Thanks Big. I will do something even if I have to mill it out and clean it up with a dovetail cutter. I thought about taking a ball endmill and rounding the bottem of the 17-a sight the same Dia. As the barrel and then a straight mill cutter and doing a trough that would let it fit over the old sight and hold it on with a small split/roll pin. I want the 17-A on there. Ha. Keep shooting my friend.
Roy
Hooker53
Happy Thanksgiving to all my Cadet Brothers and shooters.
Roy
Hooker53
Likewise to You and ALL.Originally Posted by Hooker53
Cadets rule!
Bought me another Cadet, recently, "chambered" in 32-20.
Took her to the range, to see if she'd pattern, rather than group, and, much like my
last 32-20 Cadet, jacketed bullets were very accurate, and normal cast bullets had a hard time
finding the target. The 115gr RNHB bullets performed very well.
Upon inspection of the fired brass, I discovered that the fire-formed cases had no bottleneck
left. Sat down, did some measuring, and came to the conclusion I might just be able to seat a .318" bullet in the case, and get it to chamber. Well, it almost worked!
What I did find is that, if One trims the 32-20 case to 1.242" (in my rifle, any way), neck size the case 1/4" with a 32-20 seating die (ya'll don't laugh!), and seat an 83gr 8mm Nambu bullet (Graf's copper plated bullet, and mic's .3185"), the cartridge fires and functions fine. Accuracy was the best I have seen from a Cadet that had the original barrel.
Next step is to get a proper set of dies made up, and then I'll try out the 110gr RCBS cast bullets
for the Nambu, sized to .318", and see how they do.
Stay tuned.
Rights, and Privileges, are not synonymous. We have the Right to Bear Arms. As soon as the Government mandates firearm registration, and permiting, then that Right becomes a Privilege, and may be taken away at our Master's discretion.
So did you bag a turkey with a Cadet?????
Hold Still Varmint; while I plugs Yer!
T'aint turkey season, as yet BAW! :P
But, I DID manage to bust a few clay pigeons!
What be happening, Down Under?
So did you bag a turkey with a Cadet?????
Rights, and Privileges, are not synonymous. We have the Right to Bear Arms. As soon as the Government mandates firearm registration, and permiting, then that Right becomes a Privilege, and may be taken away at our Master's discretion.
Coming into winter here, getting awful cold,50F min up to 78F max!
Good boolit casting weather coming up next month!
Hold Still Varmint; while I plugs Yer!
I tried a Lee 7.62 Nagant revolver sizer die on cadet cases. It is very close to the original cadet dimensions except the neck is parallel rather than continuing the taper so it doesn’t fully size the neck. Not a problem as the cases chambered and I crimp anyway.
Also tried modifying a Lee .319 ball mould (which actually casts to .324 diameter) by drilling out the top to 8.1mm and a depth of half the ball. This made a .324 round ball with a small .316 heeled section on the back weighing 48 grains. The aim was to make a bore-riding heel on a round ball. It should be interesting to see if these super-light bullets work and how low I can go with small charges of N310. If they don’t work I’ve only broken a £20/$30 mould.
No BA, but I wouldn't balk to try. Ha. So winter is comi g on in the down under!! Time to get out those moulds. I thought summer would never get here. Ha. Good seeing ya around BA.
Roy
Hooker53
So did you bag a turkey with a Cadet?????
Thats some good info. Check back in and let us know what you finally find what you Cadet likes.
Roy
Hooker53
Bought me another Cadet, recently, "chambered" in 32-20.
Took her to the range, to see if she'd pattern, rather than group, and, much like my
last 32-20 Cadet, jacketed bullets were very accurate, and normal cast bullets had a hard time
finding the target. The 115gr RNHB bullets performed very well.
Upon inspection of the fired brass, I discovered that the fire-formed cases had no bottleneck
left. Sat down, did some measuring, and came to the conclusion I might just be able to seat a .318" bullet in the case, and get it to chamber. Well, it almost worked!
What I did find is that, if One trims the 32-20 case to 1.242" (in my rifle, any way), neck size the case 1/4" with a 32-20 seating die (ya'll don't laugh!), and seat an 83gr 8mm Nambu bullet (Graf's copper plated bullet, and mic's .3185"), the cartridge fires and functions fine. Accuracy was the best I have seen from a Cadet that had the original barrel.
Next step is to get a proper set of dies made up, and then I'll try out the 110gr RCBS cast bullets
for the Nambu, sized to .318", and see how they do.
Stay tuned.
Got the Lee .318 sizer in, today. Will size some of the 8mm Nambu cast bullets I have acquired, and see how they do. Do know the Graf copper-plated Nambu bullets shoot very well.
I should have information to pass on, by the end of the week.
Rights, and Privileges, are not synonymous. We have the Right to Bear Arms. As soon as the Government mandates firearm registration, and permiting, then that Right becomes a Privilege, and may be taken away at our Master's discretion.
Ok, the results are in:
Loaded and tested 18 rounds with the fire-formed cases, neck-sized only, with 105gr cast bullets from an Ideal 31950 mold, sized .318". All went in the lower center of the 10 ring, at 60 yards, firing off-hand (didn't set up the bench, as it was raining, off and on). Far superior to using 32-20 with cast bullets.
So, its time to sand-bag the Old Girl, and tweek the loads.
Example on the left is the Ideal 31950 cast load. One on the right is an 83gr 8mm Nambu bullet (copper-plated. Berry, I believe).
Last edited by challenger_i; 06-02-2016 at 05:26 PM. Reason: Add photo
Rights, and Privileges, are not synonymous. We have the Right to Bear Arms. As soon as the Government mandates firearm registration, and permiting, then that Right becomes a Privilege, and may be taken away at our Master's discretion.
Now I'm gonna have to try it. Ha. Can you state your load info??? Every one of these Cadets shoot. Little different from what I read on the threads here. Sounds like you are nailing yours down. I took a 32-20 Fac Crimp die and modified it to work with my case length and my Cadet likes that much better then no crimp and finger seated. Keep up the good work.
Roy
Hooker53
I tried the modified balls, tumble lubed in LLA. They worked but not very well. Loads were from 1.4 to 2.0 grains of N310 wth velocities going from 500 to 950fps. With them weighing 48 grains the highest power was a lot less than the very light load I tried with standard bullets (2.2 grains of N310 for 750fps). I think the initial resistance in the barrel isn’t high enough to keep the balls back in the barrel and generate a high pressure. This means that the pressure curve is flattened. Need heavier bullets.
Velocity figures were erratic (apart from 1.6 grains which was pretty consistent). Accuracy didn’t look that good, even though I was just running them through the chronograph rather then trying hard to hit the target.
I proved that you can make a heeled bullet from a ball mould for 310 cadet and it can be used to make very light recoil. Just the performance is far better with a standard bullet. I might try higher loads (3-4 grains) with the remaining ones I cast up.
Officially retire in 17 working days after 46 years 3 months and 8 days!
I can picture a lot of casting and shooting Martinis coming up every other day on my own farm with it's rifle range!
First project is a Martini 32/40 using an 8mm military barrel and retaining the rear site bed, to fit a machined "no-drill" scope mount. new stock of european walnut
Hold Still Varmint; while I plugs Yer!
Officially retire in 17 working days after 46 years 3 months and 8 days!
I can picture a lot of casting and shooting Martinis coming up every other day on my own farm with it's rifle range!
I'm jealous! enjoy!!!!
Yeeee Hawww and great on the retirement
If you need any assistance on retirement, PM my
Been retired 5 years and loving it
Mike
NRA Benefactor 2004USAF RET 1971-95
Congrats on the retirement I retired in July last year I'm so busy I don't know how I had time to hold down a full time job for 45 years.
I used to do every thing over the weekends ,now I seem to run out of time .
Just finished two gun cases for a friend , now I can get back into my own stuff.
Heading to Melbourne mid month , not looking forward to the cold weather , have little winter clothing after living in the tropics for 35years.
Hope the weather is warmer then.
I have 2 cadet martinis. One which had been mistreated i made into a 30-20 target rifle which looks like a BSA .22 target rifle.But I digress. I slugged the barrel of my original cadet and it slugged .316. Hope this might be of some help to anyone shooting an unaltered rifle or one re chambered to 32-20
Ok, have been working with the modified 32-20, using cast bullets from the RCBS 8mm Nambu mould, sized .318". The bullets weighed 115gr, lubed n sized.
Attached is my target, loads were 7gr 2400, range 50 yds, prone-supported firing position. There are 7 holes, if One looks closely!
Have also been working with Unique, with 4.5gr working well, and AA-1680, which is still a work in progress.
Last edited by challenger_i; 06-23-2016 at 07:36 PM.
Rights, and Privileges, are not synonymous. We have the Right to Bear Arms. As soon as the Government mandates firearm registration, and permiting, then that Right becomes a Privilege, and may be taken away at our Master's discretion.
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