Deactivated Very Rare Ulster Volunteer Force (U.V.F.) marked Martini Henry Carbine

This is a very rare Ulster Volunteer Force (U.V.F.) marked Martini Henry Carbine, chambered in .303. The initial batches of rifles, plus ammunition and bayonets where smuggled into the North of Ireland in 1914 by the U.V.F. a Protestant/pro British unionist militia that was set up by William Carson to prevent Irish home rule and counter any threat to Ulster’s connection with Britian and the Crown. Once received these rifles were marked with the U.V.F. oval property. Very few now exist, often they were hidden away in barns, lofts, cellars and sheds and forgotten about. Some were used in sectarian clashes during the 1920s and 30s and more recently in the 1960s and early 70s by the modern U.V.F.