===== *53 1871-1890: Reilly Builds Martini-Henry Rifles (NSN) TEXT =====

*53 1871-1890: Reilly builds Martini-Henry Rifles (NSN):

The history of Reilly building Martini-Henry rifles/actions is instructive. This is the legendary gun of the Zulu Wars, Rorke’s Drift,*53a the 2nd campaign in Afghanistan*53b and British imperial wars all over the planet which continued in use to WWI.*53c, *53d

As mentioned in the two previous chapters on the Snider and Comblain, in summer 1864 the UK recognized the need for a breech-loading military rifle. As a stop-gap measure the Snider-Enfield was formally adopted in September 1866. It turned out to be a very good weapon. Almost immediately in October 1866 Arsenal advertised a prize for a purpose built breech-loader. In March 1867, the Committee reported that no less than 104 rifles had been submitted and 9 finalists were recommended.

Trials for the 9 did not begin until late November 1867 and by February 1868, the competition was temporarily abandoned due to repeated failure of the trials rifles and severe accuracy problems. The Committee set about addressing the problem of barrels, rifling and cartridges first; the Committee had become convinced that a hybrid rifle was necessary combining a barrel from one bidder and an action from another. At the same time another 45 new rifles had been submitted to the War Office and the Committee decided to start all over again. (See Reilly-Comblain chapter referencing the start of advertising for the Reilly gun).

By July 1868 the Henry barrel and rifling was adopted and the chosen actions were again whittled down to nine. By 11 February 1869 the Henry barrel mated to the Martini action (a Swiss modified copy of the American Peabody) was announced. Trials began on the gun which lasted until 1871 uncovering various problems which included critical parts failures and uncomfortable recoil from the .451 Henry cartridge. On 13 April 1871 orders were placed at the royal Small Arms factory at Enfield for production. Between 1871 and 1874 the rifle was trialed by various units working kinks out of the design and finally on September 18, 1874 (fully 8 years after the need for the gun was advertised - and one thinks modern military acquisition times are long!) the M-H was authorized for full issue to the British army.

As a coda to this in November 1874, the Henry shallow groove rifling patent from November 1860 was allowed to be extended for another 4 years to November 1878.*53e It subsequently somehow (by a process not yet understood) may have been extended again to November 1888. There was some speculation that the extension was tied to the rifling being adopted by the army. In fact Henry received £5000 (equivalent today to $900,000) in 1872 from the British government for the patent use in the Martini-Henry and no more though he petitioned for a supplement. There are Reilly SxS rifles with Henry Patent marks (without use #'s published) which were serial numbered in the 1880’s.*53f Henry patents in the USA expired 15 November 1874 by court ruling.

Many companies made sporting versions of the M-H including in particular Greener. However, there apparently is not one M-H sporterized rifle with a company serial number made by any gun-maker in UK. It appears that Arsenal would send over an action from Enfield or one of the authorized producers of the M-H, if a company wanted to build a sport M-H. (Welcome additions, corrections to this conclusion).

**Edit: Here is a mystery: Who held the Martini-Henry patents? According to some sources the National Arms and Ammunition Co was formed by Wesley-Richards in 1872 to make Martini-Henrys and Henry granted a license to them. The company manifestly failed to produce what was needed. But in 1875 allegedly it claimed to own the rights to the patents and expected to receive royalties from other companies who had been making the Martini-Henry Rifle. It initially won a court case but the judgement was overturned the following year; it was finally settled in National's favor by the House of Lords. So were companies like Reilly paying National Arms and Ammunition Co., for the right to make a Martini-Henry? Was it just for the barrels and rifling? Who owned the Martini patent for the action for civilian makers? This information is surely available but a bit off topic re Reilly Martini-Henry's- unless a list of payments for the patent use can be turned up.

Reilly’s first advertisement for a “Henry-Martini” appeared in Jun 1871.*53f His first advertisement for “Martini-Henry” rifles appeared in December 1871.*53g

There are many extant Reilly-made sporterized Martini-Henry’s in half a dozen calibers, one being an 8-bore (cal .775) big game gun. Several are pictured.(*53h, *53i, *53j, *53k) He engraved and retailed M-H’s; he may have assembled rifles himself at the 315 Oxford Street manufactuary using actions and barrels sent from elsewhere. Like the other gun makers, however, none of these have Reilly serial numbers. Reilly apparently did not serial number assembled guns.

==== *53 1871-1890: Reilly Builds Martini-Henry Rifles (NSN) END TEXT ====

Last edited by Argo44; 06/05/22 09:22 AM.
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