Greener Martini ShotGun

I have a Greener Martini 14 gauge shotgun that I want to turn into a rifle, Is there a member here that knows how to cut the greener treads ? I live in IL.

What's wrong with 14 gauge? I remember seeing14 gauge shells when I was a kid. Also 8, 24 and 32 gauge. I would remember that this gun was made and used with black powder loads of the period and is possibly not up to any modern rifle load. Research this very carefully pressure wise.

That's a nice way to turn that Greener into a $100 gun. Greener shotguns are getting hard to find. Show a little respect for a historical piece and leave it alone.

How is the barrel held in, is it simply screwed into the receiver or is there a sort of clamping mechanism with a screw below the barrel?

You can make exchangeable barrels for the action with the clamping screw but please don't mess up one that simply screws in place. It can be very difficult to remove the barrel without damage in old Martinis.

A photo would help.

The gun may have an interesting history. Sometimes firearms that were sold in the Colonies were an odd caliber or gauge. The idea was that any rebellious locals would not be able to get much ammunition for a firearm that was not a standard gauge like 12 gauge.

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There is at least one Martini forum on the net. Try googling for it. But just ask how to remove the barrel so they don't get apoplectic.

[Is there a member here that knows how to cut the greener treads ? ] Think any lathe hand could cut threads but may not be a good idea to mess up a nice gun that could be sold and a rifle bought.

Sad to say this is not a nice Greener . action is nice and tight but almost all the markings where buffed off years ago. But rather she it come alive than hang on a wall. All I have now is a mini lathe and of course that is to small to do what I want.

any number of gunsmiths could put a barrel on it. nothing special about the Greener threads other than most likley they are 55deg. threads. as for a gunsmith John Taylor in wa state Steven Darren in mich. russ webber and on and on . any number of them do good work anybody that's good is going to be 5-12 mounts out. do your homework check on the ASSRA site get a copy of Black Powder cartridge news. Ken

So what are you thinking a target gun, a plunker, a deer rifle?

http://www.rifleman.org.uk/W.W.Greener_martini_target_rifles.htm

I have one of these, too, and it is NOT a top-of-the-line British shotgun. Rather, it is a shotgun designed for riot control that used a special shell.See here:Greener Police Shotgun Cartridge and Weapon
I don't have the complete gun, just the action, stocks, and the stub of the barrel. I can give you measurements of that if you want.I intend to convert mine in to a .45-70.
I don't know offhand what the barrel threads are, or if they differ from the other Martini actions.
Rick W

Just a paper shooter in 32/40 38/55 or light loaded 30/40

32 40 cool.. put about 125 grain in that and it should so straight .. Call Kenny Jarrett to see if he will make up a barrel.

Try this: British Militaria Forums

125 Grain bullet is to light for a target 32-40 I use 185 bullet breach seated with 14.5 grains of 4227 ken

The thread is 1.090"x 14tpi/Whitworth form.This is pretty close to 3/4BSP straight.If you have the old barrel,you can always make an adaptor from it.There are two models, commonly,a takedown with a clamping screw below the tenon,and a solid .The solid is claimed to be stronger,but I personally doubt that there is any difference,provided a HT screw is used.Most of these guns have been converted to rifles in everything from 58 Super Express,50/90Sharps,45/90'45/70,454,44/100 Rem,etc,down to 22 Hornet.The big cases with blackpowder level loads,for starters.Regards John.

Hunters Lodge is selling MKIII 14 ga Greeners for 440.00

Many shotgun firing pin holes, will be too large for smokeless era rifle cartridges, and need to be bushed.

Firing pin will need tip fitted to smaller hole. Extractor will need major modification.

Lot of work, for not much gun...

For some reason I thought I had replied here.

Greener re bored the barrel threads in order to convert military martini actions into shotguns. The threads are therefore larger than the rifle threads

In the process of the conversion, Greener altered the locking geometry, bringing the centreline of the barrel through the centre of the axis pin of the breach block,

on the original martini, the centreline of the barrel passes below the axis pin.

That change allowed shotgun cases to be inserted into the chamber without requiring alteration to the military breech block, it also allows easier cleaning and an easier view of the bore.

Once you know what you are looking at, the Greener actions have a distinctly broken backed appearance, when compared to the original rifles.

Skillfully done, martinis can be made into beautiful guns, but it takes a lot of work. Robert Snapp did beautiful work on the small BSA martinis. http://hallowellco.com/Maurice_Ottm...ustom Martini engraved by Richard Boucher.htm

If you do put a rifle barrel on. please make sure that you bush the firing pin hole to a much smaller diameter.

Robert Snapp produced Leslie Bown Taylor / Westley Richards style rimless extractors for the small martinis, allowing them to be used with .222 headsize rimless cartridges, so rimless or even rebated is not an impossibility

If you stick with rimmed cases , there are plenty of possibilities,


There's likely to be case stretching due to the long distance between the case head and the "locking" surface at the hinge of the breech block, so IMO you are best sticking with relatively low pressure rounds.

Military martinis were re-barrelled for .303 British, so there is precedent for reasonable pressure smokeless loadings.

These actions have a much better proportioned grip[smaller] than the military rifles,and so make a better conversion.They are also of 1950s manufacture,not 1873,as are some of the military 303 receivers.Incidentally.when converting these to 303,the block was softened to make the dovetai cut,and not rehardened.I have a military action rebuilt into a 303/243,which I load to almost rimless pressures.The Turks also worked out a rimless extractor for the near identical Yankee Martini,to convert to 7.65 Mauser rimless,and used them in the Great war.[The battle of Romani was 100 years ago this month.]Regards John..

Thanks for the heads up on the Turkish/Ottoman rimless extractor.
I hadn't come across it.

The extractors are said to have been made at the OWG,Steyr,and fitted by the Turks during the conversion.Incidentally,although the US made Martini-Henrys are near identical to the Enfield,they are made of case hardened soft steel,and not as strong as an Enfield.The Turks had to braze small patches to the pivot area to prevent cracking with the 7.65 conversion.Due to the unfortunate turn of events 1914-1923,they are rare everywhere,except Oz and NZ,where there are many bringbacks in collections.Regards John.