An attempt to modernise the Martini-Henry rifle, with firearms and weapon expert Jonathan Ferguson
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 มิ.ย. 2024
- The introduction of bolt action magazine rifles saw Britain's vast arsenal of relatively new Martini-Henrys quickly obsoleted. An ex-army officer, Charles Greville Harston, took it upon himself to come up with a cheap, simple solution. The solution was expensive, complicated and quickly surpassed by the introduction of the Lee Metford.
Buy our brand new Treasures book here: shop.royalarmouries.org/colle...
Subscribe to our channel for more videos about arms and armour.
Help us bring history to life by supporting us here: royalarmouries.org/support-us...
Sign up to our museum membership scheme here: royalarmouries.org/support-us...
⚔Website: royalarmouries.org/home
⚔Blog: royalarmouries.org/stories/
⚔Facebook: / royalarmouriesmuseum
⚔Twitter: / royal_armouries
⚔ Instagram: / royalarmouriesmuseum
We are the Royal Armouries, the United Kingdom's national collection of arms and armour. Discover what goes on behind the scenes and watch our collection come to life. See combat demonstrations, experience jousting and meet our experts.
Have a question about arms and armour? Feel free to leave us a comment and we'll do our best to answer it.
The conversion of single shot breech loaders into a magazine rifle and then later turning bolt rifles to self loaders is an incredibly cool journey. No one really got it 100% did they. I mean the Snabb conversions for example, so complicated!!
Pederson device! Wait, not really successful.
Even some of Browning's early designs, like a gas trap lever rifle, were studies in Rube Goldberg-ism. Odd full circle, however, in that nearly all aircraft guns, and many AA, are just product improved Gatlings. The utterly sleek and ubiquitous Mauser bolt action was by no means obvious in 1870...
@@BeingFireRetardant 1895 colt Browning machine gun aka potato digger was a cool Machine gun.
I'd be curious to hear if any weapons were converted twice, even if just as a one-off inventors' prototype.
Now add drum mag and full auto fire:):)
Best way to start the day is watching Jonathan shooting a Martini Henry while sipping a cup of coffee
Instructions unclear: I started the day shooting a coffee and sipping a Martini Henry. Now I feel unwell. 😂
This man is well prepared for a Zulu attack
@@PURPLECATDUDE7734 "There's FAIRSUNDS* (sic) of em' Sir..."
*For the benefit of any Foreign/Colonial viewers, that word equates to "Thousands", but pronounced with a dodgy "Cockerney" accent 😉
Men of Bodum press your plungers
@@therogers4432 Hoorah! I get to be Mr Nerdy No-Mates Pedant!
The Colour Sergeant who delivered the line "Zulus to the South West. Thousands of them, Sir." didn't do it in anything close to a pronounced Cockney accent. In much the same way, Michael Caine, who later went on to become famous and instantly recognisable by his cockney accent, was playing a posh twat in Zulu, and had the posh accent to go with it, despite being constantly misrepresented as having a Cockney accent in the film.
What's that you say? Nobody gives a rat's arse? I care not! My duty here is done, whether anyone liked it or not! Nerdy No-Mates Pedant, AWAY!!!!
Always love British presenters describing anything from a can opener to a Lancaster as a " nice piece of kit".
Love that there's a Canadian connection.
Haha never heard anyone pick up on that. But now you mention it, it’s a very British phrase
Also, that's a handy bit of kit. Usually a hammer.
Love the Jonathan Ferguson - Hunt: Showdown Pipeline
I didn’t know the martini Henry iron ball sack variant was a real thing
@@joshuatamayo6151 the Alamo is too. Aloff's Device I believe. Bomblances are also real but not exactly the same. They were used to kill whales.The Avtomat is similar to the Huot Automatic but not exact. It's also about 30 years early for the game setting. The Vetterli Cyclone is probably based on the Howell Automatic. The guns with silencers are probably the strangest in the game, to be honest.
I want to see Jonathan shoot more things!
Me too! It was great to see Jonathan actually doing a bit of shooting.
You are not alone who want see that.
Same
A sten would be cool
@@ComposerMichaelDow Nah there is better pages with Sten,something like this.
th-cam.com/video/jt70ilN_PgU/w-d-xo.html
Glad you told about the problems you had off camera. It seemed to work much better than I would have expected. Looks a lot like the single-shot shotgun magazine that FW has featured, at least in operation.
Probably works perfectly with real ammunition.
@@HU1212ICAN3 he mentioned that the issue was the rimmed cartridges, but those would have been the cartridge in production and ment to be used with the current equipment.
If those cartridges didn't have the rim then loading from the rear like the rifle was designed to ran the risk of pushing the round too far down the barrel, making it impossible to strike the primer.
The alternative to this would be to re-design the breach or the round, which also would not save the Army any money.
That's the Alofs shotgun reloader system which is such a ludicrous Rube-Goldbergesque collection of pipes and tubes and springs but sort of works
It is ironic how often conversion systems go in with the express purpose of saving money, but end up becoming more expensive. I am reminded of the US Army pushing hard for the Trapdoor Springfield conversions to cheaply convert their million muzzleloaders, then they decided that the ammunition had to change multiple times, ultimately prompting the need for new barrels, which basically negated all the savings of converting from the muzzleloaders as the barrels were the expensive part of consequence. By 1874, the USA was basically buying complete new rifles of a "conversion system" at effectively full-cost.
I think the most iconic fuck up of converting a rifle for modern use has to go to the M14. Millions of dollars in development and lobbying in Nato went into turning the M1 Garand into a mag fed .308 rifle, only to ditch the result to adopt an entirely different rifle because the m14 was already obsolete by the time it was in service.
@@wotwott2319 And to your point, the M-14 was partly sold on the premise that it would use the existing M-1 tooling, which would be faster and cheaper than tooling up for a different design. Of course, that turned out to not be the case, leading to delays and cost overruns. As much as I like the M-14, it was very much obsolete, and its development was a travesty.
Ye
@@wotwott2319 when the Italians do a better job of making a modernised M-1 Garand you know you’ve fucked up
@@AndrewAMartin A major part of the issue with the M14 was attempting to develop it as a universal weapon to replace 4 or so other weapon systems in inventory, which was never going to work no matter which design was used. The reason the Italian BM-59 went much smoother was the Italians just wanted an M1 Garand in .308 with a magazine and some bells and whistles rather than a weapon to replace the M1 Garand, M2 Carbine, M3A1 Grease Gun, and BAR at the same time.
I handled this rifle in the Armoury stores in 2008. The curator took me on a tour after I said “oh, that’s odd” about some things.. I was doing research in stores and was able to touch and handle almost everything with the curator. What an experience!
Thank you for actually showing this cycling (even if it took a few takes)!!! In too many cases we only get a description of how something works, rather than actually showing it working!
Three takes in the end. We almost went with the first but after realising how slick the thing *could* be, I couldn't resist seeing if we could get through three without a stoppage...
It's so cool to finally see this conversion on video, the only missing thing IMO is some slow-mo footage of the action. Great video though, thanks !
@@lptomtom We have you covered. th-cam.com/video/V36leMeEEjo/w-d-xo.html
I absolutely love conversion firearms!
From muskets turned breechloaders, through single shot turned magazine fed to repeating turned semiautomatic.
As a great fan of Martini Henry I looked for magazine conversions on the internet.
I found this amongst others and now this video presents one of these designs!
I am so thankful that you covered it on your channel and I hope you will share with us more of these fantastic pieces of history!
I came here because Hunt: Showdown, even though its not tagged on this video (Martini Henry Ironside).
After seeing Jonathan with the Martini-Henry, I nearly expected him to start singing Men of Harlech!
Stop your dreaming…
@@ziggy8190 Can't you see their spear-points gleaming
@@peteroneill5426 See there warrior banners streaming
@@ziggy8190 To this battle field!
@@peteroneill5426 you've got a voice haven't you? Well get up on that hill and sing out if you see something!.......and take your boondock with you, you dozy welshman! 😉
That mechanism is just pure ingenuity. So cool to see how this weapon conversion works.
Just the sound that the whole assembly produces is amazing. That whole conversions period is incredibly filled with creativity in engineering!
They just put it in Hunt Showdown!
LOVE Jonathan fergusons work
Such a wonderfully British invention, Victorian engineering and Empirical optimism all cludged together into a functioning idea. I can see an alternate timestream of British history where this idea was adopted and later iterations of the Vickers guns were fitted with gigantic hopper magazines on the side laying down withering fire on the FuzzyWuzzys in an Empire that never faded, as Charles Greville Harston was knighted for his services. Or maybe not, as with the bicycle that could peel an apple as you rode to the picnic, these things are consigned to the "good on paper" Cupboard
Yes wonderfully British, a weapon of death 🤣
Hunt: Showdown put this in their game, you should check it out again, seeing how they've added several new weapons ☺
Jonathan looked so cool shooting that rifle.
I do love when you talk about the guns I play with in Hunt Showdown. Also im now going to request this as a unlock for the gun.
We need this
@@gorjcarver5748 he actually tweeted this video to the hunt team saying he was getting alot of comments like mine. He even offered them to come take a closer look at it.
Sick I personally really enjoy the martini but the mosin and lebel out gun it nine times out of ten but this could even the odds
@@ptodd5373 that's so cooooool, can i see the link? of him tweeted the hunt dev
Well well well, 8 months later they do add the "Ironside" variant for the Martini-Henry
Wow what an impressive little piece of 1800s engineering.
I remember spending significant time, in my youth, trying to work out how to covert a martini small bore into a repeater - mainly because someone said it was impossible. Well I didn't manage it in the end, so it's fantastic to come across such a great demo of an idea that actually seems to work pretty well. Not really practical, I can see that, but - it works!
honestly about as practical as you could make it. i'd still take it over having to load every single shot myself
@@CarmenFiala Well, Each to his own! There are two points which would concern me: After you've got your five rounds rapid away you have to contend with a fairly complex and lengthy reloading procedure - wherever you are engaged. In this context it is worth remembering that the troops who actually fought with this rifle tended to be posted in the drier and dustier regions of the Empire...
On balance, I think a few carefully sited cartridge loops on the butt might be more comforting. Taking a hand away from the rifle to reach into a pouch has to be the slowest part of single shot operation, even if the rounds are tidily presented in a block. It appears to be such a common practice today in hunting circles that it's almost surprising that the Victorian military didn't think of it - I suppose it wouldn't look too good on parade though!
@davidpowell5437 I figure the reloading and sand would both be abated by having a soldier carry like 5 or 6 preloaded mags. And have them manufactured en mass between two small pieces of cloth sewed together have one end be really weak to easy tear open with your teeth. And put a new fresh non sand exposed mag into tye gun. My only issue is how to easily collect the empty mag without being in danger on the battlefield
First time I've seen Johnathan shooting a weapon
There are a few videos on the channel of me shooting things from circa 2014. As a museum we have to be selective about what/how often we 'work' the collection.
I just got this recommended after it came out in hunt showdown
even though this invention was not adopted by the military this is a fantastic piece of Engineering and I'm happy you have it in the Royal Armouries this was a fantastic video about something I didn't even know about from the Martini Henry
Who is here cause this gun varient was added to hunt showdown and this was recommended
This is so enjoyable to watch
THANK YOU JONATHAN! I cannot tell you just how much I appreciate your work and now that you have included the much needed camera "close-ups" in the video, the video is that much better. Sincerely, thank you!
This variant of the Martini Henry is coming to Hunt: showdown. Hopefully will take a look at it
That actually worked a lot less fiddly as I imagined it would. Really cool video, thank you for showing this and demonstrating it.
What a fantastic conversion! Thank you Jon and RA for taking it out and showing it off. When you cycled through the magazine it was amazing. I could imagine some sort of movie Sherlock Holmes adaptation of this being absolutely enamored with the action.
I know this isn't relevant but I saw this weapon in hunt showdown with the new event. The developers added this to the Martini Henry variants and wanted to see if it existed.
It's nice to see some British firearms enthusiasts on TH-cam, can't let the Americans have all the fun.
Converted weapons like these are always really interesting to see, both because of the history behind them and the often ingenious mechanisms created to actually do the conversion. This one specifically looked really cool, it looks like something from an alternate-history type scifi. Great video.
Fantastic thanks for bringing these beautiful historical weapons to the masses, very much appreciated.. have enjoyed them all
Love that this was added to Hunt: Showdown
Thank you for introducing me to this little nugget.
It is not all that often that an inovation causes me to think "this is both incredibly briliant and mind bogglingly stupid at the same time!".
Briliant because of the engineering, stupid for the basic premise of invensting all this effort trying to extend the service life of a large-bore, black powder, single-shot rifle 2 years AFTER the Lebel rifle was introduced.
Mind, the first bolt-action repeating rifle was formaly adopted as a standard service rifle by a regular military almost 2 decades before Mr. Harston came out with this little gadget...
Hunt Showdown be like: WRITE THAT DOWN !
I absolutely love any kind of breach loaded weapon! And the Martini is an really awesome gun, and that magazine is an absolute marvel!
My dad had quite a collection of antique and modern firearms. I'm pretty sure he had one of these and another one he just described as a rolling block. We fired both of them that day. He also had black powder weapons some made from kits and some authentic. Always fun being with him.
Very instructive. The first time I saw this conversion was in a book by Ian Skennerton, but it was just a blueprint. I always wondered how the hell it would work.
Hunt giveth. Hunt taketh
This popped up on my recommended, and I'm so happy I watched. That is a fascinating piece of "kit", and I had no idea it ever existed. I'm heard of repeating/magazine feeding adapters for turn of the century firearms, but never this particular one.
My first thought: "Wow, that could make for such an interesting variant of the Martin-Henry in *Hunt: Showdown* "
It's so cool! Reminded me of Alofs device, basically the same thing but for single-shot break action shotgun. Would love to see them both in Hunt: Showdown :^)
The Martini Henry is already in the game but it doesn't have the external magazine. As for Alofs device, it could probably be added to the Romero.
Been wanting the alofs in hunt for forever I think it'd fit perfectly
Who knows they are always adding stuff maybe we will see it one day
@@Andrei.F alof mechanism is on the test server atm
Its coming as the Martini Henry "ironside"
Saw the thumbnail, thought “well that’ll be in Hunt next update” 😂
That's an absolutely beautiful piece of kit. So satisfying and upgrades it to an incredible fire rate for the day.
so, it is a detachable-magazine fed lever-action.
also I love this room, there is something for the accurate long-range guys, the modern auto guys, the accuracy by volume of fire guys, the old-timers, the big-bullet guys.
and a lot of technology for engineers to dote over
I wonder how much Mr. Harston was aiming this at the Dominion governments rather than London? Canada's history is full of examples of the government (any government, this isn't a partisan thing) not wanting to spend money on new equipment, and then happily spending 50% more to "upgrade" or "adapt" or "modernise" their existing kit. Surely if Mr. Harston was serving as an officer in the Canadian Militia he'd have been all too familiar with that attitude, and this approach, which seems reasonably effective and reliable for the time, seems tailor made to appeal to a Canadian procurement process.
Canada was still on the Snider standard at the time so a normal Martini Henry would be an upgrade.
Im using this on hunt showdown hahaha
Great to see Jonathan at the range firing live ammo, this is the first one I've seen personally from the collection of videos.
Keep it up 😀
I love military history and have studied it for a long time... especially European history. One of my favorite rifles of the 19th century was Martini-Henry. You are well spoken, sir. Gratitude from Toronto Canada.
Hunt showdown defs listened careful 😂
I personally acquired the taste for the Martini-Henry from (what else) a video game. Been playing lots of Hunt: Showdown recently, and the Martini-Henry is definitely tied with the trapdoor Springfield for favorite weapon. Both very versatile, (relatively) fast shooting rifles that pack a punch. Just wish repros of older single-shot rifles weren't so damn pricey.
Would love to see the Harston Repeater added in Hunt
It's coming during the Christmas event as the "ironside"
That magazine is so satisfying to watch in operation
That's quite possibly the coolest thing I've ever seen
Jonathan: *Shoots a gigantic rifle wearing a jacket looking like the coolest most badass steam punk cowboy*
Also Jonathan: *Apologizes for not knowing all the biographical information on Captain Charles Greville Harston off the top of his head like the sweetest most precious soft boi this world will ever see*
you sound like hes your discord kitten
@@catsers6296 Ohh I wish UwU
@@catsers6296 what is a discors kitten
I bet your dads reeeeal proud of you
@@dexaphobia8085?
More like @HOMOPHOBIA808
They’ve just added it lol
i love seeing jonathan actually firing and operating the firearms, would love to see more in this style
I was literally just outside today casting Martini Henry lead bullets for mine! Can't wait to get it shooting. The amount of work to make cartridges for this rifle is unbelievable
My dad used to have a rifle which he was assured was a Martini-Henry. I took it to a gun fair once to ask about it. I was told it was actually a non-decommissioned Martini-Enfield and therefore an illegal firearm... oops.
Well, what are they gonna do about it? You have a gun!
@@yocapo32 But no bullets :D
@@GuzziHeroV50
Well, it's still a Martini, _affix bayonets._
"illegal" sounds like a violation of your human rights
@@Zakhev342 This is England. We have gun laws here. If the firearm fires a currently available / commissioned cartridge and you aren't in a gun club, you can't have it.
It wasn't in good enough condition to be worth decommissioning to keep. Off to the scrapper it went.
I swear the hunt dev's watch alot of your videos
They do and they actually changed Sparks reload animation based on his feedback
This is actually pretty fascinating. Old firearms and technology are pretty interesting; particularly to see how they work. Thanks for sharing!
That's probably the most beautiful martini henry I've ever seen
More firing please!
Anyone notice the Spitfire shirt?
Yes
@@clarivsmedia8697 It´s made by 909 Apparel, a british company
Fascinating Andrew. Thank you
That is a magnificent piece if engineering! Love these adaptions for classic rifles!
Thank you for this, I have always wanted to see these devices work, a photo & Patent drawing cannot substitute for seeing the mechanism operate. [I got a copy of Mr Aspinshaw's excellent book]. Any chance of seeing the Enfield or MacEvoy types working?
Ahh, finally, nice to see progress on the WWMD 2022 rifle. (What Would Martini Do?)
That's honestly got to be one of if not the most fascinating gun telated videos I've ever watched
This is Jonathan Ferguson, keeper of firearms and artillery at the Royal Museum in the UK
It somehow reminds me of the Krag system except for it not being built into the manufacturing process of a new rifle. It is so easy in hindsight to question, "What were they thinking?"
I love the conversion period with all it's wierd devices invented by different men. I am a Snider and Rolling Block owner and shooter. Have never been a fan of Peabody-Martini or Sharps fan. Thank you for this great video.
The conversions are indeed lovely. Second only, in my opinion, to the various fever dream designs of the Rollin White era that were supposed to circumvent that patent.
@@littlegrabbiZZ9PZA Absolutely.
Still think the Rolling Block is perhaps one of the handiest, sleekest, and most robust rifles ever invented. Just an elegantly simple solution...
@@BeingFireRetardant 100%
Hunt: Showdown🤠
My compliments on a great review. I have enjoyed the Martini Henry for over 50+ years.
I have never seen this magazine version, so with your great video, I am better educated on this fine rifle.
Thank you!
Is it just me that loves al the clicks and metal sounds , asmr
I'm betting Britishmuzzleloaders would like to get his hands on this.
I see you Crytek, I see you...
Lovely, as always.
Finally visits Royal Armories channel after binging on everything Jonathan on Gamespot; immediately sees him shooting a rifle with no explanation.
...Oh yes, I'm going to enjoy this new journey, indeed!
its now obvious where did crytek come up with the henry ironsite in hunt showdown.
Hunt Showdown bring me here and Bad Hand in the Video fire it 🤣 Mr. Chary thanks U 🙂🙈
Lovely to see the magazine working. I thought it was going to be some horrible cludge, but that was impressive.
Keep up th good work, always enjoyable & informative.
Jonathan, I would love nothing more than to spend 8 hours in your company, at the Royal Armouries, talking about these amazing and interesting firearms. I’ll put it on the bucket list!
wait wait.. hunt showdown the game just ADDED this gun to the game VIA battlebass
Opening with Jonathan poking holes in card with a Martini Henry. Doesn't get much better than that, or does it?
THIS
and getting perplexed at horrible videogame guns
I’ve seen and handled this rifle in Armoury Stores. It’s amazing how slick the action is! Bucket-list experience.
Really cool that the devs for hunt showdown got the idea to add this into their game
Oh so the new aditiom to hunt showdown came from here
I guess Crytek watched that one. ^^
love the new style of the videos with shots! :D
very michael caine
Anyone here from hunt showdown?
yesss XD
🙋♂️
Not sure if you still play but here!
Yea
Battlefield 1
Great video, thanks for sharing.
Absolutely class video always very informative
Hunt showdown just added this weapon and it's just silly lol
Hunt showdown watched this video
You should've let the guys from History Hit shoot a Martini-Henry too. Would've been a good transition between the Brown Bess and the SMLE.
They didn't ask :)
Very clever piece of kit, very cool rifle
After all these videos about failed British small arms, it’s nice to see a classic piece of British firepower. I swear, the UK is hit or miss when it comes to service arms.