Original Item: The British adopted the Martini-Henry Rifle in 1871, production of the Mark One (Mk I) commenced in 1872 with only about 1,400 weapons being produced. In 1875 the Mark Two (Mk 2) was adopted which was basically a cost cutting exercise and certain features of the Mark One were abandoned. These included the Safety Catch found on the right hand side of the receiver directly over the trigger and the adoption of a plain steel butt plate rather than the checkered early model.
In typical Government fashion, all the issued Mark One Martini-Henry were then recalled and modified to the new Mark Two pattern with and additional roman numeral “I” being added alongside the existing “I” indicating the changes had been carried out. Former Mark One weapons are easily spotted, as the “II” marking on the right side of the Receiver is Off Set with the addition of the second “I” stamping. In short they removed the Safety catch and changed the butt plate and re-stamped the receiver as a COST CUTTING expedient. Sounds horribly familiar doesn’t it?
Anyway IMA found some of the Original Martini Mark One Checkered Butt plates removed from these early weapons and now is your chance get your early issue Martini Henry (dated 1872-1875 to be strictly correct) halfway to it’s original specification.
These are NOT REPRODUCTIONS, these are original plates removed…
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