Music to clean guns by

Tonight, with beer and music aplenty, I clean the Martini-Henry MKII.

I tried to detail photograph the rifle coming apart, but my camera's being temperamental again. So here are the instructions for disassembly.

Large Frame Martini Action Disassembly

When that's done, you've got this:

That's it. Every piece that goes inside the rifle action. Simple, rugged and it only fits back one way. It's pretty much "soldier-proof". Celebrate the disassembly with a beer.

The barrel goes into my shower (guest room, of course) and it gets a good hot water rinse and scrubbing with a .45 caliber bore brush. Then it gets patched with alternating oil and dry patches until the patches come out clean or you run out of patches. With this old war-horse, it's looking like the latter. Drink two beers while scrubbing.



Clean and lightly oil all of those innards. Have another beer while you're doing it. Then put them all back in just the reverse of how they came out.

Large Frame Martini Action Reassembly

If you've done it right, everything is together and functional again. If you didn't get it right, have another beer and try again. There is a little trick to it, but once you've got it, you've got it.

Now go reward yourself with a beer. You've earned it!