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Life and Times of a Grand Old Rifle
Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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I received a copy of Malcom Cobbs' book, "The Martini Henry Notebook" for Christmas. It's a wonderful book which I've already read twice and am now working on a third reading. He wanders about a bit, but does it with such good humor and with such authority that one hardly notices that one is learning things that one didn't know one needed to know. Privately printed and a bit pricy to acquire, but (IMHO) worth every penny and then some. Anyone else have it?
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Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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Some of the more interesting points he makes:

1) Whether or not the 24th quartermasters denied ammunition to Durnford's men is a moot point since as Cobb submits, none of the colonial troops (native or otherwise) had any use whatsoever for the only cartridges they could provide (at that point in the action! See #5)

2) Since Newton's third law dictates that either the mass of a bullet or its velocity has to increase in order for the recoil of a rifle to increase and the former can't happen and the latter can only increase marginally until the fouling of the barrel (which will cause an increase in the velocity a bit) is cleared by subsequent rounds, the Martini recoil remains pretty much the same whether it's the fifth round or the fiftieth round. The shoulder just gets sorer.

3) Cobb states that the first generation of the MK V (?) ammo box (with which the Brits in Zululand were equipped) was notorious for the fact that the handles on the tin liner tore loose from the tin foil without providing access to the contents. Not a big issue to a man with a bayonet, but it still must have been rather disconcerting to a rifleman down to his last few rounds. It also could account for the number of loose handles found at the defense perimeter.

4) The stock of the Martini is poorly designed in that its shape forces the shooter to put his thumb right in front of his own nose. That fact and the subsequent nosebleeds accounts for a lot of the Teenie's reputation for vicious recoil.

5) Cobb suggests that the empty unfired Martini brass that Mitford found was probably not a result of Zulus scavenging the powder and lead after the fact, but rather from "friendlies" armed with muzzle-loaders otherwise out of their proper powder and ball during the battle. Not a good fit perhaps in an Enfield but better than nothing at all.

6) The long range volley fire of the Martinis probably didn't lay out the Zulu in windrows at all. The Zulu were as likely ducking down into the grass in the two seconds or so between the muzzle flashes and the actually arrival of the bullets. They later claimed that they did it for the cannon fire, so why not the rifle volleys as well asks Cobb. Several Zulus said afterwards that most of their casualties from rifle fire occurred only after the perimeter had collapsed, when the defenders resorted to independent firing. Perhaps fire control doctrine carried over from the days when the Brown Bess reigned had its disadvantages in the Martini era. Or maybe it was just complacently expected that the Zulu would fight fairly like the French did at Waterloo or the Xhosa did at Centane (or the British did at Bunker Hill). Instead, they ducked!
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Life and Times of a Grand Old Rifle
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