Firing the Zulu rifle: Martini-Henry .450

[Texas Star]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akK17OTwK6w[/ame]

If you like the old movie, Zulu, based on the actual defense of Rorke's Drift in 1879, you'll like this video by a young Norwegian shooter who has a very interesting channel, where she fires many guns.

Katharina speaks good English, but a bit slowly, as she searches for the right words. She comes up with some interesting guns to try, inc. Norwegian M-1914 .45 auto vs. a 1943 - made US M-1911A-1 dropped to Resistance forces in WW II. She is also into IPSC pistol shooting and hunts with a .308 rifle.

I think you'll like this one. Jim Corbett said these old rifles had a vicious recoil, but Katharina handled it well.

 

[Stevie]

That's a Mk.IV rifle. I own one of those plus a couple Mk.II rifles which are closer to what was used in the movie "Zulu"

You can buy those from International Military Antiques or Atlanta Cutlery and they will ship it to your door.

Ammo can be an issue as .577/.450 Martini Henry is expensive and hard to find. I've got some Ten-X solid brass that won't fit all three of my rifles....however I've been converting 24ga. CBC shot shells to .577/.450 and these work great!

 

[OFT II]

Way back in the last century I bought a rifle with a Martini action and stock that had a 45/70 Springfield barrel on it. The barrel had a Buffington rear sight. It was a great shooter. I traded it to my cousin for an 1894 Winchester made in 1913 that had belonged to our grandfather.

 

[sigp220.45]

Cool guns. The first one I bought came with an adapter to shoot .45 Colts. I sold the gun but kept the adapter, which I use in the IMA beater I own now.

It actually works really well. Load the .45 round into the adapter, load the gizmo into the gun, and BLOOP goes the rifle.

I did a thread about it a while back, but I think Photobucket ate the pictures.

 

[LVSteve]

Still looking for a Martini Enfield that hasn't been hacked or supposedly gold plated judging by the price.

 

[Targets Guy]

Nice kick to it.

 

[Muley Gil]

I brought a couple M-Hs back from Afghanistan in 2007. I think I paid $250-300 each for them.

 

[Texas Star]

I'm really impressed with some of these replies. Remarkable info.

I did know that the Zulu War Martinis were MK I or II. The MK IV in the video has a longer lever, the better to extract fired cases in heavy battle, with a lot of powder fouling.

My 18 month old GS has just seen, Zulu for the third time. Kid has good taste in movies.

BTW, you can see the entire movie on YouTube. But shop the offerings. One is a high definition one, much sharper than most videos.