Indians For Guns

hai all,
Iam Brijesh, in my earlier post i had mentioned that i got the license for 22 rifle and a short gun. i had posted few pics of my brno model 1. now i have bought a WW Greener GP Martini and amazing weapon. The look is superb, more than the looks everything is original the stock, but plate, the screws used but its blued earlier and its a take down weapon.

i have a few doubts,
When was it actually manifactured
other than the BNP markings there are other markings on the barrel, what does they refer to??

I would be really greatful if anybody can help me with this. Iam posting few pics

Yours is year 1956. It was proofed at Birmingham in that year by inspector No. 2 (the name of whom I do not now).

Interesting rifle and in very good condition but where is the rear sight? However I can not locate the sold out of service proof markings so it could well be a private rifle. What calibre does it shoot now?

Brijesh,

Very nice Greener GP. Congratulations. By short gun do you mean shotgun? Chambered for 2 3/4" cartridges.

Bowman, This is a shotgun not a rifle. The proofmarks say the same.May I ask how did you arrive at the exact year of manufacture? This

was used between 1954-89. But, I do not see a serial number on this gun.Would like to know what I am missing here. Thank you.

Best-
Vikram

Hi Vikram,

Actually I did not deduce this from the serial number. If you look carefully in the very first picture just to the left of the British Nitro Proof marking and on the chamber you will see a marking which is two swords and the better F, B and the number 2. Here is what I am talking about.
B stands for Birmingham Proof House and 2 denotes the number for the concerned gun inspector. The letter F is actually the year in which proofing was done and in this case it is 1956...Vola!

Let me share some this link which may be useful.
http://www.rifleman.org.uk/Dating%20your%20rifle.htm

Thank you for the explanation and the link,Bowman. Most educative.


Best-
Vikram

Gladly...

the reply was really quick tanks bowman. its a 12 guage shot gun. is this weapon commonly found?? because iwent through all pages of IFG posts, but i found only one discussion reguarding this. the same is with Brno model 1 too

Yes, year of proof is 1956 ..... but beware some websites which will incorrectly indicate this as 1954 - for some reason they are two years out.
Gun was subjected to Nitro proof at the Birmingham Proof House. It`s a 12-Bore with the nominal/notional bore of .729" ( which is unlikely to be the actual bore diameter.) The gun will be out of proof if the bore diameter is 10 thou greater than .729". 2 3/4" ( 70 mm ) chamber and proved to the 3 1/4 tons per square inch pressure standard.
Greener GPs tend to point quite well but by eck they don`t half thump in recoil with 32 gr loads. lol.

I `ve no idea how common the Greener GP is in India but there were a LOT built in multiple variations of Marks I, II and III. Approximately 60,000 were built for police service in the the colonies and protectorates alone - 44,000 of which went to Egypt. Then there were the civilian versions ....... The Greener GP was built between 1922 and 1965 - subsequent to 1965 the gun was built by Webley ( the despised version with circlips ) which is not often encountered.
There are no production records for the GP and no-one is prepared to guess how many were built in total but it was a great many. Your gun is a civilian version.

There are good many GPs around in India. Not very common but certainly not rare. Shot one that belongs to a friend.It was light and pointable.


Best-
Vikram

Its very nice. My Cusion had also a such type of gun. Its 1954 Gp Model( General Police model).Its realy a very nice gun

What a lovely gun! I do like Martini Henrys, and yours is a very nice, clean example. Thanks for sharing it with us.

They became available in the US in the early 1960s, you could order them from the U.K. for the princely sum of $27.00. Though I would have liked to have one, I didn't need a single barrel shotty, and money was tight. Then I got a chance to shoot one, and it pointed and shot well for me. But my small hand and big Martini action made it less than perfect. Now I wish I had gotten one. If you can find a used one now, they are more likely costing $300. Darra smiths used to make a copy, with about a twenty pound trigger pull.

They might be $300 in the US but not in the UK.
The multichoke version will make a few quid .... and the trap version somewhat more but ordinary Greener GPs make very little. I`ve been to auctions where there were no takers at £5 each and Vikram was with me at an auction where they made £15 each or didn`t sell

Might just have to change my travel plans the next time around, and include the UK at auction time. At those prices I'd take them all. Probably should schedule a few extra weeks for the paperwork.