Recovered some .310 Cadet boolits.

[JeffinNZ]

Team.

Today I managed to recover some .310 boolits. I set up, at 50m, 4 soaking wet phone books up front and one dry book at the rear. My .310 Cadet load is a CBE 320 120 cast in 40 - 1 alloy, launches at 1400fps and weighs 122gr. Here are the books:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/JeffinNZ/Shooting%20stuff/DSCN2682.jpg

The standard RN boolit penetrated all the wet books and was caught in the dry book. I penetrated around 16 inches of material! For a hoot I HPed some boolits in my mini lathe using a center drill. I run the drill into the booit until I reach the major diameter of the center drill. The HPed booit was caught in the 4th book and penetrated approx. 12 inches of wet material. Here is the round nose boolit:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/JeffinNZ/Shooting%20stuff/DSCN2684.jpg

You can clearly see how the heel has slugged up to groove diameter and lube still in the groove.

Here is a line up comparison. L_R: an original .310 factory boolit, RN recovered, CBE 320 120 unfired, recovered HPed boolit, HP end on:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/JeffinNZ/Shooting%20stuff/recovered1.jpg

I was more than a little surprised at how the lil booit penetrated.

[303Guy]

Nice pictures!:lovebooli

I'm noticing the dragging at the rifling impression. Interesting.

[MtGun44]

Great pix and interesting report, Jeff. I presume that this is a bunny load. The HP version
should be pretty effective. I'd guess without the HP you could line up two or even three and
get them at one whack.

Bill

[JeffinNZ]

Yes Bill, the HP will be small game. Keen to try it on wallabies.

[Link23]

do you have any tips for people that have a 310 cadet and loading them up?

Thanks
Link23

[JeffinNZ]

Not yet. I have a VERY accurate duplex H4227/Swiss 3Fg load but have yet to get smokeless going. Another Cadet mould due in days to try.

[Southern Son]

I have a BSA made .310 Cadet given to me by my dad. He got it from one of his brothers who bought it when the Government decided to sell them off. Fun little rifle, but store bought cast bullets are mostly rubbish, so I got a mold for mine, too, and I think it is the same as yours Jeff.

How much 2205 are you using in the duplex load? What black powder are you using? The boolit seems to "slug up" quite well.

Link23, the best tip I can give you is DO NOT BUY THE LEE MOULD FOR THIS CALLIBER!!!!!!. Lee make some good moulds and bullet designs, but thier Cadet Mould is utter rubbish (I can actually drop an unsized projectile from that mould into the muzzle of my Rifle!?!?). Look up CBE (Cast Bullet Engineering). The bloke who makes the CBE Moulds is as slow as a wet week of Sundays, but they are THE best Cadet Moulds (as a general rule, CBE moulds are pretty damn good when compared with any mould maker in the world, but nobody knows moulds for the Cadet like CBE). As far as I know, CBE is the only place that actually has a number of different boolit moulds for the Cadet.

Another thip is that you can make .310 brass from 32/20, but it can be a big PITA because usually you have to make the rims thinner, as well as shorten the case. However, sometimes you don't need to. If you can chamber a shortened 32/20 cartridge, then you chamber's rim is deep enough to not bother with cutting the rims on the brass thinner. If you cannot, then maybe think about getting a gunsmith to cut the rim on your chamber so that you can. I don't know what the .310 brass situation is like in Ashland, Kentucky, but 32/20 brass is alot cheaper here in Australia than the .310 Cadet brass.

One day I want to get an old Cadet Action and make myself a .219 Wasp, or a .218 Bee, something classy like that. But I will never do anything like that to the Cadet I have now.

[JeffinNZ]

I made my .310 brass from .32-20 as I have a Martini in that calibre also.

My duplex is 3.8gr of AR2205/H4227 (the least amount my Lee Auto Disk will throw) and 14.0gr of Swiss 3Fg black powder with a LDPE wad and a thin card wad. I compress the powder charge enough to seat the bullet. This burns so clean the bore is shiney and no cleaning required between shots. Shot a group at 100m earlier this week at was just over 2 inches.

[63 Shiloh]

16" penetration with the little Cadet!! I am impressed mate.

I do have an old Martini barreled action, was thinking of going down the .219 Donaldson Wasp route.....

Think I will just make a stock for the little feller and give it a try. If I had not seen your boolit penetration, I would not have believed it.

Good stuff Jeff and a pretty little boolit too.


Mike

[JeffinNZ]

It astounded me. First up I put 3 wet books at 100m and the wee boolit punch right them. Couldn't believe it. I am going to write this up in the club newsletter as a reminder to people about the power they hold in their hands.

[Link23]

i have the same mold that is shown in your picture JeffinNZ i shoot 32-20 brass out of mine as well i just size them in my die set ($$$$) its got the little step before the nose of the bullet and the lube groove. Thanks

Link23

[NHlever]

Ross Seifried had a great article on the little Martini's along with loads, etc. He was shooting them at some pretty long ranges, and also spoke about the penetration. I think the article was in Handloader magazine a few years ago....... lot's of help aren't i?

[Southern Son]

If your rifle will chamber 32/20 brass that has not had the rim thinned, you are lucky. Mine won't. One day I will get a gunsmith to cut the chamber so that the thicker rims will fit, then all I will need to do is trim the brass to length.

I haven't tried black powder in mine yet, but I will one day. Thanks for the information on your duplex load, I might have to give it a shot.