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BUTT AND ASSOCIATED PARTS

The M-H rifle, in accordance with the previous practice, was supplied with two lengths of butt - classed as "short" and "long" - which were intended to accommodate men of different stature, and so with short or long arms.

The original lengths supplied - short 13 inches; and long, 14 inches; issued in the proportions of 2/3 short and 1/3 long. The quoted lengths were fitted to Rifle 1, First and Second Patterns.

The troop trials of the second pattern rifles resulted in complaints of shortness of stock with resulting recoil problems, so trials were carried out with lengthened butts, causing the adoption on 17-7-1874 of short butts of 14 inches, and long butts of 14½ inches. The proportions of these were as originally issued, but the pressure from some regiments forced the decision in December 1874 for reversal the proportion to 2/3 long and 1/3 short, for future manufacture.

Increasing the length meant that the original long butt became the new short butt, so no problems resulted, apart from the necessity to adjust output figures to accommodate stocks on hand; however, this left considerable numbers of the original short butts in store, which were too valuable to discard. They were subsequently increased in length to 14 inches by having a piece added to the bottom end. This was 1½ inches thick, and was screwed and glued to the original stock, which was reduced ½-inch in length to remove the butt plate tang recess, so as to give the new piece a clean face to butt against. The altered stocks are easily recognized by the joint in the wood, and the different grain formation of the two pieces.

(NOTE: The Butt length quoted is not the actual length of the wood, but is the distance measured from the outer face of the butt plate at its centre, to the tip of the trigger. This is sometimes referred as the "reach" or "pull" of the butt.)

Included with the text are two pictures in B&W showing the retaining screws in place, plus the join line and the filled swivel hole.

I have a number of Martinis with this jointed butt feature, with the earliest being a Martini Henry Rifle Mark 1 dated 1872, Upgraded to Second and then Third Pattern. The rifle is Ex Temples collection and shown in Volume 1, Page 87, Figure 2, of the "British Military Martini" series.

Skennerton and Temple have included information on the subject of Joined Butt Stocks in their third volume of "A Treatise on the British Military Martini " Volume 111, pages 489 to 491.

I have taken the liberty of transcribing the information from Volume 111 verbatim.

Cheers and Happy Collecting

Herb Rogers

I can recall another method of deactivation, the method included machining both the block body and breach face plus the removal of the front portion of the firing pin flush with the collar.

I saw it on Ebay recently and it closed on the 29th October 2009. I checked this morning 15th November and it is still available to view including one picture.

Ebay Item number 230387157808.

Cheers

Herb Rogers