Dave DeLaurant
Member
I brought both my Martini carbines to the indoor range this morning for a little casual practice.
The Martini-Henry action was made in 1876, rechambered in .303 in 1900, then rebarrelled by me about 20 years ago in .44 Magnum. The buttstock is original, but I made a new forend for it from a walnut turning blank. I'm shooting up 40 rounds of leftover experimental .44 Special handloads in order to recycle the cases, and basically just trying to see how quickly I can fire the thing. The handloads are full wadcutters, which makes chambering a little fumbly.
The Francotte Martini Cadet action has likewise been rebarrelled and restocked. Both Martinis were imported from Australia, where they saw quite heavy use. The Cadet is chambered for a .357 case necked to .308; the new barrel is a surplus FN Mauser blank. I was just shooting to confirm zero, which even after using all available windage adjustment is still too far to the right of center.
The problem is that front sight base is canted to the left. I made a sight insert with a reverse cant, but it now looks like I'll have to replace it entirely to fix the problem. It's on the to-do list now.
The Martini-Henry action was made in 1876, rechambered in .303 in 1900, then rebarrelled by me about 20 years ago in .44 Magnum. The buttstock is original, but I made a new forend for it from a walnut turning blank. I'm shooting up 40 rounds of leftover experimental .44 Special handloads in order to recycle the cases, and basically just trying to see how quickly I can fire the thing. The handloads are full wadcutters, which makes chambering a little fumbly.
The Francotte Martini Cadet action has likewise been rebarrelled and restocked. Both Martinis were imported from Australia, where they saw quite heavy use. The Cadet is chambered for a .357 case necked to .308; the new barrel is a surplus FN Mauser blank. I was just shooting to confirm zero, which even after using all available windage adjustment is still too far to the right of center.
The problem is that front sight base is canted to the left. I made a sight insert with a reverse cant, but it now looks like I'll have to replace it entirely to fix the problem. It's on the to-do list now.
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