Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots A Martini Enfielld 303 Carbine -- again.

I have had a long unrequited love for the Martini actioned rifles after having a Cadet in 22 Hornet for much too short a time in about 1981 until it was enticed away by a little cash.

I had seen a ME on the local auction site that was not running high bids and followed it with interest until I put in a bid of jut NZ$175 that secured it for me.
This was the description and one of the accompanying pics


This is a martini action .303 rifle. Crown VR Enfield 1879.
Crown 111 1. All this on one side and on the other
Crown VR Enfield 1896 Crown ME .303. 1.
This is NZ marked no.64 also NZ with an arrow above the NZ and then 98
Sold out of service markings 093 on Stock
No butt plate. Lever is marked Arrow WD ? E30
A .303 bullet will not fit right up into the receiver.
It has a beautifully clean shiny bore.




When it arrived I did find there was more to (or less than indicated) this carbine than anticipated but I did have a worthwhile project to work on with no historical or originality to alter.

First of was the barrel and rather than being a 303 was a 30-30 so it was slated for changing right off the bat. I have a friend who has a large collection of LE and ME rifles (along with many others of course) and has accumulated parts as he has found them over the years so he traded me a new No 4 barrel for some future stocking work for him. Gunsmith cut and crowned the barrel for carbine length and reinstalled the sights. He skimmed the front of the action to re-square it to boreline centre and set the headspace at .02, and centered the firing pin strike.

I found the butt stock had been shortened by over a 1/2 inch and with the forestock being cut down, so a restock was in order.
I got a reasonably plain, darker grained blank from NZ Walnut to work with.

I was able to locate a butt plate locally but the screws and a latch cup were sourced in England.

So a reasonably plain blank as befitted the original Martini's came from NZ Walnut Supplies


I sanded off the bolt rifle pattern and remarked it for an advantageous grain layout for the Martini


and cut the blank into the appropriate pieces.