The Best That Never Was 2 (Prototypes)

[Vespers War]

Going for something a bit older, Jonathan at the Royal Armouries did a video last week about efforts to attach an external magazine to the Martini-Henry rifle to make it a manual repeater and thus not completely obsolete in the late 1880s. It's actually a pretty ingenious little device with a feed arm that pushes a round out of the box magazine and into the chamber of the rifle when it functions properly. There were versions for both the .577/450 round and the .402 that was never officially adopted because .303 was picked instead. The follower has a little catch at the bottom of the magazine so it can be locked down while rounds are being loaded, then released once the magazine is closed. In theory it could be dump loaded in probably two actions (one to lock the follower and open the mag, one to dump rounds and close the magazine and release the follower), but with the rimmed ammunition in use that might increase the risk of rim lock, so careful loading (one action per loaded round) is more likely except in case of emergency.

Martini-Henry with Harston device, .577/450
Wt 3.96 kg, Ammo 5+1, ROF LA, Dam 3, Pen Nil, Bulk 8, SS 3, Rng 101

Martini-Henry with Harston device, .402
Wt 4.02 kg, Ammo 7+1, ROF LA, Dam 2, Pen Nil, Bulk 8, SS 2, Rng 78

Fire, Fusion & Steel wants a longer barrel for the .402 round, which only drops from 85 grains of black powder to 80 - at 105 cm (instead of the actual 84.4 cm), the range would be back up to 101 with Dam 3 and SS 3.

Probably not many of these were made as they were never adopted, but like an Alofs device they could make an interesting little bit of kit for a PC with eclectic tastes.