I am a relative newbie to posting on this forum, but had something I wanted to share with you. I jumped on the opportunity to own what I believe to be a Francotte made Martini sporting rook rifle with an external exposed hammer. I posted some info about it under the old topic "Converting a .310 Cadet", and see no need to repeat that all again here. I already know how B1acksmith feels about a hammer on a Martini, but it sure intrigued me! The rifle was found to be chambered for the .297-230 Morris Long - Short Body. I took it to a major collector's gun show here in the K.C. area last year just to carry it around and see what the reaction to it was. I have never been stopped by so many curious individuals at a show before, talking until I was hoarse.
This first pic below shows the basic configuration of the rifle.
I have seen cuts from old British Martini catalogs with similarly shaped levers. This next view is a little closer up of the other side, with the hammer
at half cock.
Next is a closer pic of the cadet size action.
The next pic shows the top of the action, upper tang and sliding thumb safety. You can tell that the overall craftsmanship is a bit crude.
These next four pics were taken with the stock removed, and show a little bit of how it works. The first one below shows the action closed with the hammer
in the uncocked position.
The next shows that when the lever is activated to open the action, it also starts to cock the hammer.
The next shows that when the lever has been fully activated to open the action, the hammer is in the full cock position.
The next pic below shows that the action has been fully cocked and is ready to fire with the lever returned to the closed position and that the sliding thumb
safety has been engaged.
The last pic I'll bore you all with is one I found on the net and saved years ago, and have no idea who to give credit to for it. It shows, left to right,
the .310 Cadet cartridge, the .297-230 Morris Long - Short Body, the .297-230 Morris (presumably Short - Short Body), what I think is a standard .22 lr and the
last one I am unsure of, it could be either a .22 short or .22 long.
I have recently started to reload for the .297-230 Morris L-SB cartridge, and have found it to be very challenging. Perhaps we can get into that later.
I have put additional pics of this rifle, and the one mentioned in the "Converting a .310 Cadet" thread in albums that you can view by going to my
profile and clicking on "view my images". In over 40 years of tramping up and down gunshow isles, these are the only two such rifles I have ever
seen. I hope you have found this to be of interest, and if any of you have additional information about this type of rifle, please let us all know! Thanks!
Best regards.........Clint.
It sure doesn't seem to match the workmanship on the rest of the action.
Not a happy camper.
