450-400 2 3/8" Nitro in a Martini.

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  • Last Post 19 July 2012
30-30 Wesson posted this 27 April 2011

G'day folks,

I haven't posted anything on here for a while now and I thought that some may be interested in a new project that I'm working on. It's built on a large frame Martini Henry action, will be takedown and has been chambered in 450-400 2 3/8” Nitro. This little cartridge started out as a black powder round, then Nitro for Black and then Nitro, going from a 275g lead bullet to a 400g Jacketed. The round is the right length to feed into the MH action, being roughly the same OAL as the original 577-450 MH. The projectile I'll be using is one from an RCBS mould .40-300-SP-CSA cast in WW alloy.

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RicinYakima posted this 27 April 2011

That looks like a fun rifle cartridge! Keep us posted. Ric

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Nrut posted this 14 May 2011

Interesting cartridge.. What are you using for brass?

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30-30 Wesson posted this 15 May 2011

Nrut, I'm using Bertram brass correctly head stamped. $99 Aud / 20 and yes, it is an interesting cartridge. As soon as I get the chance to shoot it at a target, I'll post some more on it.

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cooper posted this 31 May 2011

Have you compared that cartridge to a 40/90 Sharps Bottleneck?

I have a Shiloh in 40/90 BN.  Cases are 2 5/8” long and the overall “shape” is very similar to your photo.

I use both Bertram 40/90 cases and also reformed Starline 45/100.

 

 

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30-30 Wesson posted this 01 June 2011

Hi Cooper, I've looked at a lot of different cartridges and I think it comes closest to the 40-70 Sharps straight in case volume and so on. I've used some of the load data for that round in the Lyman #4 manual. I filled it to the bottom of the neck with FF and measured 65g.

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30-30 Wesson posted this 02 June 2011

An update guys.

This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time and that is make a takedown rifle.

The Martini already has a recess at the front of the action, so I thought I would use that to lock it. First a block had to be machined to fit the barrel shank and take the sliding dovetailed tongue.

Once the mechanism was working well, I screwed and soldered the lock block to the barrel shank.

I've got 40 rounds loaded for a shoot this weekend and we will see how it goes. It had better work as I'll have lots of witnesses.

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RicinYakima posted this 02 June 2011

That should work quite well! Thanks for sharing!

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30-30 Wesson posted this 07 June 2011

The shoot went well, on Sunday, but it had a bit of trouble with poor ignition a couple of times. The rounds were stored upside down and there is a little more than half a case of AR 2207 ( IMR 4227 ) behind the PB 310g wheel weight alloy bullet. The targets we were shooting at were charging elephant, three of them set one each at 75,50 & 25yds. You had to fire 6 shots in 35 seconds placing two in each target, starting with the 75yd one. One shot was delayed a half a second and missed the target altogether, the other one failed to fire and stuck the bullet about 2” up in the bore. I dismantled the rifle and got the stuck bullet out quickly and the Range Officer kindly let me shoot the match again. On my own, with about 20 witnesses. :-( I stood the rounds upright on the bench and loaded them with the rifle pointed at the sky. They worked this time and I got the required six shots off in 32 seconds, scoring a 9, an 8 and a 9. I'm waiting on some pure wool wads to arrive and will be using them in the next loads. I have tried a slower powder ( to get more in the case ) but it doesn't burn properly, leaving lots of debris. I had to fit a lower front sight to the rifle, as it was shooting about a foot low at 50m.

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30-30 Wesson posted this 13 June 2012

It has been a few months, but it's finally finished. Enjoy. :D

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docbob posted this 18 July 2012

TONY, NOW THAT'S A BEAUTIFUL RIFLE AND A CLASSIC LOAD AS WELL. I HAVE A RUGER NO.1 IN .405 WINCHESTER THAT HAS BEAUTIFUL WOOD BUT MAN, YOURS IS SHARP! CHEERS

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30-30 Wesson posted this 19 July 2012

docbob wrote: TONY, NOW THAT'S A BEAUTIFUL RIFLE AND A CLASSIC LOAD AS WELL. I HAVE A RUGER NO.1 IN .405 WINCHESTER THAT HAS BEAUTIFUL WOOD BUT MAN, YOURS IS SHARP! CHEERS

Thanks Doc:)

It's a joy to shoot as well and I'm going to try out a red dot sight on it, to see if it improves my scores. 61yo eyes and open sights, don't go together too well.

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Webley posted this 19 July 2012

A very interesting project that turned out very well, indeed. Thank you for sharing.

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