Another Martini

[BigEyeBob]

A few weeks back I acquired a nice little Martini actioned sporting rifle from a friend chambered in 300 Sherwood .
It has a 23" octagonal barrel fitted with express sights ,one leaf standing at 100yds and the other folding for 200yds.
It's in good condition for it's age which I estimate circa 1920 .
I bought some brass from Reloading International and have ordered a couple of moulds from Lee for testing .
the barrel slugs out at 310-311" so it's over size , it's supposed to be .300 " . I used a 323 diameter 310 Cadet slug to measure the bore and the pressure needed to get it all the way through the barrel was consistent so I don't think it's worn , the rifling is very good with no pitting or darkness in the grooves, so I think it's probably cut over size.
I cast the chamber and it's spot on to the information I found for chamber dimensions .
Looking forward to getting this rifle shooting again.
No pics yet .

Kev

[Hooker53]

This sounds interesting. Yes. Get us some photos when you can and have fun.

Roy

[Ballistics in Scotland]

This sounds to your benefit, if anything. If the bulleted cartridge will still fit the chamber, you can easily find off-the-peg bullets and moulds.

[JeffinNZ]

Being .311 it will be easier to feed. You might get away with the 95gr SWC boolits.

[BigEyeBob]

That's what I was hoping that I can get away with the larger bullet size .Today in fact two Lee bullet moulds arrived from Titan reloading , one is 100gn x 311" and the other is 155gn 312" diam . I will see which diam bullet shoots the best , and then order a mould from CBE in that size but in 140gn weight as that's the standard bullet weight for the caliber. The 140gn projectile was offered in solid and hollow point gas checked projectiles by Kynoch .Later Westley Richards offered their LT capped bullet for their rifles.
CBE do make 140gn .300 moulds in pb and gc for the 300Sherwood ,so they are easily got .

Kev.

[gewehrfreund]

Good luck with it. It sounds like a real gem, and just the kind of rifle I love to stumble into.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

This is give an odd one, though. "Cartridges of the World" (which isn't always correct) gives the neck diameter of the 32 Sherwood as .318 in. That would make the case neck a bit thin with a .300 bullet, and with .310 the brass simply couldn't last. If the chamber really is standard, it sounds like it is made for a heel bullet after all. The procedure would have to be find your brass, adjust the neck I your dies, and look for a mould to give a grip on the heel.

Does the rifle have the Francotte's patent detachable action like the Greener Cadet, or separate pins for the tumbler and hammer? I'd have thought the latter ought to be more collectible than the former, as it is less common in the small size, but I don't know if it is. Classic firearms tend to be most valued in their own countries, and an original Sherwood is quite a highly prized item there.

[texassako]

Sounds like a neat rifle, but you may run into the old issue of can't fit a big enough bullet for the bore in the chamber.

[BigEyeBob]

Not a take down unfortunately ,some thing I would like to get in the future though.
Neither editions of COW (8 and 13) that I have give case dimensions for the 300 Sherwood ,unless I'm looking in the wrong part of the book.
The dimensions I have are from another website (jpg attached) shows the out side case neck diam at 313"
My chamber cast measures 324" at the case mouth so I have some clearance to play with .
The only brass available (Apart from Bertram , when he has it ) for this cartridge is Jamison Int. 25-20 Long Single Shot and needs to be trimmed by about .241"
I bought 100 basic cases to make the Sherwood cases ,The brass is of very high quality and works out cheaper,and much better than the Bertram offering. Just after I ordered my brass , Bertram had some available ,but had none when I was looking .
as it stands at the moment I will have to make a case neck expander and a gas check seater for the larger bullet .
Its all trial and error at the moment

[.22-10-45]

The British tend to refer to bore dia..as opposed to our groove dia. in caliber reference. Just to show there are no hard and fast standards with these old guns...I have a W.J. Jeffery side lever rook rifle in .255 Jeffery. Bore slugs right at .250" Go figure.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Groove diameter instead of bore diameter, maybe? I think land diameter is a clearer term. Sometimes this is done, but I think land diameter is quite a bit more common.

I have an Army and Navy Stores rook rifle in .255 Jeffery. I make it .250 land and .257 groove diameter, so it has the great advantage over most rook rifles of taking standard .257 non-heel bullets. The cases can be made from .25-20 too, in .25-20 dies with about 1/10in. ground off the bottom.

[barrabruce]

All else fails you could breach seat a bullet

[fouronesix]

Groove diameter instead of bore diameter, maybe? I think land diameter is a clearer term. Sometimes this is done, but I think land diameter is quite a bit more common.

I have an Army and Navy Stores rook rifle in .255 Jeffery. I make it .250 land and .257 groove diameter, so it has the great advantage over most rook rifles of taking standard .257 non-heel bullets. The cases can be made from .25-20 too, in .25-20 dies with about 1/10in. ground off the bottom.

Actually the terms, land to land dia and bore diameter are the same and used interchangeably. Here in the US, I think the more common term used is bore diameter. The only problem with land diameter (land to land) is that it doesn't work precisely in bores with odd number of grooves. :)

I've noticed recently on this forum and others, given the ever increasing number of casting and reloading newbs, the terms and definitions for bore diameter vs groove diameter are being mixed up more and more often. Which does not help when trying to communicate. :(

[BigEyeBob]

I measured the larger diameter of the slug rather than the smaller .The barrel has a equal number of grooves so it was easy to measure .Grooves on the slug are a bit harder to measure ,but the fine edges of a vernier caliper will get you close.
The trick to measuring unequal number of grooves is to rotate the slug between the anvils of a micrometer ,or use a piece of soft drink can wrapped around the slug measure it and then subtract two thicknesses of the soft drink can material .

[JeffinNZ]

All else fails you could breach seat a bullet

All else fails he can send it to me. LOL.

[barrabruce]

All else fails he can send it to me. LOL.

Yeah but I'm closer.
I think I should help him out of all the mental anguish and frustration.

He could just send it to me and then I could figure out with proper testing how much he needs to pay me to take it off his hands.

[BigEyeBob]

I measured the bore diameter today it miked out a .300 " I used small hole ball gauges and a micrometer .
So it pans out that maybe the British way of referring to this rifle is correct The bloke I got the rifle from has been shooting .300 bullets through it all the time he had owned it.