Stocking the Rare Stahl Martin

The voice at the other end of the line said: "I saw a photo of one site Wo mine? I responded that, yes, I would, but first I had a few questions for the caller. The first thing I wanted to know was which Martini was it, and what was the nature of the work in question? The caller said it was a "large Martini," and I immediately thought it was one of those made in the tens of thousands for the British army during the halcyon days of the Empire.

When I asked, he said: "Yes, sort of, but it has a funny-looking curved trigger guard, double-set triggers, and is fully engraved." My interest perked up to anew level, because I knew he was describing one of the Martinis made in Germany and Austria by a myriad of craftsmen during the later part of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Though I had custom stocked many Martinis’from the Cadet to the large military Martinis and everything in between’I had never had an opportunity to work on one of these Martinis.

In fact, I had only actually seen and held one of these Martinis once in my career. This represented anew challenge. After asking more questions, I learned that my new client had purchased the action many years before and had recently had a 32-inch partoctagon Badger barrel fitted to it. It was chambered in .40-65. That should have rung a bell with me, but it didn’t until later on in the project.

The barreled action arrived a few days later, and I began the research I always do before making a stock for something with which I’m unfamiliar. I reviewed John Grant’s Single Shot Rifles, along with Frank De Haas’ book of the same name. After reviewing these and everything else I could find on the subject, I concluded that I was dealing with a System Stahl action.

Since we see so few of these rifles, I think it’s prudent to quote what Grant has to say about it: The single shot was…the result of several different patents which were first issued in the United States. It is slightly ironic, however, that this type of action reached its greatest development in continental Europe. There were so many conversions and perversions on the Peabody-Martini action made in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria that it is impossible to show them all.

The Stahl Martini is perhaps the best known of these various systems. It featured a demountable lower tang and quickly removable breechblock…. The set triggers as used on the Martini actions of German and Swiss make are the finest set triggers I have ever used. They show thought and workmanship of a high order. These, like so many of the actions, barrels, etc., were largely handmade, and so are beautifully finished on all parts, and show a great variety of systems used.

I next sent a sketch, developed from photos in the John Grant book, to the client, along with several photos of stock blanks. The photos and sketch were returned a few days later. The client said the sketch I prepared had too much drop and he asked if I could accommodate a higher nose-to-heel stock line. Upon getting his instructions to decrease the drop significantly, the thought occurred to me that he was probably a silhouette shooter. The choice of the .40-65 cartridge

Right and far The softwood pattern is then duplicated in the hardwood blank chosen for the finished stock. reinforced that thinking. With that I recalled having read that the big Stahl Martini was not designed for heavy-recoil cartridges, as the full thrust of recoil was borne by the breechblock lever pin. I immediately placed a call to the client and reported this to him. He said he was not a silhouette shooter; he just wanted the rifle for plinking with light loads and to hang on the wall of his den.

I instructed him that, should the rifle ever change hands for any reason, he was obligated to tell the new owner that the action should be limited to the use of light loads’with the emphasis on light! Once we agreed on the action’s limitations, I set about designing a stock that met the client’s requirements and yet still had an authentic Germanic appearance. I prepared a few more sketches, and when I had one that seemed to fill the bill, I sent it off for review and approval.

This time, the customer said it was exactly what he had in mind. Once the design had been approved, I started on the softwood pattern, which would eventually be duplicated in the hardwood the customer had chosen. I transferred the sketch to two pieces of poplar glued together, giving me a thickness of 1-1/2 inches. I then glued on a third piece of poplar roughly shaped like the proposed cheek piece. I cut out the profile on the band saw and the serious fitting began.

Once I had the very rough pattern fitted to the frame using epoxy to get an exact fit, I added the steel buttplate to give me the outline for shaping the heel/toe line. I then began shaping the body of the stock using Bondo and epoxy to get the shape just right. I try to make the pattern as exact as I can, because I’ve learned through experience that the more exact the pattern is, the easier the machined stock is to fit, thus saving valuable time.

One of the things I immediately noticed when I began the task of inletting the buttstock was the peculiar Since the Martini’s forend incorporated some complex curves, the author made a pattern of it as well, which was later duplicated in hardwood. (continued on page 22) method of attaching it to the action. Two screws were inserted through the top tang.

There’s nothing unusual there, of course, but instead of finding a similar attachment on the bottom tang (trigger plate), there was an unusual locking arrangement with a baseplate installed into the bottom of the stock. To this, an engagement spur was attached by rotating a lever located on the lower tang 180 degrees. I’m still wondering how’or why’anyone could come up with such a complicated arrangement.

The base plate was missing, incidentally, and I had to make one and then fit it perfectly so the contraption would work. I’ve seen evidence of over-engineering by German gunmakers before, especially

AMARAD6 Armorer’s Course, AMG Version (pick up from 4/07 issue)

AMARAD6 Armorer’s Course, AMG Version (pick up from 4/07 issue)

with shotguns and shotgun/rifle combinations, and this was yet another good example of such. While I usually make the forend directly in hardwood, in this case, I made a pattern of it as well, because the front of the frame where the forend butts up was a series of compound curves that would be difficult to fit.

Once the patterns for the buttstock and forend were finished, I shipped them off to my old f of Shulin Stock Works to be duplicated in h client’s choice of wood was a very unusual looking piece of English walnut. When the machined parts were returned to me, I knew that the customer had made an excellent choice. This stock was going to be a real eyecatcher. Even though I used epoxy to get an exact fit on the forend pattern, it still took me more than two hours of fitting to perfectly inlet the machined forend.

With that finished, I completed the shaping of the final walnut parts using the usual array of rasps and files, and then I sanded everything silky smooth. Following that, I finished the stock using a 50- 50 combination of Tru Oil and mineral spirits. The stock was then checkered and waxed several times, using Johnson’s Paste Wax, giving the finished wood a wonderful sheen. turned to the customer, he reported that he was more than pleased with the outcome. When the completed rifle was re- I