Hunting knives and related projects

[Von Gruff]

About this time a nosecap arrived in the mail, so a bit more could be done



Then some shaping and sanding and a bit of oil and it was starting to look finished



I made a stock disc and set it into the buttstock





So this is not - has not been a restoration but has made a representative working carbine from an action that had a wrong barrel and a much altered stock. It may not get the purists (and the genuine gunmakers) going but as an amateur hobbyist, I really like the way this has turned out.
It will definitely be taken on an excursion into the hills after a goat or two.

[montana]

Nice job on the Martini rifle work. I was not aware there were any Martini rifles left to work on. A lot of history in that rifle.
The stock looks like it came out perfect from the pictures, I bet there was a lot of hours and know how fitting it all together. A person would need a good eye and a lot of patients for that kind of work.
That was a clever fix for the rear sight, have you been able to test it out and get it sighted in for distances?
I love the belt pouch you fashioned together, looks great! You should do more videos of your work, I know it can be a pain but there are many like myself who enjoy watching them. Watching you shoot your rifle and other working your skills in the NZ area would also be enjoyable to watch since there is no area quite like it. Thank's for posting Von Gruff!

[montana]

Oh, one more thing , I also would like to see you sell some knives, what a great gift a home made knife from NZ would make. Retirement is not what it's all cracked up to be and I don't like to see a good man slow down

[Von Gruff]

That little martini carbine proved to be very accurate It has since been sold on but this is the result of a 150yd headshot


I am waiting for some 15N20 steel to come in and I will be able to look at making a few for sale then. I did make a few that are sitting with no real purpose but that was because I was trying either a new design before I finalised my patterns or a new bolster technique.
From the top there is the heavy hunter, general hunter and two light hunters. The light hunter with the jarah bolster proved a new style for me so I will be adding that to my list.
I was trying different pin options for the others with copper, stainless and brass.


The knives are really a new thing for me on this sort of numbers scale as rifle stockmaking is where I have spent the largest part of my passion in the shed.
I have another couple of martini's to post on with one being a full stock 577-450 and the other being a really nice sporting rifle in the style of the English makers from the 1920's. There have been others but these two along with the carbine cover the spectrum. Although there is also a cadet actioned rifle that I did to suit a scope sight but made it appear as if it was still the original stock with a little bit of woodwork trickery. Then I can post on some others.

[Von Gruff]

Seeing this pic was the inspiration for this build

[Von Gruff]

After the recent work on a Martini Enfield carbine I had been itching to have - get - work with or on, a 577-450 and there seemed to be a suitable candidate on the local (NZ local that is) Trade me auction site. It was on for a few weeks with no visible interest that I put down to the horrible looking addition in the butt stock and a pair of holes d&t into the action sidewalls along with a very visible repair to the wrist and another to the forestock retaining pin.
These were the pictures accompanying the auction blurb

[Von Gruff]

[Von Gruff]

On delivery I found that as well as the visible issues there was another one or two to discover as I went along. I was waiting for a larger framed press and dies to arrive so in the meantime, the first thing was to make another stock for it to get rid of some of the uglies and to that end I got in a long manlicher blank to work from

[Von Gruff]

It does have a spectactularly good barrel and having done a bit of trialing with a lapped out 457-450 F Lee mould that I paper patched up to 468 have found a load it likes quite well

[Von Gruff]

I decided to make another aperture sight similar to the unit I made for the 303 but with a slight change in shape that looked better to my eye.


This has allowed me to actually see the sights and has given me the accuracy in the pic above. I had run this bullet in a 458 lott for a firend and with 18.5gn red dot, got around 1250fps so that was where I started with a green dot load trials. I got improvments through to the 20 gn load but the 20.5gn load opened back up again so with an average velocity of 1159fps I decided that load work was about done. I was given a 4lb can of Green Dot so for the sake of a primer I have 1400shots on tap. Looking forward to getting this rifle finished as the tung oil finish is taking a couple of days per coat to dry in this weather. I picked up some appropriate green felt to line out a carry case so I can work on that in the interim. This is my first attempt at paper patching and was quite chuffed to have a first time success with dress making pattern paper taking the bullet that drops from the lapped out mould at .463 up to .468. I decided to pan lube the bullet and upon firing I see the small cloud of paper chaff exit the barrel and find a faint lube star on the muzzle, so whether it is correct in the strictest term of paper patching, it seems to have struck a happy cord with this barrel and this load.

[Von Gruff]

Have got a few coats of oil into the stock now and it is starting to look ok but will have to do something about filling the screw holes in the side of the action and get some colour onto the sight etc.
Had to make something to carry the rifle and a bit of ammo in as most of my carry bags and hard shell cases are not long enough to take the 32in barrel so made this out of recycled Rimu (NZ native timber) Has a few blemishes but it will get a few more as time goes on from being in the back of the truck etc.

[Von Gruff]

Hereare a couple of videos of the two martini's at the range. My wife was unused to taking video so thay are not overly informative as far as showing the rifles to thier best advantage but they are what I have.

The 303 carbine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcK8320DlGE&feature=youtu.be

and the 577-450

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJLc51LxqL8&feature=em-upload_owner

[montana]

I like the Jarah bolster but the straight grain is also equally beautiful. I really like the size and shape of your blades. Please let me know if you ever decide to sell some That was a great shot for open sights.That must be a Red Deer which looks very similar to our elk. I bet they taste equally as good as our elk. My favorite. Do you have many to hunt in your area?
There was a lot of markings on the barrel with even the proper cordite grain marked on it. I wonder if they have a place to check the history of these rifles? It would be fun to follow the history. Your change to your sight is also more aesthetically pleasing in my opinion. Nice job. Using paper is new to me, must be similar to using cloth patches in my muzzle loader.
The gun case is as impressive as your rifle stocks and knives. I like how you put fitting blocks in to secure the rifle. First class all the way, quite different from my hard plastic and soft cover rifle cases.
Thank you for posting the videos, looks like the Martini rifles are similar to our Springfield trap door conversions only there was a better outcome with the Martini at Rorkes drift "1879" than at our Little Bighorn "1876".

[Von Gruff]

I expect to be able to look at taking an order or two in 5-6 weeks

There are a couple of Martini specific and British militaria forums so the envestigative mind can always find out most of the history of these old gems.

The Red deer is slighty smaller than the elk which is the same as the wapiti which we have here(they were from breeding stock sent here early 20th C)
There is some really good martini movies on youtube and I think I just may have seen most of them

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=zulu+dawn+full+movie

Here is what the action can be made into when a sporting rifle is the end game and there are a few more pics and details for this one. Sorry for those with slow connections.
Some time ago a friend was showing me a a small bent blank and said that at some stage he would like it to be for a Martini sporting rifle (in 303 of course) so when he rang a short while back to say he had a good take-off SMLE barrel put on a spare action it was time to make a start on it. At the same time I had a call for a pattern stock for a Mk 3 Lee Enfield so I started them at the same time to simplfy the set-up for drilling the stock holes. I turned the forestock pattern for the Martini upside down and end for end on the blank to get the grain flow right.

[Von Gruff]

With the headless bolt in place a start can be made



With the headless bolt down the bolt hole the socket dimensions can be marked on the face of the stock then a free handed interior line marked round so the process can start.



Smoking it down into position.


It can then be bolted up to check for tight fit against the face of the socket and the socket edges