( From Left to Right ): A. 577 Snider cartridge ( 1867 ), a. 577 / 450 Martini-Henry cartridge ( 1871 ), a later drawn brass. 577 / 450 Martini-Henry cartridge, and a. 303 British Mk VII SAA Ball cartridge.

There are four classes of the Martini-Henry rifle: Mark I ( released in June 1871 ), Mark II, Mark III, and Mark IV.

The Mark IV Martini-Henry rifle ended production in the year 1889, but remained in service throughout the British Empire until the end of the First World War.

In the aftermath of the defeat of the British at the Battle of Isandlwana many Martini-Henry rifles were captured by the Zulus together with considerable amounts of ammunition.

For example, four miles past the Ineyzane River, after the British had comfortably crossed, and after they had spent a day consolidating their advance, the Zulu finally launched a typical " buffalo horn " encirclement attack that was seen off with withering fire from not only breach-loading Martini-Henry rifles, but 7-pounder artillery and Gatling guns.

* Martini-Enfield, a. 303 calibre version of the Martini-Henry introduced in 1895

Until the early 20th century rifles tended to be very long ; an 1890 Martini-Henry was almost 2 m ( 6 ft ) in length with a fixed bayonet.

The 1871 Martini-Henry which replaced the " trapdoor " Snider-Enfield was the standard British Army rifle of the later Victorian era, and the Martini was also a popular action for civilian rifles.

The 1871 Martini-Henry which replaced the " trapdoor " Snider-Enfield was the standard British Army rifle of the later Victorian era, and the Martini was also a popular action for civilian rifles.

A redesign of the Lee-Metford which had been adopted by the British Army in 1888, the Lee-Enfield superseded the earlier Martini-Henry, Martini-Enfield, and Lee-Metford rifles.

The protest, however, was based on the comparison of the wounds produced by expanding and non-expanding bullets from high velocity sporting rifles, rather than a comparison of the expanding. 303 British bullets with the previous, large bore service cartridge it replaced, the. 577 / 450 Martini-Henry.

Because the energy was roughly the same, the wounds caused by the expanding bullet of the. 303 were less severe than the those caused by the larger caliber, solid lead bullet used by the Martini-Henry.

In October that year he placed an order of 120 rifle-calibre Maxims using the same. 577 / 450 ammunition as the Martini-Henry rifles.

Most of the Boers had single-shot breech loading rifle such as the Westley Richards, the Martini-Henry, or the Remington Rolling Block.

The nitro based / shotgun powders were used in Kynock's. 577 / 450 drawn brass Martini-Henry cartridge cases well into the 1960s for the commercial market, and again were found to be very reliable, and being smokeless, eliminated fouling issues.

Back in 1879, however, it was generally found that in average hands, the. 577 / 450 Martini-Henry Mk2 ( although the most accurate of the Martinis in that calibre ever produced for service life ), that it was really only capable of hitting a man sized target out to 400yrds, this is because after 300yards the bullet fired from a. 45 " Martini goes sub-sonic and gradually loses speed thereafter, which in turn affects consistency and accuracy of the bullet in flight.

* Bira gun: a manually operated machine gun chambered in the same. 577 / 450 cartridge as the Martini-Henry rifle

*. 577 /. 450 Martini-Henry Rifles

There was also the. 577 / 450 Martini-Henry calibre Bira gun, based upon the Gardner gun but with dual barrels, an overhead drum magazine, and designed in Nepal.

By 1850 significant advances in firearms gave the Europeans a distinct advantage, with the six-shot Colt revolver, the Snider single shot breech-loading rifle and later the Martini-Henry rifle as well as rapid-fire rifles such as the Winchester rifle, becoming available.

* 1871-The Army adopts the Martini-Henry rifle, replacing the Snider.

The metallic-cartridge Gras was manufactured in response to the development of the metallic cartridge designed by Colonel Boxer in 1866 ( Boxer cartridge ), and the British 1870 Martini-Henry rifle.

Some 1, 000 Martini-Henry rifles, two cannons, 400, 000 rounds of ammunition, three colours, most of the 2, 000 draft animals and 130 wagons, impedimenta such as tinned food, biscuits, beer, overcoats, tents and other supplies were taken by the Zulu or left abandoned on the field.

The Mk2 Martini-Henry rifle, as used in the Zulu Wars, was sighted to 1, 800 yards.

Vereker, despite his injuries, shoots the Zulu wielding the Colours with his Martini-Henry cavalry carbine, ensuring that they fall into the Buffalo River, where they are washed away.

The troopers were equipped with Martini-Henry rifles, revolvers, seven-pound field guns and Maxim machine guns, as well as an electric searchlight ( which they later used to good effect to intimidate Matabele warriors shadowing the column ).

However, before this was complete, the decision was made to replace the Martini-Henry rifles with the. 303 calibre bolt-action magazine Lee-Metford which gave a considerably higher maximum rate of fire.

* Martini-Enfield: the. 303 calibre version of the Martini-Henry

The second lion was shot five times with a. 303 Lee Enfield, but it got up and charged him in severely crippled condition, whereupon he shot it three more times with the Martini-Henry carbine, twice in the chest, and once in the head, which killed it.

* Martini-Enfield: a conversion of the Martini-Henry rifle to. 303 calibre, from 1895.

* Martini-Henry, a rifle used by 19th century British empire soldiers

Like the Boers, British soldiers were equipped with breech-loading rifles ( the Martini-Henry ) but they were ( unlike the Boers ) professionals and the British Army had previously fought campaigns in difficult terrains and against elusive enemy such as the tribesmen of the Northern Territories in modern day Afghanistan.

The British and colonial troops were armed with the state-of-the-art Martini-Henry breech-loading rifle and two 7 pounder artillery pieces as well as a rocket battery.

Chelmsford believed that a force of over 4, 000, including 1, 000 British infantry armed with Martini-Henry rifles, as well as artillery, had more than sufficient firepower to overwhelm any attack by Zulus armed only with spears, cowhide shields and a few firearms such as Brown Bess muskets.

Following a competitive examination of 104 guns in 1866, the British decided to adopt the Peabody-derived Martini-Henry with trap-door loading in 1871.

The Martini-Henry was a breech-loading single-shot lever-actuated rifle adopted by the British Army, combining the dropping-block action first developed by Henry O. Peabody ( in his Peabody rifle ) and improved by the Swiss designer Friedrich von Martini, whose work in bringing the cocking and striker mechanism all within the receiver greatly improved the operation of the rifle, which new iteration was combined with the polygonal barrel rifling designed by Scotsman Alexander Henry.

Martini-Henry variants were used throughout the British Empire for 30 years.

During the Martini-Henry period in service, the British army were involved in a large number of colonial wars, most notably the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879.

The Nepalese produced a close copy of the British Martini-Henry incorporating certain Westley Richards improvements to the trigger mechanism but otherwise very similar to the British Mark II.

Unable to purchase Martini-Henry rifles from the British because their entire production was going to rearming British troops, Turkey purchased identical ( to the Mark I ) weapons from the Providence Tool Company in Providence, Rhode Island, USA ( the manufacturers of the predecessor Peabody rifle and used them effectively against the Russians in the Russo-Turkish War ( 1877 – 1878 ).

Vickers Armstrong also developed a SPAGG based on the chassis of the Mk. E 6-ton light tank / Dragon Medium Mark IV tractor, mounting a Vickers QF-1 " Pom-Pom " gun of 40 mm.

The Ford GT40 is a high performance British-American sports car and winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans four consecutive times, from 1966 to 1969 ( 1966 being the Mk II, 1967 the Mk IV, and 1968-1969 the oldest chassis design, the Mk I ).

In addition to that, the Mk IV became in 1967 so far the only racecar built entirely in the United States to win overall at Le Mans, whilst in the previous year Ford won with a British-built chassis and only an engine came from America.

Miles died in a testing accident in the J-car ( later to become the Mk IV ) at Riverside ( CA ) Raceway just two months later.

The team embarked on a complete redesign of the car, which became known as the Mk IV.

The Mk IV, a newer design with a Mk II engine but a different chassis and a different body, won the following year at Le Mans ( when four Mark IVs, three Mark IIs and three Mark Is raced ).

1967 Ford GT40 Mk IV, which was developed from the J-car

Therefore a more conventional but significantly more aerodynamic body was designed for the subsequent development of the J-car which was officially known as the GT40 Mk IV.

Ford GT40 Mk IV

The Mk IV was built around a reinforced J chassis powered by the same 7. 0 L engine as the Mk II.

Excluding the engine, the Mk IV was totally different from other GT40s, using a specific chassis and specific bodywork.

Dan Gurney often complained about the weight of the Mk IV, since the car was heavier than the Ferraris he raced.

Image: Webley_Military_Mark_IV_1793. jpg | Webley Mk IV in. 380 S & W

* Blackburn B-46 Firebrand TF Mk. IV ( 1945 )-single-engine, single-seat propeller naval strike figher

Avro-built Cierva C. 19 Mk. IV Autogiro

Designs included the. 303 " Mk III, IV & V and the. 455 " Mk III " Manstopper " cartridges.

** 3. 303 in ( 7. 7 mm ) Vickers GO machine guns ( two in Bristol Mk IV dorsal turret, one in port wing ).

Vast numbers of ex-military SMLE Mk III rifles were sporterised post-WWII to create cheap, effective hunting rifles, and the Lee-Enfield bolt system is used in the M10 and No 4 Mk IV rifles manufactured by Australian International Arms.

* Australian International Arms M10 and No 4 Mk IV hunting / sporting rifles