By the 1860s it was clear that the muzzle-loading rifled musket had had its day and as foreign governments (notably France and Prussia) began to adopt breech loading rifles, the search was on for a modern, purpose-designed, breech loading, metallic cartridge rifle with which to modernise Her Majesty's armed forces.

At trials held in 1867 a variety of barrels, breech actions and cartridges were assessed separately. The competitions were decisively won by the barrel produced by Alexander Henry of Edinburgh, the falling block action designed by Friedrich von Martini of Switzerland and the .450 Boxer cartridge. The combination of action and barrel was to become famous as the Martini-Henry service rifle.

The original "long chamber" .450 cartridge with its long, straight walled case was found to be difficult to handle and load and Eley's experiments with the round led to the development and acceptance of a bottlenecked version with a .577 body necked down to .450 (the "short chamber Boxer-Henry") that held 85 grains of black powder.

The original service cartridge with its cast iron base and paper-lined, coiled brass body was complex and labour-intensive to produce. These rather fragile coiled cartridges were found to be vulnerable to mishandling in service and were soon replaced by a more robust, solid drawn brass case. The 480 grain, hardened lead bullet was paper patched to minimise both fouling and leading of the bore. Due to the punishing recoil, special carbine rounds were developed that used a 410 grain bullet over a reduced charge of 70 grains of powder. Rifle and carbine rounds were interchangeable in an emergency. The rifle bullet achieved 1350 fps muzzle velocity, would penetrate a ½ inch iron plate at 200 yards and was effective out to 1,000 yards and beyond.

The Martini-Henry was adopted by the War Department in 1871. In service the Mark I rifle was found to have a number of minor design deficiencies and most of these rifles were recalled for conversion to the Mk II specification approved in 1877 (the pictures show my Mk II rifle). The main difference between the Mk I/II rifles and the Mk III of 1879 lay in the method of attaching the fore end, the former with a transverse steel pin and the latter by means of a hooked metal plate fixed in front of the trigger guard with two woodscrews. The final Mk IV version of the rifle was originally produced in .402 calibre but due to the logistical problems of supplying so many different calibres these were recalled before issue and bored out to .577/450. Mk IV rifles are easily recognised by their longer operating lever designed to give extra leverage for the extraction of dirty cases and by the distinct 'hump' at the rear of the action that provided a more comfortable grip. Carbines were produced in Cavalry, Garrison and Artillery versions from 1877.

The Martini-Henry was a weapon of Empire. Its historical importance lies in its being the first purpose-designed, breech loading rifle issued to the British Army. The rifle saw action around the world but its main battle honours and iconic status were won during the Zulu Wars when 150 soldiers armed with Martini-Henrys beat off a force of more than 4000 Zulus during the heroic defence of Rorke's Drift in January 1879.

With the development and issue of the .303 Lee-Metford bolt-action magazine rifle, which was approved in 1888, the single-shot Martini-Henry became obsolete but it nevertheless continued to serve with distinction in the far-flung outposts of the British Empire well into the twentieth century and Eley-Kynoch was still producing commercial cordite ammunition in .577/450 in the 1950s. Many rifles and carbines were converted to .303 (Martini-Metford and Martini-Enfield) and the Government donated a large number of surplus rifles and carbines for conversion by Bonehill and Greener into .22 civilian training rifles prior to The Great War. A number of commercial manufacturers also produced versions of the Martini-Henry in .577/450 for sale to civilians and foreign governments.

As .577/450 is now an obsolete calibre and a Martini-Henry can legally be owned as an antique wall-hanger, prices have soared due largely to the "Zulu and Zulu Dawn effect". It is not unusual to see poor condition rifles for sale for £1,200 and above at Bisley arms fairs. The good news is that a few years ago a long forgotten cache of Victorian weapons (including Martini-Henrys) that had lain undisturbed in a royal palace in Kathmandu, Nepal for more than a century was discovered. These rifles, which were bought by an American company as a 31 container-load job lot, are now on the market and good quality "ex Nepalese cache" Martini-Henrys with superb bores can be picked up for around £650. These rifles can easily be identified by the letters "NS NEP" standing for "Native Service Nepal" stamped below the rear sight, Indian arsenal stamps and Sanskrit characters on the butts.

Owning and shooting a Martini-Henry presents a real challenge to the enthusiast as the only option is to reload your own ammunition, and that involves relearning some long-forgotten techniques and a great deal of 'faffing about'. Stick with it though and you will be rewarded by the thrill of shooting a piece of our military heritage dating back to a time when Britain really was "great" and most of the school atlas was coloured pink. Well, it certainly puts a smile on my face.

I'll let Rudyard Kipling have the last word:

"When 'arf of your bullets fly wide in the ditch,
Don't call your Martini a cross-eyed old bitch;
She's human as you are - you treat her as sich,
An she'll fight for the young British soldier"

(In the next instalment "Reloading for the Martini-Henry" we'll look at dies, paper patched bullets, wad columns, grease 'cookies' and some of the arcane paraphernalia involved in producing high quality ammunition for this rifle.)

Brian Thornton March 2006

click here to download a small movie of the author shooting his Martini Henry