Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Custom Martini Cadet .223 For Sale

For any of you guys who might be interested, I've listed a custom Martini Cadet .223 for sale on Gunbroker. Listing appears at https://www.gunbroker.com/item/891247585. I listed it there, rather than here, because I have no real idea what it's worth. I've come into a Ruger No. 1 in .223 and don't need two rifles in the same cartridge (especially since I still have a .219 ZIpper Improved, a .222, a .218 Bee and a .22 Hornet).

Moderator: If this is out of line, please delete the post.

Thanks.

Rem

A right handsome Martini! May I ask who did the action work? I like how it was altered for ease of loading. If I weren't knee deep in a bunch of wallet draining projects (including a Cadet that's slowly becoming a 5.6x50R) I would take a swipe at this one. Good luck!

I'm afraid I have no idea who did the work. I bought the rifle a number of years ago in anticipation of a prairie dog hunt that didn't happen. I was a big fan of custom built small frame Martinis and this is one of about 15 I've owned over the years. I still have a couple. I'm a huge Ruger No. 1 fan as well and when I had an opportunity to acquire one in .223, I jumped on it. That's what makes the Martini surplus.

That 5.6x50R sounds like a great project. I'm still sitting on a small frame Martini action that was completely reworked. I can't remember the name of the gunsmith and I'm too lazy to go down to the basement to pull it out to find it. It wasn't Bob Snapp, but it came with a Snapp rimless extractor as well as the original rimmed cartridge extractor. Someday it's going to be a .25-35 with a twist rate to stabilize a 117 grain round nose bullet.

My first thought at seeing this thread was, “that dang gnoahhh has done it again!”

What a relief.

There was a little known gunsmith in Owosso, MI a few years ago by the name of Dave Hoffman. He specialized in Martini's. I came up with a Martini Cadet action a few years ago. I asked him to build it for me. But he declined. Said he was too old. I had a chance at one in .256 Win mag that he built, once... But didn't have the coin at the time. I'm sure he knew Bob Snapp. As all those 'smiths knew each other. An old Shooter's Bible had an article about him in it on Varmint hunting. I had it on the table at a gun show when he walked by. He looked at it and said: "That's the one with my picture in it." I picked it up and sure enough, it was. It was about 1974 edition or thereabouts... Dave passed away 3 or 4 yrs ago... He was in his late '80's. he was a good guy.

GH

Assuming the old timers here are well aware, but throwing it out for newcomers who aren't, the Martini Cadet is a great basis for a custom single shot. Strong as hell for their size, they'll hold anything you can chamber them for - within a couple limitations. One is the small barrel shank and thin receiver walls where the barrel threads into: too large a diameter cartridge makes things get dicey in terms of high pressure bulging things. (The accepted high end is stuff with .30-30 head diameters. .44 Magnum has been known to bulge things when owners got a little carried away. But the breech blocks don't budge.) The second limitation is in having the cartridge make the bend down and into the chamber. Length, diameter, and straight versus tapered all have a bearing on that. Dishing out the groove in the top of the block facilitates the finagling of large-ish cartridges into the chamber, as does cutting down the receiver wall on one side - that's why I commented about 40x's rifle exhibiting those traits.

Then too, there are a few Luddites who believe the svelte little Martini Cadet action has it's aesthetical home in the Hornet, 25-20 SS, .310 Greener, .32-20 , and any more...is frequently less.

Flintlocke:

Aside from the .223 I have up for sale, I've owned small frame Martinis in .22 Long Rifle (3 - still have two); ..20-20 KCF (a .20 on a blown out .218 Bee case - think .20 Mashburn Bee); ..22 Hornet; 218 Bee (which I still have); .218 Mashburn Bee; .219 Zipper; .25-20 WCF; .256 Winchester (I'd really like to have that one back); .310 Cadet; and .357 Magnum. Plus there was a BSA International in .22 and a Swinburn's Patent Martini that's currently being restored (it will be a .450 No. 2 Musket when finished). And I've owned a couple of small frame Martini actions that were customized, one of which I still have. Chamber access isn't a problem if you stock them with a stock with very little drop, so a scope can use higher rings or if you cut down the side of them in the fashion of the .223.

You are correct that the weak point in the design is the relatively thin chamber walls under the threads. I talked to Bob Snapp at some length about this and he suggested that the .30-30 family of cartridges was fine, but only because the chamber pressures were lower than a lot of more modern centerfires. Mr. Snapp's deer rifle was a small frame Martini chambered in 7x30 Waters, so he put his money where his mouth was, so to speak. The .222 family works well because of the smaller diameter of the cartridge, allowing for higher pressures than are safe with larger diameter cartridges.

One warning for those thinking about buying a small frame Martini: These things can get to be addictive very quickly.

Rem

Rem 40X, I nominate you as Martini Meister..... But, just to be a butt, I, as leader of Luddites, would remind everyone that Mr Martini while receiving name recognition was at least 4 years late to the game.
Yes, our own (MAGA) Henry Peabody had his rifle patented and ready to sell to the Union in 1862, had his rifle on the battlefield in the Franco Prussian war in 1867, when the Swiss upstart Friedrich Von Martini began his plot to get around Peabody's patent with an internal hammer. Or at least that's the view through my rose tinted spectacles.

....shaken, not stirred.

True. Patent rights were harder to protect internationally than they are today (Chinese IP theft, notwithstanding). Ferdinand Martini's modification was definitely an advance, though, and when combined with Henry's rifling, allowed the Brits to create an empire on which the sun never set.

Bump for a nice Martini.

Thanks.

I came in late, looked for that item on GB but not found. Did it sell?

Me too. Sure would like a gander at it at least.

Trooperdan:

Yes, it sold and for a pretty good price. The buyer seemed happy, so it was a good deal all around.

I still have a couple in other cartridges, but I think they are likely to stay for a while.

Rem