Original British Martini-Henry Rifle Aim Corrector Mk II Original Items

Original Item: Another item that came out of the woodwork, so to speak. These had been around since 2003, but no one paid attention to them. Marksmanship training has been a high priority in British infantry development for a long time, probably since the introduction of rifled small arms. The value of ACCURATE long-range fire is made vividly apparent in the Richard Sharpe novels about the Peninsular War by Bernard Cornwell. And most history buffs know how that training paid off at the Battle of Mons in 1914.

A couple of years ago we found a very few Martini-Henry Auxiliary Sights, which were the first of the marksmanship coaching aids for the Martini. They were complicated, beautiful, and required a lot of machine work. They were replaced by the Aim Corrector Mark I in 1891. This device used a gray-tinted piece of glass positioned at a 45-degree angle to the line of the bore. The trainee could see the sights through the glass, and a coach, positioned at a right angle to the rifle, could see the same sight picture reflected to him. The Mark I Aim Corrector was much less expensive than the Auxiliary Sight set, was easier to use, and produced better results.

In 1912, the Aim Corrector Mark II was introduced. It uses the same tinted or coated glass as the Mark I, but is brilliantly simple in construction. The glass is held in position by a light aluminum or galvanized steel frame that fits over the receiver of the Martini-Henry. The interior of the lens housing is painted black to eliminate internal reflections. It is held in place by a small brass coil spring that encircles the receiver. The ones we found are somewhat greasy, so they require a little cleaning. We have only a small quantity of these.