577 450 Martini Hernry

[Sgt Sourdough]

Did the NWMP ever use the Martini Hernry? If not what rifles,muskets did they use?

[RattlesnakeJack]

(Hope you don't mind the "amendment" - it is "Martini-Henry", and ".577/.450" .....  )

The Martin-Henry was never a primary-issue longarm with the NWMP. For the first five years of existence of the Force, the standard "rifle" was the .577 Snider-Enfield in Cavalry Carbine configuration, though they were also issued 46 Snide3r-Enfield Short Rifles (i.e. the 2-band configuration) when they were first formed.




Arms & Accoutrements of the Mounted Police, 1873-1973 (Phillips and Klancher) indicates that in 1874 Commissioner French requested 10 Martini-Henry Cavalry Carbines  for trials.  That pattern had been provisionally approved by the British War Department, but didn't actually become available until 1877.  They were instead supplied with 10  Martini-Henry rifles in 1874, which apparently saw some service use, although no reference to them in reports was found after the late 1880's.  (On the other hand, Martini-Henry rifles were the standard arm used in rifle association competitions - including NWMP competitors - into the 1890's.) 

One thing to keep in mind, if thinking of using a Martin-Henry in a NWMP impression, is that the Mark IV (i.e.  the last model, with the long lever and noticeably different receiver shape) would definitely not be correct, as that model was never acquired by Canada, let alone used in this country - and was never issued to regular forces anywhere in the British Empire.  The version issued to the NWMP in 1874 undoubtedly would have been the Mark I (of which Canada acquired 2,100 in 1871, followed by 5,000 Mark III's in 1885) - but MkI's are nearly as scarce as hen's teeth, so the similar-looking Mark II or Mark III version would likely have to suffice -


Of course the next standard-issue longarm of the NWMP, from 1878 until 1914, was the famous Winchester Model 1876 carbine, chambered in .45-75 .....

[minerotago]

Great things to fire those Martini Henry rifles in .450/577 - I still have shooting quantities of original ammo and use it to blast...well whatever takes my fancy, pigs, tin cans, fence posts (my own) defunct cars, steel plates and rocks in the creek.