New to me Martini Enfield - lots to learn!

[Patrick Chadwick]

I guess next step is disassemble and clean - how much time should I budget?

An entire afternoon, because...

All three rounds failed to ignite - I assume the firing pin isn't striking primer hard enough

... if your Martini is like mine, when I bought it, then the block may be full of fossilized grease that is acting like a hydraulic brake on the firing pin AND stopping the pin going forwards sufficiently to really dent the primer (gunge in firing pin hole in the block).
Dismantle, wash out with turps substitute or whatever you find suitable, clean, grease lightly, reassemble, test fire.
The firing pin will probably have a much sharper "snap" to it.
And use good cartridges, not some leftovers of uncertain provenance. You may be partially blaming the rifle for cartridge defects.

Likewise, part of the difficulty with the cartridges may be a build up of muck on the recess that takes the rim.

My mentor says headspace is out; get barrel or block tweaked by smith

Not before you have dismantled, cleaned, reassembled and retested. All too often the word "headspace" is bandied around as a magic word to show the speaker's deep knowledge. I suspect that it is often the reverse. I have lost count of the number of old service rifles that I have test fired, cleaned, and fired again, but it could well run into 3-figures. Sufficient to permit the generalization that in most cases the problems are dirt and corrosion. followed by worn strikers and weak springs.

For rimmed cartridges, headspace can hardly become large enough to prevent ignition, whatever effect it might have on the brass. Even for rimless cases, on most milsurps the extractor will hold the case back sufficiently to permit ignition.

If the cases show stress symptoms in the brass, then you might think about headspace. Otherwise, forget it for the moment.

So, just dismantle, clean, lubricate, reassemble, and test again.

And tell us the result!

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