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Here's what I know. My late father while deployed/private contractor in Afghanistan brought home four of these rifles. Said they came from a Taliban cave. Because of its age there were no "spoils of war" type restrictions importing it back. That's about all I was told before he died. My research through the help of Mike at Fin & Feather in Ridgefield has got me as far it's black powder, really close to .50 cal but his opinion was 45-90, and the markings I thought were Arabic might actually be Egyptian. Or it might be a Khayber Pass gun. And all the marking appear to match. So I'd say it's a numbers matching gun. This is all I know. Wouldn't mind shooting it at least once if we can make certain of its caliber. Wouldn't mind figuring out a dollar figure. Or just hang it on the wall option. I welcome any feedback and insight. This gun is cool when you think of its history. Pre-WWI all the way through Enduring Freedom, this gun has been around a long time.

466F5643-27EF-4064-9B6E-A0FEEAFDABF0.jpeg DD845197-E3D1-4A21-80EA-FF73C5C99B81.jpeg 469FB6FA-57CD-4C9B-8BFE-B5B65571DEA6.jpeg 346BDB47-3A06-4FCF-90A4-E2791F8DFB8C.jpeg 3AA82589-60A0-463A-98F8-DEC32DA5412D.jpeg B68764CD-4D23-4F53-88F4-1D9F9420F710.jpeg 2B3BE7BB-9D21-41B4-9FF4-6F7478F2E38F.jpeg 25CF9217-DCC9-4034-96BE-D4106F6E2622.jpeg 4F62CD34-28E2-42E2-9571-51AAF7DFF045.jpeg ED1DFC3B-17FF-4FCD-9E14-DF61960B1FE4.jpeg FFAD2D75-252D-4591-AE27-4D58BA6F82A0.jpeg 9BF38622-9ED9-4DC9-8C8E-CD5F20F61C56.jpeg B0E13013-11B8-4B65-AA99-9AE2EFD7DD57.jpeg 6E55BBA1-2DA6-4C1D-8180-E63B6D90F8B1.jpeg 013BF5BE-ADA5-4811-947E-C8B49CDBA0EE.jpeg 4BC8E663-41A4-4D42-825A-99D0DD8C91AC.jpeg 771AB709-BA30-41D0-A3D7-D53FD5847E60.jpeg
 
Looks like a Khyber Pass made copy of a Martini Henry rifle...
These came in .577 / 450 originally...later models were .303
Export models came in : 11.43 x 55R , 11.43x 59R and 7.65 x 53

Without a chamber cast , no telling what caliber yours is in.
Andy
 
Looks like a Khyber Pass made copy of a Martini Henry rifle...
These came in .577 / 450 originally...later models were .303
Export models came in : 11.43 x 55R , 11.43x 59R and 7.65 x 53

Without a chamber cast , no telling what caliber yours is in.
Andy
My initial research had me thinking it was a Martini Henry in .303 British. The barreling is reverse in this one and definitely black powder.
 
The inscription on the side plate has a date underneath of 1319. That translates from the Muslim calendar to the Gregorian as about April 1901 to March 1902.

The alphabet is Arabic, but there are different variants used in eastern and western. Biggest clue there comes from the sight, which shows distances counting down from 9 (I assume 900). The "4" on the sight is definitely eastern style, meaning it could be anywhere from Iran to Pakistan. My guess is that the language is Urdu and manufacture was likely in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

There is a 3-digit number of 920 on many of the parts, so I assume it's a serial number.

FYI, you've got most of the numbers and script pictured upside down.
 
The inscription on the side plate has a date underneath of 1319. That translates from the Muslim calendar to the Gregorian as about April 1901 to March 1902.

The alphabet is Arabic, but there are different variants used in eastern and western. Biggest clue there comes from the sight, which shows distances counting down from 9 (I assume 900). The "4" on the sight is definitely eastern style, meaning it could be anywhere from Iran to Pakistan. My guess is that the language is Urdu and manufacture was likely in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

There is a 3-digit number of 920 on many of the parts, so I assume it's a serial number.

FYI, you've got most of the numbers and script pictured upside down.
I appreciate the info. Any idea if it's worth more than just hanging on the wall?
 
I appreciate the info. Any idea if it's worth more than just hanging on the wall?
I don't have any basis to judge the value. Sorry. See if you can find an Urdu speaker to learn more about the inscriptions. You may learn more about its history.

Definitely a great wall hanger regardless!
 
The writing on the right side of the receiver looks identical to the Kabul arsenal markings:
It doesn't have the symbol above the writing though; It might have been scrubbed at some point, there might have been a period where they weren't using either symbol for some reason, or maybe it's a good forgery.

It should be .577/450 unless it's been re-chambered (or if it is a forgery it could be something completely different). If you can see or feel inside the chamber and it has a shoulder then .45-90 and a lot of other cartridges could be eliminated; or you could try measuring the diameter at the rear of the chamber since .577/450 is roughly .15 inches bigger there compared to .45-90. By reverse barreling do you mean left-hand twist or Henry rifling? Henry rifling is odd looking compared to what we're used to today:

MartiniHenry05.jpg
 
The writing on the right side of the receiver looks identical to the Kabul arsenal markings:
It doesn't have the symbol above the writing though; It might have been scrubbed at some point, there might have been a period where they weren't using either symbol for some reason, or maybe it's a good forgery.

It should be .577/450 unless it's been re-chambered (or if it is a forgery it could be something completely different). If you can see or feel inside the chamber and it has a shoulder then .45-90 and a lot of other cartridges could be eliminated; or you could try measuring the diameter at the rear of the chamber since .577/450 is roughly .15 inches bigger there compared to .45-90. By reverse barreling do you mean left-hand twist or Henry rifling? Henry rifling is odd looking compared to what we're used to today:

View attachment 988551
Thank you for the input and info. I'll see if I can get some better pics next time I pull it out of the safe. As for rifling, it's left hand twist. Sorry for my verbiage there.
 
I've made chamber castings with melted candle wax before. This one should be easy to do that with, find out what the chamber is.
 
Very cool Khyber pass copy, thanks for sharing it with us.

Some are high enough quality to be shot, others... not so much.
 
Makes me want to re-watch that old movie.....

The Man Who Would Be King

But....the movie Zulu would be just as good to see the Martini-Henry in action.

Aloha, Mark
 
I just ran across an industrial resale type store.
Asked the owner if he had any gun type stuff. The only thing he had was one of those. Just the reciever, hammer, trigger, and lever.
And a bag of lead shot.

Joe
 

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