[COINSHOOTER]

Gentlemen, first let me say how much I enjoy the forum & read it daily. Have just bought a W.W.Greener Police Gun ( martini action). Need a few parts. Need: barrel band with sling swivel, steel nose cap, stock bolt, lower sling swivel. Anyone know of a source for these parts? Thank you for your help and knowledge. Will post pictures when reassembled.

 

[DoubleD]

I may have a brrel band for you. But I am out of town until Friday.

Go to the Martini Internet resource list mentioned in the stickies at the top of this forum to find the Reousrcelist link. Then look for part distributors.

 

[COINSHOOTER]

I may have a brrel band for you. But I am out of town until Friday.

Go to the Martini Internet resource list mentioned in the stickies at the top of this forum to find the Reousrcelist link. Then look for part distributors.

DoubleD, thanks for the info and looking forward to hearing from you about the barrel band. Thanks again. Coinshooter

 

[DoubleD]

remind me friday to look for you to see if I h ave the band.

 

[indianahunter]

Does anyone know where I can find one of these shotguns or where I can find information on making one? I have several martini actions I could get and thought about turning one into a shotgun. Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[DoubleD]

Indianahunter.

You say you have can get several Martini actions, which Martini action. Not all Martini's are the same.

If you are looking for a Shotgun you check with the dealers on the Martini resource list, you find a link in the stickies at the top of this forum.

If you are looking for a full stock police gun check Gunbroker.com. If you want a standard sporting Martini shotgun contact John Appleton, he's on the Martini list.

Coinshooter I found a nose cap and I think a stock bolt, do you still need them?

 

[indianahunter]

Thanks double D for the help.

The couple of actions we have are good ones we have in 17bee and 22 hornet, but my father knows where he can find some actions also. I recently stumbled into the greener shotgun and decided I just had to have one because it is so different.

 

[DoubleD]

If they were in 17 Bee and 22 Hornet they most likely are converted BSA Cadets or some other small Martini's. Un suitable for Shotguns.

The action normally seen as shotguns are the Greener Martini patterns.

The Martini Henry might be able to used as a shotgun but probably not larger thatn 24 guage. The barrel shank diameter and the load angle being restrictive factors.

 

[indianahunter]

I have actually heard of guys using the Martini Henry up to 20 gauge. I would really like to build my own and make it a 20 or 410, but don't know if I can make it happen or not.

 

[Dstone]

Hello gents,

I recently picked up a Martini Greener Mk 3 and am trying to find a tumbler and extractor. Everything else is good to go. I have done my share of internet searching, but parts seem to be rather rare. Any information helps. Thanks.

 

[Englishman_ca In Memoriam]

Do a search and go see gunpartscorp web site.

They list a few Martini and Greener shotgun parts, but they are always worth a phone call as they list only a fraction of their inventory.

 

[DoubleD]

Hello gents,

I recently picked up a Martini Greener Mk 3 and am trying to find a tumbler and extractor. Everything else is good to go. I have done my share of internet searching, but parts seem to be rather rare. Any information helps. Thanks.

Are you missing these parts or are broken? Both parts are repairable and modifiable.

 

[samamara]

Seem to remember a company "ODIN ARMS" they would sell you a Greener MKIII police shotgun in the original chambering or rechamber to 12guage and maybe some other cartridges. Firing pin on one that I bought looked like it had been beaten with a ball pein hammer. So made a new one on the lathe. drilled and filed the lot on the firing pin. Try googling either ODIN ARMS or 45/70 martinis. And see what comes up. Think they might have the parts you are looking for. Frank

 

[doublegunhq]

I have some Greener GP tumblers that I made on CNC machinery, copying a real one from a gun I have. I needed one so I made 10. I tried to use one in a commercial MH made by Army-Navy but it did not fit. Email me if you would like to try one.

I am looking for a Greener GP extractor if anyone has one they will part with ... or will swap for a tumbler.

 

[DoubleD]

Greener shotguns are a different action than the Martini Henry., parts are not interchangeable.

 

[doublegunhq]

Yes I learned that the hard way ... I actually bought the Greener martini just to get my hands on a three lobe tumbler to copy ... the tumbler in the Army Navy MH rifle had been replaced with a standard military MH tumbler so the safety was rendered useless. It wasn't until I had made a bunch of them that I realized they didn't fit. The rifle was a 303 and I was able to trace its original owner, a Captain somebody. The stock had some ornamentation added, looked middle eastern. Unfortunately, the bore was so worn a 303 bullet would drop right through. So I had it rebored to 348 Win to save the original barrel (with full length rib) and sights. Chamber did not quite clean up so the fired 348 cases had a double shoulder! Regardless, it shot well and the cases could be neck sized. Anyway, I sold it to a collector with a warning that the safety lever was for appearances only, and he seemed happy to have it.

 

[DoubleD]

The Army Navy, did it have a Greener "wing" safety or an original side sliding safety? There is a long line of people waiting for parts for th original. I have a Martini by Peabody that has all the internal trigger and tumbler parts but not the sliding safety parts. Once in a while you will encounter a sliding safety with out the trigger tumbler parts. More often its the trigger parts that are present and safety missing.

Sad you rebored, the more correct method for these is English guns is to reline. TJ's has all the correct liners. TJ's can even make you a Henry rifling liner. John Taylor has relined a number of guns for me.

The original smaller size military pattern action makes a much nicer looking sporter.

Even the Mk IV can be made nice looking.

Those big Greener shotgun actions are inelegant bricks. Hollis did build some nice looking sporters on the larger heavier actions.

Greener advises against building centerfire guns on the shotgun action, especially the split take town actions.

 

[doublegunhq]

The Army Navy had a Greener type safety lever. It had an engraved action, a full length (soldered) rib, and sporter stock and sights. It had seen a LOT of service. I don't recall the Captain's last name but it looks like he served in Egypt and may have lost his life there. Someone, perhaps the guy that shot him, applied some metal icons to the stock that were definitely not of English origin. If someone wanted to line it they could, but I don't trust liners in centerfire calibers, as the liner has to be fatter than the ctg case and that entails removing a LOT of metal from the barrel and soldering in a liner that has thin walls and is a sliding fit in the bored out barrel. All it needed was a 3 lobe tumbler, and I foolishly assumed that there was only one variant on that theme, having only the Greener action to go by.

Army Navy didn't make guns, they only retailed them. So the real maker of that rifle is unknown, even though the Univ of Glasgow has all the AN records.

I have never seen one with a sliding safety.

The 400 NE is a "nitro for black" ctg with a working pressure of 14 tons. That's pretty mild so I don't have any qualms about it. In any case I plan to use it to shoot 410 shotshells made from 9.3x74R brass through a fully rifled slow twist barrel, allowing me to shoot "slugs" (cast bullets using 38-40 load data) as well as single stack 000 buck using 410 shotgun data. More correctly, it should be called a 10x74R even though the chamber is identical to the 400 NE, the bore is a bit tighter at .401" vs the standard .405". I am trying to get the 000 buck to group tightly so I can extend the range to 100 for hogs and coyotes. I have done some experimentation using a 41 mag and the rifling definitely tightens up the grouping. Not too different from shooting a muzzle loader with multi ball, but using a plastic 410 wad instead of patches.

 

[Caledonian]

If they were in 17 Bee and 22 Hornet they most likely are converted BSA Cadets or some other small Martini's. Un suitable for Shotguns.

The action normally seen as shotguns are the Greener Martini patterns.

The Martini Henry might be able to used as a shotgun but probably not larger thatn 24 guage. The barrel shank diameter and the load angle being restrictive factors.

I have heard of the military size being converted into 20ga, but how conveniently of operation I don't know, and I am fairly sure you would be limited to the 2½in. case. Definitely not the 12ga. It might be made to fit, for the right action is wider, not deeper than the military one, but it seems likely to be dangerous.

The same action was very popular in the UK as the Greener GP 12ga, proved for the nitro i2¾ shell and quited a bit stronger than some other guns for that cartridge. It is quite cheaply available for what it is, e.g. on www.gunstar.co.uk. Heaven knows what the difficulty of getting one out of the UK and into the US may be, although personal import of a gun into the UK isn't bad if you have the licence. Parts are compatible with the Police Gun, and if you find one cheap enough to prevail on a seller to dismantle it, no shotgun parts, and only pressure-bearing parts of anything else, are subject to domestic controls.

Numrich Gunparts used to have some spares, listed under "Martini", for the Greener GP. The last vestige in their online catalogue is a three-prong breechblock described as being for the military action (which it isn't), and out of stock. They might have some if you can contact someone who knows. But I suspect they have gone the way of a lot of firms towards being entirely digital.

 

[Caledonian]

What people often did when relining rifles was to silver solder the liner to a larger diameter steel plug, which would enclose the chamber with the case neck covering the join. This would then fit a larger diameter counterbored section of the barrel.

If I had to make a tumbler to fit that Greener-style lever safety, I would make the front end oversize, and fit it to the safety. Then I would fit the front end of the safety to the trigger. If you position the notch so that applying the safety lifts the tumbler ever so slightly off the trigger, the latter can be pulled and released, and falls back into place. If the safety is loose, you pull the trigger and the tumbler drops slightly to be held up by the safety, and the gun goes off when the safety is released. Of course you wouldn't be pointing it at anybody when you did so... Nobody would. But it might be at your car tyre, or the game head of a lifetime might be wondering if he really hears anything dangerous.

Get that right, and it is one of the best safeties on any firearm, working independently of wear rounded notch or trigger, or dirt where they engage.

Greener's recommendation was probably made on the basis that some people are going to think they can convert a rifle or shotgun Martini to any cartridge. I would have no qualms about the traditional British Express cartridges which aren't too big to be inserted. I'm not so sure about the .348, unless you were prepared to give up on the way it is loaded for the 71 Winchester. But besides the British ones, I don't believe there would be anything wrong with any cartridge made for the 1886 Winchester.