Martini-Henry rifle

This week for Firearm Friday we are showcasing the Martini-Henry rifle.

The Martini–Henry is a breech-loading single-shot rifle with a lever action that was used by the British Army. It first entered service in 1871, eventually replacing the Snider–Enfield, a muzzle-loader converted to the cartridge system. Martini–Henry variants were used throughout the British Empire for 47 years. It combined the dropping-block action first developed by Henry O. Peabody and improved by the Swiss designer Friedrich von Martini, combined with the polygonal rifling designed by Scotsman Alexander Henry.

Though the Snider was the first breech loader firing a metallic cartridge in regular British service, the Martini was designed from the outset as a breech loader and was both faster firing and had a longer range.

The Martini–Henry was copied on a large scale by North-West Frontier Province gunsmiths. Their weapons were of a poorer quality than those made by Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield, but accurately copied down to the proof markings.

In the original chambering, the rifles fired a round-nosed, tapered-head .452-inch, soft hollow-based lead bullet, wrapped in a paper patch giving a wider diameter of .460 to .469-inch; it weighed 485 grains. It was crimped in place with two cannelures ahead of two fibre card or mill board disks, a concave beeswax wad, another card disk and cotton wool filler. This sat on top of the main powder charge inside initially a rimmed brass foil cartridge, later made in drawn brass.

The cartridge case was paper lined so as to prevent the chemical reaction between the black powder and the brass. Known today as the .577/450, a bottle-neck design with the same base as the .577 cartridge of the Snider–Enfield. It was charged with 85 grains of Curtis and Harvey's No.6 coarse black powder, notorious for its heavy recoil The cartridge case was ejected to the rear when the lever was operated.

The rifle is 49 inches long, the steel barrel 33.22 inches. The Henry patent rifling produced a heptagonal barrel with seven grooves with one turn in 22 inches. The weapon weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces. A sword bayonet was standard issue for non-commissioned officers; when fitted, the weapon extended to 68 inches and weight increased to 10 pounds 4 ounces.

The standard bayonet was a socket-type spike, either converted from the older Pattern 1853 (overall length 20.4 inches) or newly produced as the Pattern 1876 (overall length 25 inches), referred to as the "lunger". A bayonet designed by Lord Elcho was intended for chopping and other sundry non-combat duties, and featured a double row of teeth so it could be used as a saw; it was not produced in great numbers and was not standard issue.

In the late 1870s British military was looking forward to unifying ammunition for its rifles and machine guns. The .577/.450 turned out to be poorly suited to the hopper feed as well as existing box magazines due to a very pronounced bottleneck, so in 1881 the Gatling cartridge was tried in Martini-Henry rifles. However, in parallel developing a new cartridge with a lighter approximately .4 inch bullet was considered since 1880, and after its design was settled on in 1885 a new variant of the rifle for it was approved in April 1886, designated Enfield Martini .4-inch Pattern A. It incorporated several minor improvements such as a safety catch, and was gradually phased in to replace the Martini–Henry. The replacement was planned to be gradual, to use up existing stocks of the old ammunition. A year later a modified Pattern B was approved with tens of thousands more produced.

Before this was complete, the decision was made to replace the Martini–Henry rifles with the .303 calibre bolt-action magazine Lee–Metford, which gave a considerably higher maximum rate of fire. Consequently, to avoid having three different rifle calibres in service, the Enfield–Martinis were withdrawn, converted to 0.45 calibre, and renamed Martini–Henry Mk IV "A", "B" and "C" pattern rifles. Some 0.303 calibre black-powder carbine versions were also produced, known as the Martini–Metford, and even 0.303 calibre cordite carbines, called Martini–Enfields.

During the Martini–Henry's service life the British Army was involved in the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879. The rifle was used in the Battle of Isandlwana, and by the company of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot at the battle of Rorke's Drift, where 139 British soldiers successfully defended themselves against several thousand Zulus. The weapon was not completely phased out until 1904.

The rifle suffered from cartridge-extraction problems during the Zulu War, mostly due to the thin, weak, pliable foil brass cartridges used: they expanded too much into the rifle's chamber on detonation, to the point that they stuck or tore open inside the rifle's chamber. It would eventually become difficult to move the breech block and reload the rifle, substantially diminishing its effectiveness, or rendering it useless if the block could not be opened. The British Army Ordnance Department determined the fragile construction of the rolled brass cartridge, and fouling due to the black-powder propellant, were the main causes of this problem.

The Martini–Henry saw service in World War I in a variety of roles, primarily as a Reserve Arm, but it was also issued to aircrew for attacking observation balloons with newly developed incendiary ammunition, and aircraft. Martini–Henrys were also used in the African and Middle Eastern theatres during World War I.

Operation:

The lock and breech are held to the stock by a metal bolt. The breech is closed by the block which turns on the pin that passes through the rear of the block. The end of the block is rounded to form a knuckle joint with the back of the case which receives the force of the recoil rather than the pin.

Below the trigger-guard the lever works a pin which projects the tumbler into the case. The tumbler moves within a notch and acts upon the block, raising it into the firing position or allowing it to fall according to the position of the lever.

The block is hollowed along its upper surface to assist in inserting a cartridge into the firing chamber. To fire the cartridge the block is raised to position the firing mechanism against the cartridge. The firing mechanism consists of a helical spring around a pointed metal striker, the tip of which passes through a hole in the face of the block to impact the percussion-cap of the inserted cartridge. As the lever is moved forward the tumbler revolves and one of its arms engages and draws back the spring until the tumbler is firmly locked in the notch and the spring is held by the rest-piece which is pushed into a bend in the lower part of the tumbler.

After firing, the cartridge is partially extracted by the lock. The extractor rotates on a pin and has two vertical arms, which are pressed by the rim of the cartridge pushed home into two grooves in the sides of the barrel. A bent arm, forming an 80° angle with the extractor arms, is forced down by the dropping block when the lever is pushed forward, causing the upright arms to extract the cartridge case slightly and allow easier manual full extraction.