Royal Irish Constabulary issued Mk 2 Artillery Carbine .577 - 455

[mrclark303]

A few pics of the finished rifle guys, not over restored, just a little sensitive restoration.

The woodwork looks much better now its been cleaned, gently steamed some of the dents out and re-oiled and the blue has taken well to the action body and blended into the original barrel blue.

I blued the breech block and polished the cleaning rod until it gleamed, not historically correct, (I think it should be the other way round), but its my rifle and I like the look...

Attachment 83580Attachment 83579Attachment 83578Attachment 83581Attachment 83582

[Flying10uk]

Have you found the true manufacture date yet? If present this should be marked on the front to the receiver just below where the barrel screws into the receiver but it is normally covered by the fore-end woodwork. It would take the form of 5/72 for May 1872, for example. The date marked on the side of the receiver could be out by 6 months because the Enfield year didn't use to run from January to December like everyone else's year.

[mrclark303]

4/84 F10, that must be the Carbine conversion date though, because she started life as a Mk1.

[Flying10uk]

Yes, perhaps they removed the original number then re-stamped. Have you seen the "official" conversions of Martinis into .22 target rifles? They did a good quality conversion with lovely chequered stock.

[browningautorifle]

I like the look

Yep, it looks good. I'd likely have done about the same...

[mrclark303]

Yes, perhaps they removed the original number then re-stamped. Have you seen the "official" conversions of Martinis into .22 target rifles? They did a good quality conversion with lovely chequered stock.

They make very accurate .22's, my wife used to shoot 98's and 99's all the time with one.

---------- Post added at 12:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:21 AM ----------

Yep, it looks good. I'd likely have done about the same...

Cheers Jim, she looks like she should shoot well, always rewarding putting your own stamp on a classic.

[harry mac]

Many years ago I bought one of these, and it's the only time I've ever bought "a lemon". All looked well on the outside, and the bore looked nice when I checked it, it just needed a bit of a clean, I applied to have it added to my FAC and collected together the various bits n bobs to reload for it while the variation was approved. The day came and I assembled half a dozen cartridges to try it out. First shot went bang and there was even a hole on the paper at 50 yards, so that was good. Then I attempted to eject the case and the lever wouldn't budge, it was stuck fast. When I got it home, I finally managed to get the breech open after much persuasion, and I examined the empty case. Just in front of the shoulder/neck junction there was a rectangular swelling that went latterally around half the circumference of the neck. The carbine had been saw-cut, and then someone had welded the cut closed (or welded half a washer into it), and re-dressed the surface to match the rest of the steel, it was invisible on the outside. When I examined the chamber from the breech end with a piece of broken mirror I could see a dark line accross the chamber, which was the inside of the cut that the case had swelled into. If you can't see inside the chamber of these carbines when you buy, it's worth inserting a dental pick or similar implement inside to check for it catching. I hope yours isn't the same.

[mrclark303]

An excellent warning Harry, its the very first thing I checked funnily enough.

From what I have seen, this deac saw cut was applied to a good many of these ex RIC Carbines, perhaps a standard method of "decommissioning" all Martini's at the time?

Most seem to be DP marked, but not all frustratingly...

A big help for me on my example was the surviving original blue under the barrel and the mirror bright bore.

[englishman_ca]

I had a carbine similararilly cut and welded. Only close examination and catching it in the right light revealed the dressed weld.
However, the carbine had been sleeved to 22 rim fire and became one of my favourite plinkers.

[englishman_ca]

I had a carbine similararilly cut and welded. Only close examination and catching it in the right light revealed the dressed weld.
However, the carbine had been sleeved to 22 rim fire and became one of my favourite plinkers.

The barrel was cut and then welded directly in front of the Nock's form.