My IMA order arrived

[moparsbob]

I'd read about the Royal Nepalese Armory and the purchase of same by the Alanta Cutlery/IMA folks a few years back, before I discovered HI Khukuris and this website (Thanks to reading Larry Correia's _Monster_Hunters_ books where the protagonist mentions his HI Ganga Ram Special). So I decided that I should get one of the older longleaf khukuris before they were all gone, and I decided to go through IMA instead of Atlanta Cutlery, because I wanted to order a couple of other items from IMA, and they also had a "hand pick" option, which wasn't available ordering through Atlanta Cutlery (at least, I didn't see one). My order arrived a few days ago, and I just got all of the nasty old cosmoline (or whatever it was) removed from the longleaf. It has numerous scratches on the blade, some pretty deep, and various forging marks. The handle is only 3 1/2" long on the bottom edge, and 3 3/4" on the top, with only a partial tang and no metal buttplate. The ring on the handle is much nearer the butt, so that it falls between the 4th and 5th fingers when you hold it, not between the 3rd and 4th fingers like the HI handles. While the handle has some dings and chips, it is still very solid. So here's my piece of history:






And here's the inscription on the spine:



This khukuri is about 18.5" from the tip to the midpoint of the handle end, the spine is about 7/16" from the handle to the bend in the spine, and then tapers to about 3/8" at 1/3 of the way from the bend to the tip, to 1/4" at 2/3 and about 1/8" at the tip. The weight is 27.2 ounces. It did not come with a sheath. The blade is interesting in that it is sort of a T-spine from the handle to the bend, where the two lines of the sword of shiva are actually steps down, so while the blade is 7/16" thick at the spine, it is less than 5/16" immediately below the bottom line of the sword of shiva design. The blade is somewhat concave from the spine to the edge, but I wouldn't really call it a fuller. I would be very grateful if one of the Devanagari experts could give me a translation of the spine inscription.

 

[Moonw]

A beauty! Enjoy it.

 

[Bawanna]

Mork calling kamidog, mork calling kamidog.

Mr. Mopar needs some translation here forthwith.

Mork out.

 

[moparsbob]

The other items that I ordered from IMA were a cleaning rod (which was missing) and a socket bayonet for my Martini-Henry rifle:

The rifle with the socket bayonet attached is 5 ft 11 5/8" long!



This is a very uncommon Martini-Henry, made by National Arms and Ammunition Company in London in 1880:



The rifle has no Devanagari markings anywhere, so apparently it was never sent to the colonies like many of these were. It also has no import marks of any kind, so it's history is a mystery.

And here is the socket bayonet I just got for it from IMA:



The first pic shows the original british markings, I believe the Crown over the "E" indicates Enfield, and the 62 indicates an 1862 manufacture date. I don't know what the "WD" indicates?
The second two pics show the devanagari inscriptions on the other two sides of the triangular bayonet. Once again, I'd be very grateful if one of the devanagari experts could translate these inscriptions for me.

 

[Bawanna]

That is insanely cool! Rifle looks in really good condition. Did you get the ammunition from them as well?

That's a very sweet package right there. Love every bit of that.

I have a Greener 14 1/2 ga single shot shotgun that has a very similar looking action. It was built primarily for prison guards in Australia.

Never got a shell for it yet, I'm told they can be found, pricey but I'll get one one of these days.

 

[J W Bensinger]

That's a very nice longleaf.

 

[moparsbob]

The .577-450 ammo is very hard to find, and is not cheap. I bought two boxes of 10 from Buffalo Arms, and they were made in 1948 (6/48 stamped on the box) and are loaded with cordite and a 480 grain paper-patched soft lead bullet. I need to do a thorough disassembly and inspection of the rifle before firing it, but it seems to be in pretty good shape, considering that it's 135 years old. The bore, even though dark, looks to have decent enough rifling left. Every other source I found wanted at least $60 for a box of 10 cartridges, so I was happy when I found it at Buffalo Arms for less than that:

http://www.buffaloarms.com/577_450_Martini_Henry_Ammunition_it-158098.aspx?CAT=4447

 

[ndoghouse]

Dork here!...uh was that Mork? OK im on it. Nice blade. It is a shree 3 chandra from Ranas rein. More later. Lemme get my reference material on the bayo markings and ill get back to ya. Nice you got the bayonet too! I gotta get me one of them Martinis.

 

[DarthTaco123]

That'd be a pretty compelling reason to learn reloading, looks like a blast to shoot!

 

[philllll]

You got some nice toys there, Bob! :thumbup:

 

[moparsbob]

Reloading for the .577-450 is tough, because there is no reloadable brass available anywhere, other than from these old cartridges. There are some youtube videos showing how to form substitute .577-450 cases from 24 gauge all-brass shotgun shells. But people have had these re-formed cases blow up on them because the case head is not nearly as heavily constructed as the real rifle cartridges, so you would need to really keep the pressure down if you go that route. I already reload for a lot of different calibers, but I'm not even sure that the correct size berdan primers are available for these old cartridge cases, and reloading berdan-primed cases is a real pain anyway. I haven't got to that point yet, but at least I have 20 cartridges to play with, and hopefully they won't all split at the neck (or blow up ) when I fire them. But given that these cartridges are almost 70 years old, I won't be surprised if they do split.

 

[Bawanna]

I think it's way cool just to have the cartridges for it with it. I doubt I'd ever shoot it myself. Other than to say you did it and admittedly I would want to shoot it but I doubt I would.

Just be a much loved and often fondled wall hanger to me. I have several in that class.

 

[Gehazi]

very cool artifacts, and you got a real winner with that long leaf

 

[gurkha berserka]

I still haven't bought one of those yet. Yours is gorgeous and a great piece of history.

 

[Blender345]

I'm jealous. I bought one hand picked from ima back in December and there's severe pitting along one side of the blade. I was pretty upset seeing as I paid for hand select.

 

[Steven65]

Reloading for the .577-450 is tough, because there is no reloadable brass available anywhere, other than from these old cartridges.

Martini's are very popular here in South Africa and if memory serves there is a company here making the case from bar-stock. I can investigate if you are interested.

 

[BFH44]

sweet - the rifle and ammo to match - I really like that bayonet

eric

 

[Shavru]

Martini's are very popular here in South Africa and if memory serves there is a company here making the case from bar-stock. I can investigate if you are interested.

That would make a lot of sense that it is still so popular there. And I don't know if it would be fiscally reasonable but it certainly would be great to know if there is any available. I would love to have a few dozen reloadable cases if I could afford them.

 

[Bookie]

Bertram used to turn brass for the Martini. It is expensive, though. I bought some of their brass for my Sharps .45 110. I'd like a few cases to load black powder for my Nepalese '78 Martini from AC. Great fun restoring it and worth every penny paid.

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[Shavru]

Ouch a semi-reputable website for gunparts and ammo that is named for a carnival park ride area wants $141 for a box of 20 Bertram .577-450 brass.

Guess I might need to win the lottery before I will be firing one of those much I will keep looking, MUST be something a bit more reasonable out there somewhere.