Thread: .577/450 Martini

Originally Posted by akaroa1

Wow I think i didn't do my job very well

You have 577-450 brass
You have 1.5 FG BP
And you are going to make smoke !

I'm sure I told you that you need some bullets or you don't see any holes in the target when the smoke clears

Sorry mate… forgot to mention the big bits of lead…

Originally Posted by norsk

For my Martini's I have clamped a bit of garden hose to a funnel,then put a loop of string on the tag off the funnel.

I remove the block,boil the jug,insert the hose into the breech,hold the Rifle inverted over the toilet by the wrist with my thumb through the string loop holding the funnel vertical. Pour 3L of boiling water down the bore,cool and a wet swab with " Ed's Red" bore cleaner,job done.

Rambo is right about boiling water causing flash rusting but I dont care or have seen any negative effects.It washes out any old lube that I wanted to get rid of anyway.Some of my shooters are from the 1700's so a bit more Patina is hardly emotional.

mmm so your rifle rusting before your eyes isnt a negative effect mmm ok

Originally Posted by rambo-6mmrem

mmm so your rifle rusting before your eyes isnt a negative effect mmm ok

Its a flash rust/ discolouration, wipes off with gun oil.

Most BP guns are so seasoned in the bore and breech for it to be scarcely noticeable. You know your wearing out your gun a little bit each time you fire it too? Stops you dose it?

The original bent spout funnels for cleaning the martini are collectors items now. I use the garden hose and funnel technique. Cleaning from the muzzle isn't the end of the world either with a plastic bore guide and fired case in the chamber scrub away to your hearts content.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

The original bent spout funnels for cleaning the martini are collectors items now. I use the garden hose and funnel technique. Cleaning from the muzzle isn't the end of the world either with a plastic bore guide and fired case in the chamber scrub away to your hearts content.

IMA had those for years,should have grabbed one.

Originally Posted by norsk

Its a flash rust/ discolouration, wipes off with gun oil.

Most BP guns are so seasoned in the bore and breech for it to be scarcely noticeable. You know your wearing out your gun a little bit each time you fire it too? Stops you dose it?

agreed, you probably won't notice the extra wear and tear, but it's a case of why, if there's no need, you don't need boiling water to clean BP, but it causes flash rust, which just seems unnecessary

Originally Posted by rambo-6mmrem

mmm so your rifle rusting before your eyes isnt a negative effect mmm ok

Put some Meths thru, straight after the hot water, to absorb moisture

Originally Posted by Maca49

Put some Meths thru, straight after the hot water, to absorb moisture

nah, just don't use hot water lol absolutely not required is what im trying to point out
the rust is a small side effect that 100% agreed is easily remedied, but why have rust at all? It's completely avoidable
that's all I'm saying

Baby wipes. The cheap ones from the supermarket. Best way to clean out black powder fouling, follow up with ed's red.

Just a note on reloading .577/450, I really dislike this cartridge but it seems I’m doomed to have rifles so chambered, from Martini Sporters , Jones Underlever Singles to Cape Guns, had 10s & 10s of them over the years & normally sell them off as get short on money & hate the PB part.

Tried so many times to get a Nitro load that worked but always gave up, but recently got a little Martini Sporter Carbine, sort of lifted you up with 85gr of BP & 500gr slugs, then all the cleaning shit !

So I got a nice Nitro load sorted & have been using jacketed .458 bullets, shoots a dream & great fun.

I have a little tip some guys might want to use, I had a lot of .577/450 Kynoch & Military brass, in the .577 Snider I drill out the primer pocket & fit shotgun primers & use plastic 24ga shells with PB, no problem.
I wanted to use Nitro so deprimed those Berdan case as I have a large stock of primers, loaded them up, unfortunately had hang fires again as these won’t be up to Magnum primers as you need in the .577/450 if running Nitro, so a wash out on that part, but if you want to use BP it will work nicely.

Anyway on the depriming I was whacking a neck size rod into the case full of water to hydraulic out the primer, worked, bit messy & seemed Barbaric, so then I remembered the neck expanding die & thought shit that might work, well super easy & feels like the right thing to do, fill case with water put in shell hold, firmly press into neck expander & primer pops out, easy as !

@omark well where are the results ?

It there isn't a picture it didn't happen

Originally Posted by akaroa1

@omark well where are the results ?

It there isn't a picture it didn't happen

Photos attached. Very pleasing for the first outing. I need to slug the bore and get some better fitting bullets and then I will be away.... the smokey stuff is really addictive. All loaded of course by hand and a labour of love to shoot. The bore is in really great shape. Thanks Akaroa for the tips & trips

Love the zombie green plastic coating.

I am still looking for a few more cases and possibly even some dies if someone has any they would like to part with. I have managed to get a suitable mould (.468).

Originally Posted by akaroa1

My only aversion to Martini's are that they can't be cleaned from the breech and therefore do often suffer from poor barrel cleaning.
They also lack an exposed hammer which is a deal breaker for me

For the less fussy the Martini 577-450 a good first step in being turned to the dark side of BP

My first big bore BP rifle was a Martini 500 BPE which has gone on to several subsequent owners I both know

not all Martinis have to be cleaned from the muzzle my 22 BSA once the breech block is removed has a hole from the back for a rod so it can be cleaned from action end did the bigger calibres with a martini action not have that