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The Short Chamber Boxer-Henry .45 caliber is a rather unique cartridge. Most people are awestruck when they see it for the first time. It is big, bad, and ugly. I think the most common thought I hear when showing one to somebody who has never seen it before is the suffering the Zulus who were shot with this cartridge must have endured if not killed outright. Colonel Edward Mounier Boxer of the Woolwich Royal Arsenal in Kent County was the true genius behind much of the new technology in the cartridge. Namely, the coiled brass case. Though primitive looking by today's standards, the coiled brass case was a remarkable breakthrough in metallic cartridge development. The reason behind the coiling of the cartridge is best described in Col. E.M. Boxer's own patent (Boxer's Patent No.137 1/15/1866)... "My invention has for its object to construct the cases of cartridges for breechloading firearms and ordnance in such a manner that they shall rapidly expand by slightly uncoiling and stretching on firing so as to fill the chamber and will contract slightly after firing so as to admit of the empty case being easily removed." Eventually, a solid, drawn brass cartridge was adopted to replace the rolled or coiled brass cartridge. It was found to be resistant to rough handling, it produced superior muzzle velocities and had the same qualities of expanding to fill the chamber and form a seal as did the coiled brass case. Best of all, it had fewer parts and required no assembly, as did the coiled case. In trials of the Martini-Henry, there were two cartridges proposed for use with the rifle. The original was a long .45 caliber cartridge containing 85 grains of Curtis and Harvey #6 black powder. In trials, this "Long Chamber" cartridge was found to be awkwardly long and difficult to handle and load. As a result, W.T. Eley experimented with the cartridge and eventually invented a revised, shorter cartridge capable of holding the same charge of powder. This was accomplished by enlarging the base portion of the cartridge into what has become familiarly known as a "bottle neck" shape. Through trials, this was referred to as the "Short Chamber" cartridge, and upon acceptance, its nomenclature in the L.O.C. was "Short Chamber Boxer-Henry .45 caliber". This new cartridge utilized "R.F.G.2" Powder. This stands for "Rifled, Fine Grade. No.2". This powder meshes 12 to 20, with a density of 1.72 to 1.75. This powder was used in the majority of Martini-Henry ball cartridges. Nowadays, there are two sources for this cartridge preloaded, Old Western Scrounger in Montague, California, and 2nd Amendment Research and Development Corporation in Gleeson, Arizona. Empty brass can be purchased from GS Custom Bullets in South Africa, Cabelas, Buffalo Arms, OWS, and a few other places. The best deal going at the current time is from GS Custom Bullets. They make a standard and oversized version of the B-H .45 brass, which both currently sell for $1.63 ea. OWS specializes in making obsolete cartridges, and the .450 Martini is one of their best sellers. Unfortunately, they have problems...They're made from 24 Gauge CBC brass shotgun shells which they resize to nearly correct dimensions. An undersized .450", 450 grain bullet sits atop the cartridge. I have heard variations in the diameter of the bullet up to .455", and weight variations up to 480 grains, but any I have ever purchased have been .450" and 450 grains. While the OWS ammo does chamber and fire in any Martini I've ever test fired it in, the bullet is too small to achieve any accuracy (actual bore of most Martinis is closer to .46" than .45"), it is not paper patched, and there is no wadding or lubrication between the black powder and the bullet. This leads to heavy fouling, increased recoil, potential for deformation of the bullet base and terrible accuracy. The OWS cartridge uses large, trashy quality Berdan style primers. Pierced primers have been a problem. The thin skinned primers that come with these cartridges simply melt upon firing, blowing hot gases, and burning black powder into the guts of your Martini (see pictures below). The last batch of this stuff I fired all suffered from pierced primers (see photo below). Handloaded cartridges are the only way to go if you desire any modicum of accuracy, but due to the high cost, and limited availability of B-H .45 reloading dies and brass, the OWS ammo is a good alternative for large bore, smoke belching plinking and "wowing" the guy next to you at the rifle range. Be prepared to take your Martini completely apart to clean it after firing though. Do replace the primers with RWS 6504 Berdan Primers when reloading this brass however. This will solve the pierced primer problem. I can't intelligently comment on the ammo from 2nd Amendment Research and Development, because my promised samples never arrived for evaluation. It does cost nearly twice OWS' ammo, but the cases are boxer primed, instead of Berdan primed.
A box of commercial Boxer-Henry .45 Caliber
Carbine-Load cartridges made by Kynoch (a division
of Imperial Chemical Industries Limited, Metals
Division). The manufacture date stamped on this box
is May, 1952. A cartridge from the box above. Note the green
paper patching around the bullet indicating a
Carbine Load.
Pierced Berdan primers are a
problem with OWS' version of the Short-Chamber
Boxer-Henry .45. The rounds pictured here were
fired from a Mark I Carbine, which has been
inspected and found functional and within specs by
a competent gunsmith. Since I've heard a few
reports of this problem, I sent "Dangerous Dave" of
OWS an email asking about this issue. He responded
that OWS is aware of the issue (which is caused by
poor quality Berdan primers) and that they will
soon be selling a new revision of the cartridge
featuring Boxer primed, cases. UPDATE, 17
JAN 02: Just talked
to OWS, the new M-H Brass is boxer primed, but it's
Kynoch brass. This is great quality stuff, but at
$139 per 20 rounds, it's a bit on the ridiculous
side for most people! Looks like it's time to shoot
the .303 Martinis! OWS suggests using 6504 Primers
with their Berdan brass as a workaround, however,
they've said they have no plans to change the
crappy primers they sell with them!!!
British Specifications from the LoC...
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Rolled
Brass Boxer-Henry .45 Data
Solid,
Drawn Brass Boxer-Henry .45 Data
Buckshot
Boxer-Henry .45 Data
