You Will Shoot Your Eye Out

In the 1860s, at the dawn of the self-contained metallic cartridge era, the military armsmakers of Great Britain and other major powers decided to alter existing muzzleloading rifle-muskets into breechloaders.
Their reasons included saving production costs and buying time to permit experimentation. One such example was built on a combination of the Pattern 1853 Enfield and the Snider System, and was adopted in 1866. Although it remained in use with militia and colonial troops for a considerable period, it was replaced for Crown troops a scant five years later by a wholly new design: the Martini-Henry.
Unlike the Snider, which had a side-swinging breechblock, the new gun was a lever-action, single-shot, falling block that incorporated design elements by American Henry O. Peabody, Swiss Friederich von Martini and Scotsman Alexander Henry, among others.
To work a Martini-Henry, the shooter simply lowered a lever beneath the wrist of the stock, causing the breechblock to drop forward and expose the chamber. A formidable .577-450 bottlenecked cartridge was then inserted into the chamber and the lever closed, readying the rifle to shoot. Although the gun did not possess a safety, it did have a teardrop-shaped indicator on the right side of the action that allowed the user to determine whether or not the mechanism was cocked.
Initial versions were in the form of a long rifle primarily for infantry use, but early on it was determined that a short carbine for cavalry and artillery use was also in order. The answer appeared in September 1877 in the guise of the IC1 Cavalry Carbine, its official cognomen being “Carbine, B.L., Rifled, with Cleaning Rod, Martini-Henry, (Mark I).”
Employing the same receiver as the Mark II Martini-Henry rifle, this handy piece measured 37.6″ long (some 16.4″ shorter than the infantry rifle) and weighed a manageable 7 lbs., 8 ozs.

Like the rifle, the carbine had a checkered indention on the top right of the receiver’s rear portion that allowed the trooper to easily rest his thumb, thus keeping it from wrapping around the wrist of the stock where it could bash him in the nose under the stout recoil of the .577-450 round.
To also help ameliorate this problem, a special load was developed for the lighter carbine having a 410-gr. projectile, which was 70 grs. lighter than the 480-gr. projectile used in the standard infantry cartridge. The powder charge was accordingly reduced from 85 to 70 grs.
An abbreviated ladder-style rear sight was graduated to 1,000 yds. and a small blade front sight was protected by flanking wings to allow the gun to be more easily inserted into a saddle bucket.
Two years after the introduction of the carbine, complaints arose that the rear sight was snagging on the saddle gear, which resulted in the addition of a leather sight cover fixed to the stock by means of a pair of screws.
The Martini-Henry Cavalry Carbine proved to be handy, rugged and reliable. One added attribute was that the same basic platform could be transformed into an artillery carbine by the simple substitution of a front barrel band incorporating a bayonet lug and by the addition of sling swivels.
The adoption of the .303 British round in 1889 caused a revamping of the Martini-Henry carbines into .303 Metford and .303 Enfield versions. They were ultimately replaced by .303 Lee-Enfield repeating bolt-actions by the beginning of the 20th century.
The example we see here is in NRA Excellent condition (Antique Gun Standards) and maintains a large degree of original finish. As well as the royal Victorian crown and cypher, and “Enfield 1877,” markings on the receiver include a broad arrow surmounting the initials “SA,” indicating the carbine saw some service in South Australia.
Martini-Henry Cavalry Carbines are not as plentiful on the collector market as are the rifles, so a piece such as this one is easily worth $2,500.
Gun: Mark I Martini-Henry Cavalry Carbine
Manufacturer: Royal Small Arms Factory Enfield
Chambering: .577-450
Manufactured: 1877
Condition: NRA Excellent (Antique Gun Standards)
Value: $2,500

The Uberti 1885 High Wall gives modern enthusiasts a chance to own an exceptionally faithful reproduction of one of Winchester’s most timeless designs—one first introduced to the public by the legendary firearm firm in 1885 and designed by John Browning himself.
The company stopped production in 1920, but not before 139,725 were in the hands of enthusiasts. A review by American Rifleman Editor-in-Chief Mark Keefe provides the original’s history, how Uberti’s modern reproduction came into being and performance of today’s model.
It’s a must-read for enthusiasts, but the Readers Digest version of the story is Uberti understands that “classics never go out of style.” Add modern metallurgy and engineering and it makes for a undeniably attractive combination.
Those facts haven’t gone without notice. Last year the Uberti 1885 High-Wall finished third in the single-shot rifle category of the firearm sales ranking published annually by GunBroker.com. In 2018 it took a distant 9th^, but it claimed third place from 2015 to 2017. There’s no denying the timeless looks have a lot to do with the popularity, but there’s more.
The most popular chambering on the website was .45-70 Gov’t although models are also available in .45-90 and .45-120—all the classic buffalo-hunting cartridges. Four versions are available: Carbine Straight Stock; Sporting Rifle Straight Stock; Special Sporting Rifle; and Big Game Rifle.
All feature a falling block action, a breakdown cleaning rod that stores under the buttstock and loading lever that opens or locks the action. Wood stocks provide timeless warmth, complemented nicely by the octagonal barrels (30 or 32 inch) with windage-driftable front sights on all sporting models. The carbine has a round, 28-inch barrel.
The Big Game Rifle version starts with Grade A walnut stock, and blue frame, lever and 22-inch round barrel. It also comes with a checkered pistol grip and rubber buttpad. Its MSRP is $1,229.
The Carbine version runs $1,069, and Sporting Rifle models are $1,149 and $1,199. A fresh-from-the-factory Special Sporting Rifle has an MSRP of $1,349.