Hi all,

Just curious if anyone else has had a similar experience. I recently bought a fine old Swiss Martini rifle in the rimless 7.5x55 Swiss (GP11) cartridge. One thing I noticed upon trying it out was that there was minimal ejection force when I pushed the lever forward. The brass would extract slightly but I had to use a screw driver to grab the extractor groove and gently push out the brass. 

After studying the below diagram from Otto Maretsch's book and playing around I realized the problem was that the falling block (B) wasn't moving low enough to contact the ejection lever at point E which would then rotate part A to ejection the brass. 

In trying to find a fix I noticed that at the bottom of my block were two holes. I'm not sure what the function are but what I ended up doing was sticking a small wood dowel into one of them to as shown in the second picture. After some trial and error I found the right depth of the dowel. When assembled now that dowel presses on the bottom of the ejector and allows it to rotate enough to eject the brass. 

This is my first Martini, could anyone else tell me if their Martini blocks also have such a hole and what they are for? Does anyone else have a plug in theirs to do the same thing here or should I go file for a patent? 

Cheers!
-David

Doubled,

Good point I should have used the word 'extractor' and not 'ejector' to describe the lever in the diagram and the problem I was having.

This is a Swiss Martini so it is a true Martini, only the Germans made the 'false' Martini derivatives. I have tried opening the action lever fast and slow and was still having the same problem. There simply wasn't enough contact between the block and the extractor lever to move the extractor. So the wood plug/dowel press fit into the blind hole solved the problem. I'm just not sure if that is a piece that was missing on mine or if the block typically should have enough contact to move the extractor.

Might try replacing the dowel with a roll pin trimmed to length.

KaiserKong wrote on Jan 16^th, 2026 at 3:55pm:


I work with the  variations of the British style Martini's.  (and not that much anymore) I have not been inside very many of European versions.  I have looked at  a number drawings for the European models, but never noted that projection before.  I only noticed the projection on your drawing on second look.

The British worked on the problem during the history of the rifle.  And, never fully solved it.

There is not a lot of leverage in the extractor.  It needs vigorous force to start the process.  Soft motion and the case may not extract or if it does extract, it may not eject. Snap the action open, don't ease it open.

Once the extraction cycle starts, as long extraction is vigorous, when the extraction motion is sharply stopped, inertia is able take over and the case is ejected.  

I suggest you explore two issues.  

Any hinderance to the brass coming out the chamber. Rough-not smooth chamber.  Rough, dirty, unpolished brass. (or use lighter loads)   

Vigorous sharp lever action. Open the action briskly. 

Thinking back on this, I have wondered about pressure making the cases hang.  Faster powder, faster pressure curves versus slower powder slower pressure.   Lil Gun would stick cases in my K-hornet Martini.  I don't recall what powder I changed to, but the change did eliminate the problem.  

That Lil Gun sure was accurate, however and had no extraction/ejection issues in the Contender.

DoubleD,

Thanks for the tips. I did inspect the chamber, it looked fine. Even with a brisk opening of the action it just doesn't move that extractor lever much. Once I put the little dowel, which acts the same as that projection in the old book photo, it works fine. So long as that modification fixes the problem I'm just going to stick with that. But ya I'm wondering what others have done prior.

Remington Roller,
Here are a couple photos. Mine is a circa 1930 build chambered in GP11. Earlier models used the GP90 (1890) cartridge and before that the Vetterli 10.4mm cartridge. The Swiss almost exclusively used the current military cartridge for their target arms, unlike the German or American schützen riflemen who used specialty cartridges like 8.15x46R or 32-40. 

My rifle weighs in right at 8 kg. It didn't come up with a palm rest so I made a replica, although not pictured here. Starting from the mid 20s the Swiss allowed ring front sight, diopter rear sights and slings. So this is intended for 3-position shooting (standing, prone, kneeling) not just standing. It has an adjustable butt plate to allow a better fit in the different positions. My rifle is stamped K. (Karl) Zimmermann who was a top Swiss international shooter in the 1930s. He was a gun-maker as well as a top shot.   

Please post a photo of yours and I'll try to tell you what I know about it.

Oneatatime,

My barrel is Hämmerli too so very similar to the ones the Americans purchased for the 1928 world championships. There is one available for sale here if you don't mind depleting your piggy bank:

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Oneatatime,

I've only fired it once so far, but now that I figured out the extractor issue I hope to take it out for more. I do have GP11 ammunition but also been playing with some cast loads just to save wear on the barrel. 

I look forward to testing it's accuracy on the bench. My first time out I was shooting it prone with a sling. I never realized how hard that can be with a lever action rifle! I can see why the U.S. team still preferred to use their Springfield bolt actions for prone shooting and used the Martinis for kneeling and standing. 

-David