There are a lot of Martini Henry junkies over at the British Militaria forums that live and breath these old British weapons. When Atlanta Cutlery bought up Nepal's famous hoard of antique British weapons ten years ago, thousands of aficionados in the states could now feed their habit. But all is not well in Nepal. An outcry is arising that the history of their country had been hijacked by a few Americans and some of their own politicians, army brass and even some of their own royalty. According to Kurakani's blog from Katmandu, he says their history had been traded for peanuts. He says the Nepalese people are particularly incensed that even the locally produced Gahendra's (Nepal's home grown Martinis) had gone to America also. To be frank, the Gahendras are pretty scary, and it takes a brave soul to shoot one, so we probably should give those back. But I doub that the Nepalese get as much kick out of these old Martini Henrys and Sniders as we Americans do. Kurakani also says the Americans stiffed them in the deal, and 1.5 million of the deal wasn't received. Well at least these old guns aren't rotting in some warehouse right now, and someone is actually taking care of them.
