydr]

I was reading that article on the Surplus Rifles website. Very impressive!!!

[ginsboy2003]

As soon as we get the .470 sizer made, I predict awesome accuracy.

[Iraqveteran8888]

I do too! Gonna be fun...This is where we will be shooting.

btw...call me when you have a minute...I have some interesting news to tell you...

[biguy525]

Cool, nice video.

[stolisoldier]

Love this video

My dad used to own a martini just like this one as an antique, but it looked in good enough nick to still be a good shooter. With the price of getting a firearms license, land to shoot on and the ammo and stuff to go with it, plus having the rifle reproofed in the nearest proof house ( about 300 miles south in manchester) there was no way it was doable for us :(

Still, nice rifle and good shooting, glad to see you got yours up and running!

[sgtfroman]

Could you use Pyrodex for your reloads?

[Iraqveteran8888]

Absolutely!

These were loaded on 480 grains bullet sized to .459" (undersize for british guns) on 85 grains of Pyrodex.

You have to use a filler like polyfil of cotton to take up the space as was as a felt disc soaked in beeswax under the bullet.

I will be posting a detailed series on handloading this cartridge.

[sgtfroman]

I asked because you said the black powder would eat the brass. Is fouling a issue with this rifle? Do you need to use a lube like a muzzleloader?

[YaoiMastah]

It's the sulfurresidu in the blackpowder that eats your weapon.

Therefore: hot soapy water and blackpowder solvent are your friends..

(and not: I'll do that later.. but prefferably immediately after you get home from the range)

[Iraqveteran8888]

You have to use a good soft lube and make sure all the air is out of the casings...More details coming up in the handloading series for this rifle.

[yevgenz]

How stiff is the recoil?

[Iraqveteran8888]

It's a slow rolling recoil similar to a 10 gauge shotgun.

[sniperpro461]

do they make the round anymore?

[Iraqveteran8888]

Yeah...if you have $120 for 20 rounds

[sniperpro461]

haha wow well i guess im not going to buy any of those any soon, way to expensive

[neolexington]

sweet rifle man!!

[rudy214]

I would use a black powder sub or small charge of smokeless

[AzonClodei]

still making great videos i see. :) do you have ant 1887 shotguns?

[patsfanczar]

SCORE!

Beautiful rifle.

[BigSean1992]

COOL those are some big ol' bullets lol good lord like an elephant gun or more like crazy zulu

[Iraqveteran8888]

480 grains moving at about 1450 fps!

[ECTBWHO]

I shot the pistol version of that rifle. Be wise dont.

[majorporpoise]

Looks like you're ready to take out the Zulu tribe.

[Gungeek]

Paper patch your bullets to the size you need?

[Iraqveteran8888]

A custom mold is going to yield much better results. It throws a .474" bullet.

[Gungeek]

@Iraqveteran8888 Is there anyway to slug it?

[Iraqveteran8888]

Yeah you can hammer a .50 caliber soft lead round ball but it takes some careful to work to make sure you don't ding or marr anhything up. This one slugs right at .468"

[ammosmith]

Paper patching the 459" bullets to 469" would do a lot for accuracy.

[Iraqveteran8888]

I plan on using a custom mold, but paper patching is doable.

[Dp908]

Very nice Eric. One day I'll pick one of these up in 357 mag.

[Iraqveteran8888]

.357 mag?

I know they have the .303 in the Metford but a pistol round?

[Dp908]

Yeah. They have a few martini cadets in 357 mag and 32-20. Just can't find one at the right price.

[Iraqveteran8888]

Thats cool. I'm planning on blasting a few deer with this rifle this winter. I will take youtube along...

[brreed82]

IV, dude your vids are awesome. Its great to see people learning about and maintaining these old historic rifles. 5*

[cutlerylover]

Man I love that intro what a great picture!

[Iraqveteran8888]

Thanks Jeff.

BTW...I got your email. I'll respond in a few minutes.

[majorporpoise]

It's already March!?!?

[homerjigmee]

nice

[ViperQc]

Pretty big eh

[BurningBrownies]

kool

[aaadream]

Nice old rifle....waiting to see the accuracy with the good ammo. 5*