Antique Firearm collecting

[Fronteria]

[QUOTE=barryeye;3744150]

Hi Jim
Earlier this year I got a Martini Henry carbine which looked in very good condition with a very good bore so I thought I would put it on my ticket and use it.
A gunsmith friend checked it over and found it visually sound in in both bore and action so it was sent to the proof house where it passed the view but failed proof when the barrel was blown completely off and in half two inches beyond the chamber the forend wouldn't have held the pressure so I would been injured was it worth the £30-00 cost to proof test it?
How much value do you put on your hand or fingers say for arguments sake £10-00 a finger or £30-00 a hand?

I don't doubt you but I have to ask how your Martini could have passed the proof test when made but failed it later? I assume firearms can go out of proof with ware but with age?
Are you sure it was not one of the Khyber pass specials that are now all to common? Some of them look very very much like the real thing.
Barry

Hi. Barry
The gun was a genuine Enfield manufactured martini henry gun.
A Kyber pass special wouldn't have got pass the proof house viewing stage of the proof process.
The problem is you never know what has happened to the gun during it's last hundred odd years of life.
People do strange things to guns like a .22 sporter that wouldn't group and keyholed every shot, the guy had tried to remove the barrel to clean it and had twisted the rifling and straightened it out in one spot he then re twisted it back as the front sight was off to one side.
The problem was only found when a very tight patch was pushed down the barrel.
Some so called home gunsmiths are a menace and you don't have a record of what has happened to any gun you purchase particularly antiques.
Antique guns get bodged and abused up just like cars and you cannot always spot a problem before it's too late.
jeff

[dahtunnel]

apart from way too many deactivated weapons I have currently three antique long arms
A schmidt rubin 1889
A mauser 1871/84
and a martini henry chopped back to a sporterised rifle (a bit dubious that one)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1439013...7609292464063/

David

[barryeye]

[QUOTE=Fronteria;3744375]

Hi. Barry
The gun was a genuine Enfield manufactured martini henry gun.
A Kyber pass special wouldn't have got pass the proof house viewing stage of the proof process.
The problem is you never know what has happened to the gun during it's last hundred odd years of life.
People do strange things to guns like a .22 sporter that wouldn't group and keyholed every shot, the guy had tried to remove the barrel to clean it and had twisted the rifling and straightened it out in one spot he then re twisted it back as the front sight was off to one side.
The problem was only found when a very tight patch was pushed down the barrel.
Some so called home gunsmiths are a menace and you don't have a record of what has happened to any gun you purchase particularly antiques.
Antique guns get bodged and abused up just like cars and you cannot always spot a problem before it's too late.
jeff

Hi Jeff.
I take your point but still find it difficult to understand how a rifle that was once in proof can without visable signs of ware or abuse go out of proof. No doubt that your one did but the question is how. To put it another way. If I wanted one of my Martinis to fail a proof test, how could I make this happen? And not make what I had done obvious to a gunsmiths inspection? Did the proof house give any indication as to why it failed? Was the metal flawed?
Just curious.
Barry