Hello,
I'm assisting an elderly friend divest of all his firearms including this British rim fire on an "improved" martini. I've never seen anything like it. I know of "Vickers - Armstong" but not their small arms...
Beautiful piece, spectacular English walnut (cracked & semi-crudely repaired), with original Silvers recoil pad and 29" barrel and awesome Parker Hale(?) style sights.
Any info and opinions on price will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Mark
Certainly not as common as BSA/Greener, etc. standard small Martinis, but a fairly common "club rifle" at one time. I SUSPECT these were made to compete with the more "modern" bolt action target rifles that were coming in at the end of the single shot period. And I'm sure they competed well.
That stock deserves some MAJOR surgery from a reputable "stock doctor"! Somebody here will know one--the guy I depended on for years has passed away, unfortunately.
Mark, have a look at the postings just before this one, on Dennis Earl Smith, the Stock Doc. ("Over-sanded Stock").
Mark:
Small frame Martinis are one of my favorite guns and the Vickers is an interesting variation, one I'd like to have (although I just spent the toy fund on an Arrieta 578 in 16 gauge, which pretty much emptied the pot). They are far less common than the BSA/Greener/Francotte small frame martini actions. Given the condition of this one, it likely was a privately owned rifle rather than a club gun.
These rifles tend to be as accurate as any of the other Martini actions of the same period, which is to say that they will match all but the highest quality .22 target rifles. Unless the sights have been abused or are badly worn, they are quite precise and allow most accurate, repeatable adjustments. Does your friend have the inserts for the front sight?
The overtravel screw in the trigger guard is aftermarket, as, almost certainly, is the recoil pad, although from the photo it appears that the addition was made not long after the rifle was purchased.
An odd feature of the Vickers Martini is that the barrel and the action are all one piece. No rebarreling there when the bore is shot out or damaged by careless use of the cleaning rod. Except for the stock, that rifle looks to be in nice condition, without a lot of the extra holes these single shot target .22s seem to acquire during their lives. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, no one is making replacement stocks for the Vickers Martini.
Without the damage or with good quality stock repairs, you'd likely get $550-650 on one of the on line gun sale web sites; or a bit more if you can find two buyers who both want one for their Martini collection. With the damage left as is, I'd say $350-450, depending on how badly someone wants it.
Hope this helps.
Rem
The Vickers is one of the least frequently encountered of the British Martini-type single shot target rifles. Those of us who collect & compete almost never see one first hand. I never have.
I did not know that the barrel and action were one piece. The British were given to stick in a Parker-Hale liner when accuracy was no longer top notch. The one piece action & barrel must have been a strong negative selling point. The one piece stock would have been a positive point, but not good enough.
Thanks for the great info gents!
Mark
It's much easier to cut the old barrel off and bore the front of the Vickers action, and thread for a new barrel, than fit a liner.
I have seen quite a few of them, and this is the easiest way to go.
I have one of these Vickers Martinis that is missing the hollow screw that attaches the rear sight to the receiver. I've emailed Mark and he has graciously agreed to see if he can get the screw dimensions for me to have one made. Does anyone know where one of these screws might be purchased? That would be the easiest option.
Thanks,
Bruce
