British No. 2 Musket cartridge (AKA WR .500-450)

[martinibelgian]

I just had a brainstorm. (or at least a brief shower )

*Assuming* the gun is a toolroom job made to experiment with a variant of the ammunition then in service, (or proposed for the Romanian contract), what if the " - 05 " stamped at the breech signifies "minus .050" ", as in .050" smaller than standard body dimensions for the #2 Musket, which is exactly what the chamber cast measures out at?

Thoughts??

For countries not using the Imperial system, that would be a stretch...

[sthwestvictoria]

There is one of the Comblain cartridges that fit your rim and case head dimensions - the 11x57R,
http://milpas.cc/rifles/ZFiles/Singl...CARTRIDGES.htm

maybe also called the Spanish Reformando (11.4x57R)


Here is a fellow with a Steyr martini for sale in Spain with ammunition:
http://www.armas.es/foros/coleccioni...do-1871-986205

This is the google translate version of that website:
https://translate.google.com.au/tran...-text=&act=url

Martini's were made in .45 Turkish, however the rim and case head dimensions do not fit your casting:
http://britishmilitariaforums.yuku.c...s#.V273wKImjQ8

[John in PA]

I custom-loaded 10 rounds of ammunition today and test fired my Mystery Martini. I'll start a new thread with story and results.

[15meter]

Grave robbing alert!!!!!

Is this shoot still held in Grayling, I've heard about it for years, never could track down when it was held. Did some digging but my Google-Fu let me down.

Any info would be appreciated.

Always looking for ways to waste my old geezer days

Yep, that was my Parrott on that show. Thanks for the kind words. In fairness to the Canadians, they almost never do direct fire, and their range officer told them to use Charge 4's, which actually put their time of flight to target at 1300 meters longer than ours, so I guess those big long H.E. rounds they were using were minimally stabilized. A Viet Nam vet buddy trained in artillery told me they were always told to use Charge 7's (max velocity) for direct fire. Here's a piece with our Parrott in action at the Grayling Historic Artillery Match (This year's will be held on 7/30-31--spectators welcome!!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL13quhcUMw

[John in PA]

The Grayling shoot hasn't been held for the last few years. Combination of aging out of the host team (Loomis Battery) and Michigan National Guard being less and less accommodating in recent years. It's a shame the Guard isn't more supportive. It was always a very well-attended event by the public, and a great goodwill event for the base. Also, the active duty troops were always fascinated with the historic pieces that were fired, the procedures and ammunition involved. No telling what goes on in the minds of the "powers that be" that come up with these policy changes. 25+ years of matches, never a safety issue or accident, no particular reason given for lack of cooperation. Sad.

Bruce and Bernie Paulson, (Paulson Brothers Ordnance), the undisputed deans of live-fire Civil War Artillery, encountered a similar situation at Fort McCoy, where they did live fire activity for many years. They also had a number of artillery pieces on display there year round, including a 13" Seacoast Mortar (think "Dictator!") for visitors and active duty soldiers to inspect and learn from. When the new commander of the base declared that "he didn't want any historic artillery on his base," Paulsons pulled all their equipment and wrote Fort McCoy off.

There is a long range match for historic artillery held in Pelham TN sporadically on private ground (Here's a link to a video taken at the first one a few years ago)
https://youtu.be/MgqIWDPMALk?
I've been there, with my muzzle-loading Whitworth 3-pounder , and crewed a breechloading Whitworth 3-pounder owned by a friend.

[John in PA]

In reviewing this thread I realized i never posted the link to the second thread where I fired the "Mystery Martini". Here's that link. https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...light=Romanian