Update: Martini-type rifle production in Afghanistan

Abstract

This short research note serves as an update to the authors’ 2020 article examining the history of Martini-type rifles in Afghanistan between 1878 and 1925 (Arms & Armour, Vol. 17 No. 1). Ongoing research has permitted the revision of production estimates for Martini-type rifles produced by the Kabul Arsenal, and new estimates are presented herein. The earlier typology is also slightly modified for ease of use.

Keywords:

• Martini–Henry
• Afghanistan
• British firearms
• rifles
• arms manufacturing

Acknowledgements

This article is derived from the ongoing work of the Kabul Arsenal Research Project, the outputs of which underpin many publications by the authors and their colleagues. More information can be found at: https://www.kabularsenal.com/

The authors would like to extend their thanks, in particular, to Charles Randall.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Note that, in this update, ‘rifle’ is used in the generic sense to refer to weapons known to many researchers, curators, and collectors of Martini-type rifles as ‘rifles’, ‘short rifles’, ‘rifle-carbines’, ‘carbines’, and so on.

2 N.R. Jenzen-Jones, Vernon Easley & Miles Vining, ‘Panāh-pur: A History of the Martini rifle in Afghanistan, 1878–1925’, Arms & Armour, 17.1 (2020), 80–106.

3 See: <https://www.kabularsenal.com/>.

4 These findings have been summarised in: Vernon Easley, ‘The Challenge of Deriving Accurate Kabul Factory Rifle Production Numbers’, unpublished background paper (2023a).

5 A summary of the earlier typology can be found in Table 2 of the original article (Jenzen-Jones, Easley & Vining, 2020, p. 91). A revised version is presented in Table 1 of this update.

6 Jenzen-Jones, Easley & Vining, 2020, 101.

7 Jenzen-Jones, Easley & Vining, 2020, 99–100.

8 Jenzen-Jones, Easley & Vining, 2020, 101.

9 Jenzen-Jones, Easley & Vining, 2020, 93–95.

10 This includes 900 Type 1 rifles which were later reworked to become Type 5 rifles between 1916 and 1917. Following full refurbishment, the authors consider the later Type 5 rifles as a separate pattern that is distinct from their ‘donor’ Type 1 predecessors.

11 Vernon Easley, ‘Afghan Martini–Henry Serial Numbers: A Working Assessment’, unpublished background paper (2023b), 1.

12 Jenzen-Jones, Easley & Vining, 2020, 95–98.

13 Easley, 2023b, 3–4.

14 Jenzen-Jones, Easley & Vining, 2020, 99.

15 Easley, 2023b, 5.

16 Jenzen-Jones, Easley & Vining, 2020, 99–101.

17 Easley, 2023b, 6–7.

18 For a more comprehensive explanation of the methodology behind our estimated production numbers, see: N.R. Jenzen-Jones, Vernon Easley & Charles Randall, ‘Rifles Under Rahman: An Updated History of Martini-type Rifle Production in Afghanistan’, HBSA Journal (forthcoming).

19 This database included “235 extant examples of rifles produced at the Kabul Arsenal” (Jenzen-Jones, Easley & Vining, 83).

20 See, for example, Sir Thomas Salter Pyne’s statements in: Field, ‘An Afghan Gun Factory’, Daily Mail (26 March 1898), p. 29; Liverpool Weekly Courier, ‘Sir Salter Pyne’s Kabul Experiences’ (30 April 1898), 7; and Englishman’s Overland Mail, ‘Return of Sir Salter Pyne’ (6 October 1898), p. 5, amongst others. The contemporary reports generally “indicate production increasing from an output of 10–15 rifles per day in the early years, to 25 per day in later years” (Jenzen-Jones, Easley & Vining, 92); claims which the authors now believe are at best descriptions of production capacity, and in some cases were simply fabricated (Easley, 2023a).

21 Indian Army Intelligence Branch, Military Report on Afghanistan (Simla: Division of the Chief of the Staff, 1906).

22 Jenzen-Jones, Easley & Vining, 2020, 92.

23 Easley, 2023a, 5.

24 Easley, 2023a, 5.

25 Easley, 2023a.

26 Jenzen-Jones, Easley & Vining, 105.

27 Easley, 2023a, 9.

28 Note: Type 1 and Type 2 production preceded the marking of receivers with dates of manufacture. Date marking of receivers began ca. 1896.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

N. R. Jenzen-Jones

N.R. Jenzen-Jones is a technical intelligence specialist and historian focusing on arms and munitions. He is the Director of Armament Research Services (ARES), the Editor of Armax: The Journal of Contemporary Arms, and the founder of Helios House Press. He has held visiting fellowships at Staffordshire University and the University of Northampton, and was awarded the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s 2022–2023 Resident Fellowship for his work with the Cody Firearms Museum. Dr Jenzen-Jones maintains a broad focus on how weapons of all periods are selected, acquired, stockpiled, and employed. He is a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, a life member of the Ordnance Society, and a member of the Arms & Armour Society, the International Ammunition Association (IAA), the European Cartridge Research Association (ECRA), and the Pike & Shot Society.

Vernon Easley

Vernon Easley is a retired military analyst and Lead Systems Engineer for government programmes. His interest in 19th-century Victorian arms and, by extension, indigenous Afghan production of Martini rifles and other firearms of the period, was sparked during the two years he spent in Afghanistan. With access to one of the largest Martini-type rifle collections in the world, he has generated important new insights into the identification and interpretation of Martini rifles from around the world. He continues to produce further original research with the Kabul Arsenal Research Project (KARP).