Good deal on a wall-hanger
Back a decade or so ago, Atlanta Cutlery and International Military Antiques got the arms score of the century when they talked their way into buying everything accumulated in the Old Palace of Lagan Silekhana in Katmandu, Nepal. They picked up pallets of British flintlocks, Martinis, oddball steampunk looking machine guns, and only God knows what else. It seems the Nepalese never threw anything away.
They were stacked like cordwood with little protection from the elements
In the past several years I’ve stocked up on a few items that came from the Katmandu cache including some Revolutionary War era flints, a bunch of .69 caliber Brown Bess musket balls, and a Martini or two (Zulu Dawn, anyone?)
And now it seems they are ridding themselves of some “untouched” quality Gahendra rifles for $195.
But of course, these 130~ year old guns were in very much less than arsenal storage for the better part of a century so to say they are non-shooters is likely an understatement.
Nepalese Gahendra Martini Rifle. This one is in nice condition. The Wallhangers for $195, not so much
From IMA’s description:
The Martini-Henry Gahendra was based on an 1869 Westley Richards patented design, this unique and extremely rare early breech loading military rifle 577/450 Martini-Henry calibre was produced under the direction of General Gahendra Rana in the 1880’s to provide Ghurka regiments with what appeared to be the latest British Military Rifle. An ingenious design, it really surpassed the standard Martini in that its entire action was removable as one unit for ease of servicing or exchange. Production however caused massive logistic problems and by 1894 the Ghurkas were dangerously short of viable .450 cal. breechloaders to face ever growing threats from the east. Finally the British came to the rescue with a delivery of several thousand Martini short lever rifles in late 1894 and even more long lever Martini Rifles in 1908. The over-complicated Gahendra Rifle was thereafter basically shelved, the void in up-to-date arms having been met. Always considered the rarest Martini variety of all, the Gahendra Rifle has a characteristic loading lever but in other respects closely resembles the standard Martini externally.
