Updating Martini?

L

LHH

Guest
MT guns has had some benchmark barrels made for the Martini's. Wondering is anyone has any experience with a new barrel on these old guns(MK III)? Trying to decide if money would be better spent on a newer rifle or updating the Martini. Rifle is used for prone shooting.
Thanks
 
Martini barrels

do you have any information as to which models they will fit?
 
The Mk3 is the only one with the floating barrel so I bet that would be the only one.
 
LHH, I know but someone asked a question in the middle there. As for the MK 3, we are BR shooters and the Martini is not used very much because of the stock configuration but for prone, it is probably fine. For a lefty, they are very friendly.
 
They have a two piece stock. The one and two have the fore end mounted to the barrel. The three has the fore end attached to the front of the action. Floating the barrel is impossible with the one and two and no stress bedding is impossible with the three.
 
I have an original MKIII I bought late 63. I started shooting BR-50 with it in 94 off shot bags filled with sand. In 95 I upgraded and my daughter shot it for a year before I got her upgraded. The rear stock did not ride a bag well as it is not strait. My best alternative was to shoot no recoil with silly putty. I fashioned a 3 inch wide block attached to the front rail so it would sit strait on the front rest. Also it needed to sit high on the rest so the lever would clear the bench top. The trigger was also a drawback. Although the literature says it will get down to 1/2 pound, 10 oz was the best I could do and be reliable. I could not shoot with my finger only with this heavy a trigger as the gun would move with trigger pressure. I used the pinch method to keep it from moving. The best ammo available at the time was Eley BRG. I would shoot groups in the low three's. With a tuner in the high two's. At that time a gun that shot very low two's was pretty good, so it definitely wasn't a winner. The three dovetail blocks allowed me to mount a modern 36x on the action block and first barrel block. Since then it has been shot primarily in 3P using lots of ammo I bought for benchrest that didn't perform as well as I had hoped. It is not a great 3P rifle but it and me will probably finish our 3P career together. Although its 16 pound weight with scope is a bit much anymore for prone. I do dream of a 1912 occasionally but keep that secret from the Martini as I don't want to hurt its feelings. ;) I would not think replacing the barrel for anything other than prone would be worth while as it could never be a winner in BR except maybe local club matches. Even in prone It will only be a good gun, never great imho. Rich
 
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