MARTINI RIFLE BY J.R. BLAKE??

MIKE WISKEY

I just got this from the auction side, a cute little martini in .22 hornet. The underside of the barrel is marked "J.R. Blake -4-89 Fresno, Ca."
The top side is marked "Cal. .22 Hornet Blake Rifle"



"Looks nice. Is it standard Hornet"...............yup, standard hornet. dst work fine, now to see if it shoots. btw it is internal hammer fired, not a striker like most martini's.

charliemeyer007

Looks nice. Is it standard Hornet or perhaps a K type? Like the double set trigger.

rufe-snow

It looks like a off hand Schutzen rifle to me. They were in common use, years before the 22 hornet saw the light of day. In the late 20's.

Less some guy had the urge, to make a modern replica of a Schutzen?

MIKE WISKEY

"It looks like a off hand Schutzen rifle to me."..........yes it does but it is way to light for that o.a. lenght is 38". maybe a rook rifle rebarreled by this 'Blake"?? no marking on the action at all.

Hawk Carse

Probably started out as a light hunting rifle for roe deer.
Lots of looted European target and sporting rifles converted into varmint guns.
What did Mr Blake do for sights? I don't see iron sights or scope bases.

mrmike08075

So they way I understand it...

Larger known named companies like anshutz would by up all the various boutique parlor guns and guild guns and hunting pieces and market them...

Most were converted or re-barreled or altered or rechambered to meet more modern demands and trends...

Some were simply cleaned up and sold as parlor guns or hunting pieces if the cartridge was still popular and in favor and readily availble.

Many were simply refinished and dressed up and rechambered.

Quite a lot of actions were set aside for customization by in house gunsmiths and guild workers...

Many actions were sold to other gunsmiths or firms were they were privately converted or altered to customers specs.

A lot of these guns ended up in new Australia and south Africa and the United States.

It's not uncommon on a gun with a new bbl to see that the reciever and stock are bereft of or scrubbed of markings.

I would think yours was a youths hunting rifle - small bore European caliber - for a wealthy family.

May have been a shutzenfest gun for youth sports shooting and gun club competitions.

I don't know enough to assign a definitive lineage - many on these guns had their primary markings on the bbl and impressed on the stock (not on the reciever)

I would think yours started out in Austria or Germany (Belgium and Spain and the British isles possible but not probable)

I draw the analogy of Mauser receivers in the United States post WWII - it's often impossible to discern the actions origins or its donor rifle.

The history can be lost or obscured when it's repurposed.

Someone surely is an expert on your gun type - but not i.

I hope that this was somewhat helpful - at last as background info.

Mike

TRAP55

Mike, Jack Blake was my good friend and gunsmith mentor. Sadly he's no longer with us. His specialty was single shot rifles, usually in varmint calibers.
He didn't just barrel that rifle, he built it from an action. I was probably the one that finished the lever. He did a lot of Schutzen rifles on 1885 HiWalls, Ballards, and Farquharson actions too.
Jack would have died a millionaire if he ever took the time to get a patent.
I helped him build a bolt action .50BMG before any one had heard of such a thing, and the muzzle brake that Barrett uses was designed and built in his shop. The .17Mach2 rimfire was another of his inventions.
Email me with better pics, may be able to tell you more about it.

MIKE WISKEY

"Email me with better pics, may be able to tell you more about it."'''''''''''I would love to but the measaging here doesn't seem to work. I do have some .44 brass on the auction side so you could "ask a question" there. that seems to WORK
http://www.GunBroker.com/item/654005996

(same user name)
edit; I also posted this on gunboards under the martini forum with more pixs

TRAP55

quote:Originally posted by charliemeyer007
Looks nice. Is it standard Hornet or perhaps a K type? Like the double set trigger.

Charlie reminded me about Jack and his love for wildcats, I would do a chamber cast on that one. No sights tells me that was one of maybe a hundred project guns he was working on. They got stuck in the back of a safe, and 6mos later he would pull it out and change something on it.

MIKE WISKEY

I HAVE TEST FIRED IT AND IT IS A STRAIGHT .22 HORNET. I JUST FABRICATED A SCOPE MOUNT AND WILL TRY OUT SOME HAND LOADS TOMORROW. THERE ARE SEVERAL SCREW HOLES IN THE TOP OF THE BARREL AS WELL AS A DOVE TAIL FOR A REAR SIGHT, NO PROVISION FOR A FROM SIGHT THO.





"Remember that one well!".............great!, I'd be most interested in anything you can tell me about the rifle or Mr. Blake. Thanks

TRAP55

Remember that one well! Original barrel was in 5.6x35R Vierling.
That was one of the first he used his homemade engraving machine on, where it says "Blake Rifle".
Made from an old dentist drill, then modified it so it could be used freehand, or as a duplicator, like a stock duplicator works. You could transfer from written word, or copy fine old world Austrian engraving.