Martini–Henry

The Martini–Henry is a breech-loading single-shot rifle with a lever action that was used by the British Army. It first entered service in 1871, eventually replacing the Snider–Enfield, a muzzle-loader converted to the cartridge system. Martini–Henry variants were used throughout the British Empire for 47 years. It combined the dropping-block action first developed by Henry O. Peabody (in his Peabody rifle) and improved by the Swiss designer Friedrich von Martini, combined with the polygonal rifling designed by Scotsman Alexander Henry.

For the Australian racehorse, see Martini-Henry (horse).

Martini–Henry

Service rifle
Shotgun (Greener Prison Variant)

United Kingdom

1871–1918

See Users

Friedrich von Martini

1870

Various

~£2/2/–=£2.10 (late 1880s)^[5]

1871–1889

approx. 500,000–1,000,000

Martini–Henry Carbine
Greener Prison Shotgun
Gahendra rifle

8 pounds 7 ounces (3.83 kg) (unloaded), 9 pounds 4.75 ounces (4.22 kg) (with sword bayonet)

49 inches (1,245 mm)

33.22 inches (844 mm)

.577/450 Boxer-Henry
.577/450 Martini–Henry
.303 British
11.43×55R (Ottoman)
11.43×59R (Romanian)
7.65×53 (Ottoman)

Martini Falling Block

12 rounds/minute

1,300 ft/s (400 m/s)^[6]

400 yd (370 m)

1,900 yd (1,700 m)

Single-shot

Sliding ramp rear sights, fixed-post front sights

Though the Snider was the first breechloader firing a metallic cartridge in regular British service, the Martini was designed from the outset as a breechloader and was both faster firing and had a longer range.^[6]

The Martini–Henry was copied on a large scale by North-West Frontier Province gunsmiths. Their weapons were of a poorer quality than those made by Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield, but accurately copied down to the proof markings. The chief manufacturers were the Adam Khel Afridi, who lived around the Khyber Pass. The British called such weapons "Pass-made rifles".

: It was seen in use by some Afghan tribesmen as late as the Soviet invasion.^[3] Early in 2010 and 2011, United States Marines recovered at least three from various Taliban weapons caches in Marjah.^[31]

Afghanistan

^[32]

Argentina

^[33]

Bolivia

:^[4] There were four main marks of the Martini–Henry rifle produced: Mark I (released in June 1871), Mark II, Mark III, and Mark IV. There was also an 1877 carbine version with variations that included a Garrison Artillery Carbine, an Artillery Carbine (Mark I, Mark II, and Mark III), and smaller versions designed as training rifles for military cadets. The Mark IV Martini–Henry rifle ended production in 1889, replaced by the Lee–Metford, but it remained in service throughout the British Empire until the end of the First World War.