Snider & Martini-Henry: Precursors to the Lee Enfield series

[Katana]

I came across some interesting ammunition last month. These are the .577 Snider and .577/.450 Martini-Henry cartridges that preceded the Lee Enfield series of arms in the British Police/ Armed services. Surprisingly these are well preserved.

I also spoke to a few of the older generation gents about these rifles but it was my father, surprisingly, who described the 'falling block' pattern rifles to me, especially the unique extraction system. He remembered these rifles in use in the State Forces rather vividly.

The headstamp on the Martini-Henry reads 'Eley*II*', while on the Snider it's 'Kynoch No2 Exp'.

HenryMartiniSnider 002 (Small).jpg

HenryMartiniSnider 003 (Small).jpg

Note the copper tubes and paper patching in the bullets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martini-Henry

[TwoRivers]

No, that cartridge is not a .577 Snider, which is a shorter, straight-cased round. The .577/.450 is a necked down, longer .577. What you are showing labeled .577 Snider looks like a .577/.500 Express.

[timmy]

I've long thought that a .577 Snider might be fun as a cartridge for a double barreled Howdah Pistol. Over here, molds for .577/.58 caliber minie balls used in Civil War muskets are pretty easy to come by, making a host of bullet options available.

The Snider action is interesting as a transitional design from percussion muskets to cartridge arm conversions, in the same way as the "Trapdoor Springfield" was. (In fact, the Snider action was designed by an American.) There's no doubt that the Snider action was stronger than the US "Trapdoor" action, but I favor the trapdoor, as it is strong enough and provides a lot more in the way of extraction power -- a nice thing considering the state of cartridge development in those days.

However, my own opinion is that, when it comes to military single shots, the Martini-Henry was the top of the line, world wide. I would not call it a falling block action, since the breechblock really doesn't fall like the Sharps, Farquharson, Ruger #1, or other similar falling block actions. Instead, it pivots in the back on a pin. I see the advantages of the Martini-Henry over everything else as this:

1. Striker fired. Has a very quick lock time. No big sidehammer like Sharps, or rotating hammers like the Remington Rolling Block, Farquharson, Ruger, etc.
2. Very strong. Able to take high powered smokeless rounds like the .303 (like the Rolling Block)
3. Very positive extraction. No flimsy extractors, like almost everything else. The long action lever gave good leverage for prying fired cases from the chamber.
4. Proper firing pin design -- easily adaptable to high pressure smokeless rounds, unlike the firing pin system of rifles like Sharps.

Another thing I like about the Martini-Henry is that it came in two sizes (both of which are strong): the large ones for service rifles and the small ones for cadets.