While keeping my eye on the selected blue wildebeest bull, I cautiously eased into the center of the acacia thorn bush to gain a rest. The thorns removed my hat and poked at me through my shirtsleeves. Finding a decent rest, I sighted down the barrel of the heavy rifle and tried to remember breathing, sight picture, and bubble level. The bull was about two hundred yards away and I had already adjusted the vernier sight for this distance. Another animal moved from behind him and I started to squeeze the trigger.
      This tale had its beginning at a gun show in Raleigh, North Carolina. I chanced upon an exhibitor who had a large frame Martini-Henry 577/.450 that had been converted into a 28-gauge shotgun. The receiver was immaculate and I cringed at what the rifle might have been worth if the rest of it had been in that shape before the conversion. After some haggling I purchased the piece for a future

?577/.450 Martini- Rim diameter- .746, Case Length 2.34.

project. The receiver was stamped with the Victorian crown and was built by Enfield in 1873. It was of “short lever” design. The shotgun was disassembled; I cleaned and oiled the action, (which was in perfect condition) and put it away for the time being. It languished in a plastic bag for over a year when a project came to mind. A friend and client (I am a veterinarian) had called and inquired if I would be interested in an African hunt. His son and several others were going to bow hunt; he was planning on a rifle hunt and wanted a partner. I agreed, and decided to use the Martini-Henry action for a .50/90 Sharps Straight black powder cartridge rifle.

?50-90 Sharps Straight- Rim Diameter- .663, Case Length- 2.50.”

      The first and foremost question was would the action be large enough to handle the length and size of the .50/90 Sharps Straight cartridge? I could find no information on whether this had been tried before. The original 577/.450 was very close in rim diameter and only slightly shorter than the .50/90 Sharps. The problem was clearance. Would the straight-sided, slightly longer .50/90 function through the Martini? I purchased a single .50/90 cartridge case at the next gun show and sprang for a semi-custom RCBS flat-nosed bullet mold. Designated #50-515FN this mold drops a bullet weighing close to 545 grains when cast of 1-30 tin to lead alloy. I made up a dummy round and even though I did not have a barrel, it looked as if there would be enough clearance when the round was loaded and ejected. I decided that the project was a go.
      An engineer friend (and former gunsmith) and I had recently become interested in BPCR rifle shooting. While he still had reservations about the black powder aspect, I had decided to jump in with both feet. He had built a .38/55 on a Browning B78 action and had used a Green Mountain barrel blank. While he initially used smokeless powder, that rifle turned out to be deadly accurate. Based on that experience I purchased a #5 profile, .50 caliber, tapered octagon 1-24 twist barrel from Green Mountain for my .50/90 project. In due course the blank arrived; I was impressed with the weight. I had decided on a thirty-inch barrel length and planned on turning the barrel down to a half octagon profile.
      The first order of business was to lap the barrel. This is tedious work but I believe it is worth the effort, as I think that leading is reduced and clean up is much faster. It is also better to do this on a blank as both chamber and crown ends are unaffected by possible lapping rod damage. The barrel was then placed in a four-jawed chuck and centered with the bore. The threading bit was ground to 55 degrees, as this was the British standard at the time. The blank was threaded and indexed to the receiver so that the flats were properly oriented (a little tricky for an amateur like myself). Satisfied so far, I ordered a .50/90 chamber reamer and headspace gauges from Pacific Tool. These folks are always very kind and Dave Kiff is very helpful. I called George Peterson at Treebone Carving and ordered a semi-fancy stock and forearm. While waiting for the tooling to arrive the barrel was cut to thirty inches, turned to a half octagon profile and then crowned. The chamber reamer came in first and the barrel was carefully chambered for .50/90 Sharps. The ejector cuts were then made with a combination of milling machine and file work. Very little alteration was done on the ejector, though it may have originally been altered for the 28 gauge shot shell. The true test was now at hand. Would the clearance cut on the bolt be adequate for the larger .50/90? The dummy round was easily loaded into the chamber. When the lever was operated smartly it tossed the heavy round clear of the rifle. A lot of worry evaporated at that moment.

?The completed .50-90 Sharps/Martini sporting rifle.

      I had already ordered a set of sights from Buffalo Arms. A short-range Ukrainian vernier sight and an oversize Lee Shaver hooded front sight were chosen. The barrel was placed in the mill vice and a dovetail was cut for the front sight. By this time the stock had arrived. One of Treebone Carving’s Winchester-style buttplates was tediously installed. As it would inevitably happen to occur, one of the buttplate screws landed right over the buttstock through-bolt hole. A call to George for help fixed that problem with a dowel plug. The semi-finished stock was then fitted to the receiver with a little help from Acraglas and then rasped and rough sanded. I put the semi-finished forearm in the mill vise to finish fit it to the octagon barrel and again with a little Acraglas help achieved a satisfactory job. A forearm lug was made out of one-inch round tool steel stock, a forearm ferrule was made of brass on the lathe and a single screw attached the forearm. Initially I had planned on simply screwing the vernier sight to the wrist of the stock. This worried George and he suggested inletting a base for the sight into the wrist and then screwing the sight to this. He advised me that stock breakage would be less likely. This was done and I was ready to test fire.
      Initial results with black powder were disheartening to say the least. I had a paper plate-size group at 100 yards but the rifle at times seemed as if it were trying to group. I went to low-pressure loads of bulky smokeless powder and the first 5-shot group was impressive. That gave me enough confidence to play around with black powder loads. I finally ended up with Federal 215M primers under 95 grains of Swiss 1 1/2 FG black powder. A .030 over-powder wad with about .030 compression was used. SPG lube was used on the sized RCBS bullet. The bullet is lightly crimped and can be turned by hand with a little torque but not pulled. This rifle loves this load. It will consistently hit our 12-inch 200-yard gong and our 16-inch 300-yard gong. And there is no doubt about the hits when that heavy slug strikes steel! The load chronographs about 1325 fps and with the sun at your back you can actually watch the bullet through binoculars arcing into the target. My best group at 300 yards was 1 1/8 by 2 inches but it was only 3 shots as I ran out of loaded rounds. I sent the

?300-yard black powder group with .50-90 Martini.

receiver to Don Menk at Color Case Co. for case hardening and the stock and forearm to my brother. Although a total hobbyist when it comes to stock finishing, his work puts most factory finishes to shame. He is slow and meticulous. He uses a combination product that is part tung oil, part urethane and achieves a satin finish that is simply gorgeous. The casehardening job was beautiful and when I put the rifle back together it weighed almost exactly 12 pounds. The recoil is a hard push and while not pleasant it is certainly tolerable. If I were hunting buffalo 130 years ago I would have left two more inches on the barrel and kept the full octagon. This .50/90 round is the famous “Big Fifty” and can be fearsome on both ends.
      Back to Africa. With a good sight picture and clear target I continued my trigger squeeze. The rifle boomed and I felt the heavy recoil. I felt good about the shot. The professional hunter, Greg Edwards of Magersfontein Safaris first exclaimed, “Are you shooting black powder?” He had not realized that it was not smokeless and the smoke partially obscured his vision of the bullet striking the blue wildebeest. He told me that I had hit the bull but that it had moved just as I shot. The herd ran off but it was obvious that one animal was acting strangely. We could not see blood on him but Greg was certain that was the animal originally targeted. After 1 1/2 hours of fruitless stalks we finally got within 200 yards again. I found a decent rest in another acacia and carefully aimed at the point of the bull’s slightly quartering shoulder. We could hear a solid hit as the mortally wounded animal ran about 110 yards before collapsing. Close inspection revealed that the first bullet had run about 1 foot under the hide of the side of the bull before exiting. A necropsy revealed that it had struck the rumen but had just bruised it without penetration. There was no stomach or intestinal penetration. The second bullet struck just to the lower inside of the point of the shoulder and entered the chest cavity damaging lung and entering the heart. The skinner found the slug in the clotted blood in the chest cavity. The original 545-grain cast bullet weighed 462 grains on my powder scale. It retained 85% of its original weight. Not bad performance for a homemade rifle and bullet combo.
      Two days later we were able to stalk with some difficulty to within 200 yards of a herd of black wildebeest. After glassing the herd Greg pointed out the best bull. I found a solid rest in another thorn bush (this was my first trip to Africa and it seems to me that all the trees have thorns) and got a nice broadside sight picture on the wildebeest. At the shot the herd ran in a circle and threw up a huge cloud of dust. A single animal led the group in a mad dash away and about 300 yards away threw up another dust cloud as they ran in another circle behind some brush and then took off for another part of South Africa. I had not heard the bullet strike and neither had my PH. I had thought to myself that after all the commotion that the lead animal certainly could not have been the bull at which I fired, as he must have been running 40 mph. Greg told me that he thought that was the bull we had chosen and that he felt he was hit hard. I was astounded. How could an animal possibly run, that had been hit with any kind of solid strike from that heavy a bullet, as I had just witnessed? But sure enough we called the trackers up and they found good blood. We rode ahead where we had seen the herd make the second circle and found my bull. It was a mid-thorax “pass-through” double lung shot. He was dead when we got there.
      All hunters were well pleased with our South African adventure. We were quite surprised at the difficult approaches and the wariness of the game. An added, unexpected bonus of the trip involved the location. Magersfontein was the site of the June 11, 1899 battle of the Boer War. A monument and museum is right across the dirt road from the Edwards ranch. I remembered reading a history of the battle and the arms used in an old Guns and Ammo Annual. The museum held several Martini-Henry rifles as well as some 1895 and 1896 Mausers used in the battle. The British also used the Martini-Henry rifle almost exclusively in the Zulu uprisings. There is no way of knowing whether or not the rifle before me now was ever involved in any hostilities, but that does not stop the chills that run down my spine just thinking about the historical possibilities.