My Kingdom For A Martini...

[Ateam]

So what is the reality of getting one of these "nepal cash" martini's and converting it to a modern pistol cartridge? Can it be rimless? Does someone make barrels for these?

[Mustangpalmer1911]

So what is the reality of getting one of these "nepal cash" martini's and converting it to a modern pistol cartridge? Can it be rimless? Does someone make barrels for these?

Not a conversion but I have a 45LC insert for mine. I haven't really stretched it past about 30 yards or tested real accuracy but that is MOA gallon water jug. Just got them back in Dec and waiting for the weather to cooperate to get out and play with them for accuracy.

[Tackleberry41]

I have not found .459 bullets to work very well in the Nepalese rifles. They were minute of berm accurate at 100yds. I have a mold casting .461 I need to get around to trying.

I use rubber sink washers from lowes, you can stuff them down thru the neck to take up space in the case. Never had one come out when fired. Pull them out with a small hook to put in the tumbler. Punch out the center bigger and they fit over the flash hole tower in the bottom of the 24ga cases.

I bought a 45-70 insert for mine, but once used only work in one rifle. I had to machine the neck section a little bit to fit in the smaller bore Nepalese rifles. You can shoot it, but not much accuracy with the 459 bullets.

[Boz330]

I shoot a 385gr LBT .460 boolit in mine. It was made for a Trapdoor. If you use 20-1 with BP the boolit will slug up to fit the bore. Smokeless not so much. This is what mine will do with that load.

Bob

[KCSO]

PM me I have a friend who has one for sale and I can give you a number.

[Drm50]

I had a slick Cadet, that had been rebarreled to 22Ackley Jet. Beautiful little gun. I was over stocked with Varmit guns and traded it last fall to a guy in eastern PA. for a JM Marlin 1894.
I see them often around here. A local Smith did a lot of them( Cadets) in the 60s. Most are
Hornets, Bees, & 357 mg. and some 32/20s that were just rechambered from 310s. Attachment 190070

[Ateam]

I would be really interested in one in 357 max.

[BigEyeBob]

I just picked up a BSA factory chambered Martini in 32-20 , the bore is toast extremely eroded for its whole length . Im going to get it relined to original cartridge ,mainly to preseve the original barrel and its markings.

[Ateam]

Anyone have some good links to read about the relining process?

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I just picked up a BSA factory chambered Martini in 32-20 , the bore is toast extremely eroded for its whole length . Im going to get it relined to original cartridge ,mainly to preseve the original barrel and its markings.

Yes, I think you have the right idea about how to deal with a rifle like that. If you could drill and ream it from the muzzle with sufficient accuracy, you could probably keep the original chamber, and have the join covered by brass, somewhere on the neck or shoulder. That would let you out of thinning the metal in the barrel thread area.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Anyone have some good links to read about the relining process?

I don't know of a good online source, but John Taylor on this board has a high reputation for doing this work, and I have seen him giving good advice.

Track of the Wolf supply a line of good liners, which I have used successfully. They are also available at the same prices from the maker, Mike Sayers of TJ's, on sayersms@fuse.net , who is very helpful.

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/637/1

There is also a good article, though very out of date on materials and available tooling, in a book, "The NRA Gunsmithing Guide Updated". It is available on www.bookfinder.com , not cheap but there is a lot more in it too.

While soft solder and epoxy can be used, the concensus among the experts appears to be for the bearing-fit grades of Loctite (not to be confused with their commoner thread-locking product. There is a range of those, varying in temperature resistance (all pretty high) and the clearance they will fill. They aren't so prone to permanently seizing and gripping the liner as the earlier ones were, if you stop a moment during insertion.

To drill the hole I have experimented with drilling four-flute end-mills for an operating rod cum pilot, with carbide drills. It works, though it may be one of the few cases when you are better off with a cheap Chinese high speed steel end mill. You need to drill a short distance at a time with alternating sizes of carbide drill, since the expansion and contraction with changing temperature will grip and shatter them very easily. If you do the drilling with water or lubricant and take it slowly, you don't need the best high speed steel.

It becomes a bit academic since I discovered rotabroaches, which you can see illustrated on eBay. The one I have used (only for a 4in. Webley rimfire revolver of the 1860s) is 12mm. in diameter, with a hole at the front end which will accommodate a 6mm. steel rod after very slight filing. The remainder of the hole gives just enough clearance for a good silver solder joint. If you have a drill which will turn anticlockwise I would prefer to pull the amputated rotabroach or mill through, using the operating rod or a bushing on it as a pilot, so as to get better clearance of chips.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I would be really interested in one in 357 max.

Some, not all, report some difficulty in inserting the Maximum case. I think you would at least have to press the loading lever down to lower the block, and that is a tricky operation if you need a quick second shot. You can easily load the .357 Magnum up to the top of revolver performance, and exchange for that you get a cheap case that is easily available and staying available. With the Maximum you never know for sure.

[Boz330]

Some, not all, report some difficulty in inserting the Maximum case. I think you would at least have to press the loading lever down to lower the block, and that is a tricky operation if you need a quick second shot. You can easily load the .357 Magnum up to the top of revolver performance, and exchange for that you get a cheap case that is easily available and staying available. With the Maximum you never know for sure.

I had a 357 mag done on a small action and the smith that did it specializes in Martinis and he wouldn't do it in Max, said the round was too long. Even the 357Mag has to have the lever lowered against the spring tension to get the round in the chamber.

Bob

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Slight chamfering of the top edge of the chamber may help, and should be safe if it extends no further forward than an extractor cut would do. With any cartridge for which insertion and extraction are uncertain, it could be a good idea to make a dummy barrel stub from plastic. If you want to do it before buying a reamer, you could grease the metal and mould one around a case with car body repair filler.

[Goatwhiskers]

I have a 'smith buddy who did a Max in a Nepalese action for a customer, worked out just fine. As far as Cadets go, I'm shooting one in Max, you do have to hold the lever down and use a long nosed bullet. I'm using the RD190PP, works well as I've never had to speed load for varmints or deer. Tried a 170gr. boolit, has a fatter nose consequently is trickier to load. No complaints. I love single shots! GW

[Ateam]

Wow, thanks for all the great replies! Good to know that the max may not fit. I may have it chambered to max anyway as I can still shoot mag in it. Those who have gone the mag and max rout, did you re-barrel entirely, or use a liner? I have never dealt with liners but have re-barreled a few modern sporting rifles.

[Goatwhiskers]

Mine was rebored and chambered to mag when I got it, I used the reamer from GBO for the Max. GW

[BigEyeBob]

IIRC , Brownells has instructions on thier website regarding barrel liner fitting .The liner Im fitting will require the chamber bored out , the liner has enough meat on the chamber end to take a new chamber , I will be removing the barrel from the action for this job.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

IIRC , Brownells has instructions on thier website regarding barrel liner fitting .The liner Im fitting will require the chamber bored out , the liner has enough meat on the chamber end to take a new chamber , I will be removing the barrel from the action for this job.

I found it:

http://www.brownells.com/GunTech/Sho....htm?lid=10462

It seems a bit mean-spirited (and suggests that it is some manufacturer's standard piloted drill which you could buy cheaper elsewhere) that they leave you to drill the butt of the drill for silver soldering to a steel rod. If it came ready drilled you could do the whole job with a hand-held electric drill, first starting the hole with the drill the way it comes, and then continuing after the silver solder job. But having to drill it limits this job to the lathe owner.

They also offer long piloted drills which don't need silver soldering - at a price, of course. But they are only long enough to drill from each end and meet in the middle, and this I do not like. If all barrels were identical in dimensions, that should be fine. But barrels, especially old ones, can be of non-standard land diameters, and have narrow or badly rusted lands. A liner ending up a hundredth or so off-centre at the breech end doesn't much matter to most shooters. But inserting it in a hole with that much of a kink in the middle is another matter. It can make for stresses or irregular loss of heat through different thicknesses of Loctite or whatever.