The Victorian Empire Martini Henry Rifle

The Martini-Henry, a 19^th century, British military rifle is based on an 1869 Westley Richards patented design. This best military surplus rifle is extremely unique and rare military rifle and it is prized by its collectors for its great historic value and it was the combination of the Henry rifles and the Martini falling block action. This military rifle is considered to be the best discovery of the antique firearms ever in the history.

It is a symbol of both the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 and the numerous battles in Egypt and the Sudan in 1884-85, but continued to be used by both British and colonial troops well into the 20th century.

History

No one would have guessed that a former royal palace in Nepal would make one of the largest antique military rifles. The Martini Henry rifle was designed in 1870 combining the design of Friedrich Von Martini (single-shot action designed) and Alexander Henry (rifling system).

This antique rifle was used in the Zulu War, The Second Afghan War in 1878, World War I and in the African Boer War of 1881. It was mainly used by the United Kingdom and its colonies, Romanian and Turkish armies also used variants of the Martini-Henry. So you can see how popular this rifle was and it was distributed in bulk across the world. The smaller, lighter versions of this rifle were created to train young military cadets.  It has protected and served the British Empire and her colonies for over 30 years.

Availability of the Rifle

Genuine stock of British made Martini Henry rifles is quite low. You will not find these rifles so easily but few companies are sourcing these with decent look of untouched Martini Henry military surplus rifles for sale or at auctions and today many of these are used as sporting rifles.

The Best Models of the Martini Henry Production are:

-Mark I (1871-1876): Length of 124.5 cm, with a lanyard eye at the butt of the rifle.

-Mark I Cavalry Carbine: Length of 95.8 cm.

-Mark I Artillery Carbine: Length of 95.8 cm.

-Mark II (1877-1881): Length of 125.7 cm.

-Mark III (1881-1888): Length of 125.7 cm.

The upgrading existing stockpiles of rifles and conversions, these weapons are found today in variety of offline/ online military surplus. This can be a bonus to collectors, and stockpiles have been found in storage in recent years there is no shortage of Martini-Henry rifles for the collectors. However, as these rifles tend to be well over 100-years old, firing them today should be done with extreme caution. You can get rifles for sale from the military surplus stores available both online/offline.