Martini Enfield .303

[Leon123]

Hey everyone here it is the bore looks a bit bad or the pitting atleast

 

[bruce moulds]

not a pretty sight.
also re15 is a bit slower than 3031, more like varget.
bruce.

 

[Red Leg]

Good luck with that bore. I haven't seen the proofs, but if your dates are correct, that rifle was intended for the black powder .303 round. If it is original, it has Metford rifling (I can't tell from the photos) which should never be used with modern powders. The action is very strong and will handle a modern .303, but it is critical to know what barrel you have.

 

[nztimb]

 

[nztimb]

Good luck with that bore. I haven't seen the proofs, but if your dates are correct, that rifle was intended for the black powder .303 round. If it is original, it has Metford rifling (I can't tell from the photos) which should never be used with modern powders. The action is very strong and will handle a modern .303, but it is critical to know what barrel you have.

From Leons earlier post with the action having 1900 on the action side plate it would appear that it has the 5 groove Enfield barrel introduced in
1895.

 

[Red Leg]

From Leons earlier post with the action having 1900 on the action side plate it would appear that it has the 5 groove Enfield barrel introduced in
1895.


View attachment 350609

I missed the 1900 date. In that case, you are correct, it should have the Enfield barrel. Hope it cleans up.

 

[bruce moulds]

interestingly, enfield rifling was also designed by William metford.
by far the majority of metfords career was in the black powder period, and most of his rifling designs (there were many) reflect improvements in this area.
he believed that an odd number of grooves was better as alloy bullets fired by black powder bump up, and odd was felt to offer a more even displacement of alloy to even.
the martini henry rifle did not use his rifling, as he was in dispute with the british govt at the time of its development over payment.
modern powders are not that hard on metford rifling as used in the martini and lee metford rifles.
the big problem was the serious erosiveness of cordite.
I can attest to this from a formerly owned john rigby 450/3 1/4" nitro express, where one barrel was far more noticeably eroded in the throat than the other.
that rifle would not have fired the shot count of a smaller bore, particularly a military one.

the barrel pictured here is a clear case of mercuric primer problems.
failure to clean soon after use, and in particular dissolve the salts left in the barrel will totally ruin a barrel.
the rust produced is never just surface pitting, but goes deep.
my suggestion here is to cut losses and make the old barrel into a tomato stake.
or if you have a barrel reborer available, rebore it to 35 cal and neck up the 303 brass.
bruce.

 

[Leon123]

Hey everyone yes it is the enfield. That is how the bore looks after 7 days of scrubing it the last part near the barrel crown is badly pitted say the last 10cm. The rest of it is shiny down to the chamber . Also in the pics it look worse than when you look down the bore

 

[Leon123]

From Leons earlier post with the action having 1900 on the action side plate it would appear that it has the 5 groove Enfield barrel introduced in
1895.


View attachment 350609

Yes it is 1900 mk2 . The big problem I am having now is the extractor axis pin does not screw in deep it is not even flush with the other side you can still see some thread