Bsa

[badgeredd]

I went to a gun show today and found a rifle I have wanted, but wasn't in a position to buy in the past. Our friends down under probably aren't going to get excited about it, but I surely am. I've been having fun with it all afternoon.

http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee338/badgeredd/BSA_22LR/PICT0557.jpg

http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee338/badgeredd/BSA_22LR/PICT0556.jpg

http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee338/badgeredd/BSA_22LR/PICT0560.jpg

I got it for a fair price (in my mind) and have no regrets after shooting this afternoon. Now I have to get some more ammo to find out what it really likes. OOPS! Forgot to mention its cartridge...22 LR.

Edd

[357maximum]

Very nice looking iron there Edd.

You have the eye candy pics posted...now what about some specifics such as caliber?

BTW....is the towel there to protect the rifle or to cover up the OOPSIE in your toprail? :Fire:

[badgeredd]

Very nice looking iron there Edd.

You have the eye candy pics posted...now what about some specifics such as caliber?

BTW....is the towel there to protect the rifle or to cover up the OOPSIE in your toprail? :Fire:

Sorry forgot to mention it is a 22 LR...I've added that. AND about the towel...to protect the rifle & the not so innocent, Mister B. Head! :-D

Edd

[357maximum]

.22 in a Cadet....YOU LUCKY DAWG YOU TreeRat season is open and now they better beware:Fire:

[No_1]

That is very nice! I have a sporterized one with very nice wood in 22 mag and also have another receiver with both a rim fire and center fire breach block that was someone's half finished project in .218 Mashburn Bee before I got it. That one could make a great project for someone.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

This friend "down under" is pretty envious; can't get enough toys to play with[smilie=p:

The three in the bottom of the picture are all BSA's and my favourite the International Mk2, left handed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v152/BAWallace/MartiniSporters_A_zps72644948.jpg

[badgeredd]

This friend "down under" is pretty envious; can't get enough toys to play with[smilie=p:

The three in the bottom of the picture are all BSA's and my favourite the International Mk2, left handed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v152/BAWallace/MartiniSporters_A_zps72644948.jpg

You have some real beauties there BA. I've been trying to afford another Cadet, but this one grabbed me as "Hornet" can attest. I haggled a little, but really wanted it so I probably didn't haggle hard enough. OH well, I'm a happy camper as it is. Now if I could come across the one I saw last year in 310 Cadet...I'd be a REALLY happy camper.

Edd

[1Shirt]

Would love to have a couple, but they have been out of my price range ever since the 68 gun control act.
1Shirt!

[Boz330]

A #12 with the PH#8 sight, that was a nice score. I have one with the #7 and it seems to like anything I put through it, except high priced ammo. Tried Green tag and several other match grade 22s and those posted the worst groups. Remington Thunderbolt shot a 5/8" 10 round group at 50yd, followed by Walmart Federal bulk at 3/4". The high dollar stuff was all up close to an inch. Not complaining mind you. I love shooting that rifle, a brick goes a long way

Bob

[badgeredd]

A #12 with the PH#8 sight, that was a nice score. I have one with the #7 and it seems to like anything I put through it, except high priced ammo. Tried Green tag and several other match grade 22s and those posted the worst groups. Remington Thunderbolt shot a 5/8" 10 round group at 50yd, followed by Walmart Federal bulk at 3/4". The high dollar stuff was all up close to an inch. Not complaining mind you. I love shooting that rifle, a brick goes a long way

Bob

Funny you mention the Thunderbolt ammo! That's what I was shooting this afternoon and getting about the same size groups at 50 yards. Maybe I best stick with it then. I hate spending 10 bucks for target type 22 LR ammo but figured it might be worth it, now I am wondering about that.

BTW, can you school me on the sights? The rear sight is a BSA sight with windage and elevation adjustment, similar to a Soule sight. I'm not familiar with the globe sight up front. Are there inserts available for it? If so where?

Edd

[helice]

Great find Edd,
Happy for you. Hope you can keep building the collection. They are addicting?

[badgeredd]

Thanks to you Karl, I am indeed addicted to the Martini action rifles...and I sincerely do thank you.

Edd

[Kermit1945]

BSA (Parker Hale) globe inserts:

I like these a lot: http://www.mtguns.com/Front%20Sight%20Inserts.htm

And these: http://stores.intuitwebsites.com/hstrial-LeeShaverGuns/-strse-6/parker-hale-front-sight/Detail.bok

Both can be had from other sources as well. I sort of like buying from these sources. These guys too. A call to them will sort interchangeability and size questions, in which case I buy from them.

http://www.champchoice.com/

Also, that rear sight is a BSA #8.

http://www.rifleman.org.uk/BSA_sights_and_accessories.htm#No8

[GOPHER SLAYER]

These three Martinis are all I have left of the many I have owned. I don't know if the one at the top is BSA or not since it has been polished enough to remove all markings on the rifle. the rifle in the middle is a BSA INT. The bottom is of course a 310 cadet rifle. When I bought it. I had every intention of turning it into a .218 Bee. Before I even started on the project a man gave me some small ponited bullets measuring about .317. Since the bore shines like a mirror I thought I would give the bullets a try. I loaded them in 32.20 brass and fired a very small group at fifty yards. I have no idea who made the mold and neither did the man who gave them to me. Also I should point out that as I grow older it has become harder for me to take these old rifles apart to get the actions. I once owned one of these little rifles made up for Al Freeland. The work was done by Eric Johnson and it had one of his five star barrels on it. It had Vaver sights and it was a great shooter. Unfortunately Al Freeland was a south paw and I am not. A friend of mine said he just had to have it or he would be unhappy for ever. I sold it to him and he promply drove up to Victorville and sold it for a large profit. The man he sold it to then sold it for more profit. I have no idea where the gun is today The big heavy rifle at the top is a 32-40 and it has a barrel made by Barrie Darr. He said it was one of the best barrels he ever made. The rear sight was made by Hammerli. I had several molds for the 32-40 cartridge but sold them all but one. It is a Hoch and it had never been used when I bought it so I believed I was in great shape in regards to .321 bullets. I have never been able to cast a usable bullet out of the mold. The rifle is too heavy for me to shoot offhand and it is difficult to shoot off the bench. I don't know what my friend was thinking when he made up the rifle. B.A. Wallace does have some beauties doesn't he? May God grant him a very long life to enjoy them.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

After that long winded post I forgot the pictures.

[Sheriff]

Nice one! I picked up one that had been converted to .357mag and the chamber had been 'bulged' with too hot a load. The price was right, just haven't got around to having the chamber shorten and re-cut.

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc7/CrittrCallr/002-2.jpg

[badgeredd]

Nice one! I picked up one that had been converted to .357mag and the chamber had been 'bulged' with too hot a load. The price was right, just haven't got around to having the chamber shorten and re-cut.

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc7/CrittrCallr/002-2.jpg

Your gun has a striking similarity to the 357 Mag Martini Cadet I have. That's the one I mentioned above to Helice and the one that started my facination with the Martini action.

Very nice firearms, BTW.

Edd

[Edarnold]

Gopher Slayer said: "The big heavy rifle at the top is a 32-40 and it has a barrel made by Barrie Darr. He said it was one of the best barrels he ever made. The rear sight was made by Hammerli. I had several molds for the 32-40 cartridge but sold them all but one. It is a Hoch and it had never been used when I bought it so I believed I was in great shape in regards to .321 bullets. I have never been able to cast a usable bullet out of the mold. The rifle is too heavy for me to shoot offhand and it is difficult to shoot off the bench."

I used to shoot with Barry Darr at Aetna Green in the ASSRA matches. That 32-40 intrigues me, since I never heard of Barry making a semi-octagon barrel shape. Are there any markings that it might be a rebore of a commercial barrel? The weight is actually not too surprising for a match rifle of hat period, a lot of offhand guns were 13# to 17#, the weight was taken by the Scheutzen buttplate and the palm rest.

Anyway, if that barrel has not been abused, you are the current owner of a jewel. Barry's barrels always shot extremely well, I still have a photo of one his match targets with a five-shot dime-sized group at 100yds.

As far as the Gerald Hoch mold, I had a number of his point-pour molds back then and had no problems getting excellent bullets from them. If you would like to say what the problems you are having with it I might be able to offer some suggestions?

[GOPHER SLAYER]

Ed, first I would like to thank you for your remarks and offer to help with the casting problem I am having with the 32-40 Hoch mold. First the barrel. No it is not a rebore. Barrie sold the barrel to Chuck Brockway after it was made. Barrie told Chuck when he started to cut the barrel and I don't remember if it was button rifled or actually cut but no matter. Barrie said the needle on the gage that measured the variation during the process never moved from start to finish. The barrel is stamped B.W.DARR and 32-40 on the top. Bottom of the barrel is stamped .322 and the date 7-4-76. The troible I am having is getting the bottom of the bullet to fill. The rest of the bullet looks good but about one third of the bottom looks like the Pillsbury Doughboy. I bought the mold several years ago from a gunshop out in the desert. No one had ever tried to cast with it. It looked like it had just been made. I bought a mans life time collection of casting and sizing gear. His kids hauled all his guns and gear into the shop and said sell it all. Fortunately for me no one in that area was interested in casting. I thought at first that my melting pot was not getting hot enough. The pot is an old SAECO. I have a Lyman PRO MAG that I had never used so I plugged it in and started casting. It helped a lot but not enough to fix the problem. As a side not I had two other molds that were not performing either and the Lyman pot made them perform to perfection. Not so the Hoch. I use a ladle to do all my casting and any suggestions that may help me get some shootable bullets would be welcome.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Would love to have a couple, but they have been out of my price range ever since the 68 gun control act.
1Shirt!

We are a bit spoilt down under with 3-4 Martini's added to the collection every year for a moderate price. 577/450's now about $AU1000, 303's $6-700 and Cadets about $350. What prices are good shooters fetching in USA and Canada?

I have 32 in total including 11 original Cadets, 7 x 303's, and 4 x 577/450's


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v152/BAWallace/MartiniAll_A_zpsa40c2b1c.jpg

[badgeredd]

I often see Cadets in the $500 plus range that are at best just shooters. Many 303s and 577/450s are in sad condition and prices in the 500 dollar range and above. Good shooters are nearing $900. My recent purchase was $450 which, for this particular gun, I felt was a fair price. I have picked up a couple Greeners for $200, but neither was shootable when I got them and had mechanical issues. Parts for Martinis can be scarce and are crazy priced. An example is recently there were 2 Cadet actions on Gunbroker that were sold for well over $600. I tried for 2 months to find an extractor for my Greener that I converted to 38-55 until I finally made one from scratch out of frustration.

Edd

[dromia]

That is a nice looking Famous 12 there badgerdd.

I have a soft spot for all these minature rifles having around two dozen in stock at present, I just can't help myself when I see one I buy it. However there isn't much demand for them in the UK so turn over is slow, still I get to shoot them so not really complaining.

For those of you interested in these rifle there is an excellent site dedicated to miniature rifles from The NRA Historic Arms Resource Centre, HARC, which is well worth the time to peruse.

http://www.rifleman.org.uk/Site_Map.htm


They also run excellent postal leagues over the winter for these fine old rifles, I'll be shooting prone and standing leagues this year with a 310 cadet. The bigger holes should give me a slight edge as with my eyesight now I need all the help I can get. :lol:

[badgeredd]

For those of you interested in these rifle there is an excellent site dedicated to miniature rifles from The NRA Historic Arms Resource Centre, HARC, which is well worth the time to peruse.

http://www.rifleman.org.uk/Site_Map.htm


They also run excellent postal leagues over the winter for these fine old rifles, I'll be shooting prone and standing leagues this year with a 310 cadet. The bigger holes should give me a slight edge as with my eyesight now I need all the help I can get. :lol:

Great site Adam. Thank you for posting it. It looks like I'll be doing a lot of reading there. :bigsmyl2:

Edd

[midnight]

I purchased an all original 310 Cadet in fine condition for $450 several years ago here in the US. I don't know if that was a good deal or not, but I wanted it. Value is determined by a willing buyer and a willing seller so I guess $450 is its value. I have an old Parker aperture rear sight I think may have been designed for the little Martini but have been hesitant to drill and tap the receiver if it is not a proper sight for the rifle. I'll try to find pics of the sight and post them here for your opinions.

Bob

[358wcf]

Wallace-
Living here in Kalifornia, everyone thinks we are made of money- I've acquired 4 cadets over the years, and shoot all of them- first one is an all original Westley Richards I had rebored to 357Mag and put new sights on- a lovely shooter she is! She's taken six small deer and many, many small game critters over the years- another is a BSA that came to me "sporterized" with a 2 groove springfield barrel and redfield receiver sight, chambered in 30-30Win, a great cast boolit shooter this one is, and accurate too! The others are "as-issued" BSA in 310Cadet, and continue to shoot in that mild little cartidge at least 4-5 times yearly- folks marvel at the quiet little rifle that shoots so well- I love them all!!
Today, I would buy any complete Cadet I can find for about $750-$900. I will have to pay $500 for a complete Cadet action today. A far cry from the old days, isn't it?
Just those fine old adjustable target sights like you have mounted on the tang are going for well over $200 today, or more!
Supply and demand!
358wcf[smilie=1:[smilie=1:[smilie=1:

[MikeS]

Speaking of .22 calibre BPCR rifles, I was on Shiloh's website the other day, and they sell a .22 calibre liner that fits into a 45-70 chamber, and is like 16" long or so, and I was wondering how things like that work out? I mean is it a waste of money, or is it an acceptable way to get a .22 single shot without buying another gun?

I know, I know, it's hard to believe one of us wouldn't want to buy another rifle, but between buying this rolling block, and the accessories that go along with it (I just spent right around $100 on a couple of moulds), I don't have that much extra spending money. If it would shoot halfway decent, I might go ahead and buy one.