My "New" Custom "Martini" - 06/12/11
I put the "new" in quotes because I bought this rifle nearly two years ago. The "Martini" is in quotes because it turns out it actually started life as a Greener, Martini style shotgun. I saw this rifle on Gunbroker and was smitten. Before logic could take over, I hit the "Buy It Now" button. It's a total custom job chambered in, of all things, 9x57R. I knew it was going to be a b*tch to feed, but I do love the odd-balls. It came with a couple boxes of custom ammo by Quality Cartridge. Imagine my disgust when I took it to the range and discovered it would not go bang...
I emailed the seller who informed me he had bought the gun a couple years earlier but had never attempted to fire it. He agreed to take it back, minus the shipping. Since it would have cost me about $80 in shipping both ways, I decided to keep it and make it work. We pulled it apart to discover a broken firing pin. Simple fix, or so I thought. I ordered a pin from Gun Parts Inc that turned out to be slightly different than the broken one. It did fit but was a hair longer and was striking the primer right on the edge. I tried to find a local 'smith with some experience with Martinis, to no avail. Nobody wanted to tackle it. Disgusted, I stuck it in the safe for awhile and moved onto other things. Finally, last fall I took it to Jim Kelly at Darlington Gun Works who can fix ANYTHING. Last week he called and said he had it working and I brought it home yesterday. He said the insides were all out of whack and he put quite a bit of work into it getting things right. He had to raise the breech-block to get the firing pin to hit center of the primer and he altered the firing pin itself to proper dimensions. He also adjusted the original 12lb trigger pull to a crisp trigger that now breaks like glass. It was a huge relief the first time I loaded it and felt recoil and heard noise when I pulled the trigger.
I have no idea who built this rifle as the only markings on it are the caliber stamp and the original serial number. It baffles me that whoever built it put in so much attention to detail finish wise but didn't quite get the mechanism right. Very odd choice of caliber too. The .356" bullets don't exactly grow on trees but Hawk and Buffalo Arms list them. The custom ammo I have uses reformed .444 Marlin brass. Horneber & Bertram list proper brass but at $45-$60 per 20 cases, I'll likely stick with the reformed stuff.
If anybody has any clue as to the maker of this rifle, please chime in. I'd love to know the history. I can't wait to hunt with it this season and I'm pretty sure I'll be the only one in the woods with one...
I emailed the seller who informed me he had bought the gun a couple years earlier but had never attempted to fire it. He agreed to take it back, minus the shipping. Since it would have cost me about $80 in shipping both ways, I decided to keep it and make it work. We pulled it apart to discover a broken firing pin. Simple fix, or so I thought. I ordered a pin from Gun Parts Inc that turned out to be slightly different than the broken one. It did fit but was a hair longer and was striking the primer right on the edge. I tried to find a local 'smith with some experience with Martinis, to no avail. Nobody wanted to tackle it. Disgusted, I stuck it in the safe for awhile and moved onto other things. Finally, last fall I took it to Jim Kelly at Darlington Gun Works who can fix ANYTHING. Last week he called and said he had it working and I brought it home yesterday. He said the insides were all out of whack and he put quite a bit of work into it getting things right. He had to raise the breech-block to get the firing pin to hit center of the primer and he altered the firing pin itself to proper dimensions. He also adjusted the original 12lb trigger pull to a crisp trigger that now breaks like glass. It was a huge relief the first time I loaded it and felt recoil and heard noise when I pulled the trigger.
I have no idea who built this rifle as the only markings on it are the caliber stamp and the original serial number. It baffles me that whoever built it put in so much attention to detail finish wise but didn't quite get the mechanism right. Very odd choice of caliber too. The .356" bullets don't exactly grow on trees but Hawk and Buffalo Arms list them. The custom ammo I have uses reformed .444 Marlin brass. Horneber & Bertram list proper brass but at $45-$60 per 20 cases, I'll likely stick with the reformed stuff.
If anybody has any clue as to the maker of this rifle, please chime in. I'd love to know the history. I can't wait to hunt with it this season and I'm pretty sure I'll be the only one in the woods with one...