Martini cadet 32-20

[Bad Ass Wallace]

I must tell you B.A. Wallace, If you didn't live so far away I would be sorely tempted to to come over to your place, wait untill you went to sleep and purloin that little gem.

Allways a place for you at my fire, THEN we could discuss BIG framed Martini's in 577/450, 303, 20ga, 12ga & 40/65 Winchester

[GOPHER SLAYER]

Thanks B.A., I appreciate the invitation. If I ever get to travel to Austrailia, I will certainly take you up on it. A friend of mine used a big frame Martini as a basis for a very heavy barrel target rifle. It's pretty wild. If he will let me, I will photograph it and put it on the website along with my single shots. I broke down and bought me a digital camera today. I will be flooding this site with pics in the coming days.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

On a par with the Martini as a favourite is this original Alex-Henry 577/450 sporting rifle made 1876



Handy hint on getting to Australia cheaply; swim to Indonesia, grab a refuge boat, holiday on Christmas Island for a month, the gummint then gives you $AU12 g's spending money and fly's yo to Australia. . . . . . .

[Jack Stanley]

Neat rifle Mr. Wallace !! I like it

Jack

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Since this thread started with reference to firearms issued in NSW (Australia) here is another Alex-Henry carbine issued in 1878 to the New South Wales Mounted police. To avoid having a hammer poking out when carried in a scabbard on the RHS, these guns were ordered as LH actions and the hammers rode flush with the horses flank.

[kscop]

Reviving this post..

Posting pics of my 32-20 Cadet; it has a brass plate inlaid in the stock and I've never seen this on one before. If anyone has info or thoughts, let me know!

[pietro]

I like your Cadet just fine .

I've always wanted one of those to play with, but have never ran across one - even in going to gun shows since 1968.

.

Well, I'll be hornswaggled - I finally found one !

I ran across this BSA Model 12 Takedown in .22LR at a New Hampshire funshow, and couldn't jump on it fast enough !



What's not to like: Parker-Hale globe front & rear P-H peep sight, an ultra-fine trigger, and case ejection that tosses empties waaay out of the rifle when I snap the lever down.

The acuracy's decent enough, that for the nonce, I'm shevling my plans to open up the chamber to .22WMR & reducing the forend to a smaller AH / sporter style.



.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Found only one? I thought they would be a dime a dozen

[Four Fingers of Death]

The Martini Cadet was an English made rifle (BSA and Greener, I don't know about others). It was used for school cadets. The 310 Cadet is a puny cartridge with a heeled lead bullet. Puny it may be, but my first centrefire was a Martini Cadet and I flattened a lot of small and medium game with it. Similar in size and performance to the 32/20. I have an original BSA in the safe, had it for many years, I bought it to compete in military rifle matches (we have Cadet matches here) but never got around to casting and loading for it. I also had a sporterised one in 22K Hornet. I shot well, but I was not fond of the poor ejection which normally resulted in the case laying on the block and having to be cleared with your finger, so I traded it off.

They are an beautifully made little rifle, but they don't float my boat so to speak. My mate has one in 30/38Special using an old target barrel and a scout scope. With cast boolits it punches way above it's weight.

[Idaho Mule]

I love this stuff guys, would love to have one one of those little Martini's. JW

[linus]

The 32-20 is a good conversion for the 310 Martini Cadet, however the groove diameters in the 310s are excessive by 32-20 standards. My groove diameter is .316 and that is tight compared to other 310s. I shoot a custom cast bullet sized to .318 in mine, as a standard diameter 32-20 lead bullet is woefully inaccurate in it. To convert 32-20 cases they have to be shortened of course and the inside of the rim has to be turned down to the correct thickness. Bertram makes an excellent case for the 310.