Educate me on the .310 BSA cadet I just purchased, bullets, brass, dies etc.

[koger]

Ok I purchased a good specimen with great blue and near perfect bore. I have not measured anything, just got home with it. I did notice the # 32 stamped on top of the reciever by the barrel. For a stock gun, what is the usual bore, land/grooves, what can I make brass out of and what bullet diameter/weight do I need, assuming it is stock. like I said the bluing and bore is great, the wood has no cracks or breaks, but has lived a rough life, and the buttplate is shiny bare metal with no bluing on it.w I know a lot of these were rechambered for 32/20 when leaving down under. All feedback appreciated.

[trails4u]

I would start with a chamber cast....with the #32 stamped on the receiver I would hazard it's been converted.

If it is still an original .310 cadet chamber....PM me for info on brass. I can make some for you much more affordable than trying to buy it.

You can also buy the proper heeled bullets for it (assuming .310 cadet) from Matt's Bullets.

[1Hawkeye]

Cases can be made from .32-20's just shorten them by .20" and 4.5 grs of unique is just about perfect for the powder charge. Both rcbs and arsenal have molds that copy the original bullet .322" diameter 120 gr its a heeled bullet like a .22 rf so for lube you can use lee's liquid alox.

[challenger_i]

7.62x58 Nagant makes a good parent case, as well.

[trails4u]

7.62x58 Nagant makes a good parent case, as well.

This is how I make mine!

[pworley1]

I have a few but only 1 is still a 310 cadet chambering. The others have been converter to 32 20, and even 1 was converted to a 32 40. I would suggest you do a chamber cast first if you are not sure what you have. They are great rifles and fun to shoot.

[john.k]

About the only difference between cadet and 32/20 is rim thickness ....I dont think rechambering would touch anywhere bar cutting the rim recess ......In any case ,many of the 1908 Greeners will chamber 32/20 without any alteration at all...........the BSA second models (vernier windage sight) may need a slight rim recess cut...........In general,a Greener will need a 316 bullet,a BSA will need a 321 bullet...(deeper cut rifling)...all have 310 bores ,and so will barely engage a 32/20 bullet at 312 dia.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

John K., I think you are a bit confused. In Brian Labbuta's comprehensive book on the 310 Cadet, BSA rifles had 310/316" bores and indeed Taipan bullets used to make a jacketted boolit of 0.316 diameter.

When barrels wore out the replacement contract went to Greener who made bores between 0.319" and 0.321". This proved to give very poor accuracy and an engineer from the Colonial Ammunition factory (in South Australia) came up with the infamous "Heeled" boolit, which was a great improvement to accuracy. I have unloaded a number of wartime rounds and found FMJ's of 0.316" and original lead boolits of 0.317".

An original BSA will have a matching serial number stamped on the barrel and receiver, where it has a secondary number stamped on the action (under the original) it has been rebarreled with the oversized Greener barrel.

I have 6 Cadet rifles, 5 are BSA's and shoot a convential cast bullet sized to 0.317", the remainder a Greener needs a heeled boolit sized 0.322".

There is a lot of difference between the 310 and 32/20 besides the 0.200".The conversion typically involved running the 310 reamer into the depth of the 32/20 followed by a 32/20 reamer to cut a deeper rim recess.

Fireformed in the Cadet rifle, you finish up with a 310 Magnum (1.320" from 1.120" in length), (much the same as 38/357) which still requires either a 0.317" or 0.322" boolit to suit the bore.

I have been a collector and shooter of these little rifles for many years in both original and sporting forms and among the treasures is an extremely rare WW2 Martini Cadet bayonet, made for the 'home guard' in Western Australia.

https://i.imgur.com/PpOpiY3l.jpg https://i.imgur.com/2tDJ9vFl.jpg

[Rapier]

Mr. Wallace that bayonet is a real treasure.[smilie=s:

All of my Cadets are moded, back when they were a lot less expensive than today.

[john.k]

Not confused ,just wrong maybe ........must admit ,I never paid more than $30 for a cadet,and must also admit Im not in the habit of paying more for a book than the gun.....so I must remain forever uneducated ........However ,I am somewhat interested to know how US importers could chamber a BSA Cadet to 32 Win Special ,which fired a 321 dia jacketed bullet at considerable velocity thru a 316 bore .....without blowing the whole lot up.....or at least locking the action?

[Baltimoreed]

My Martini Cadet .310/.32-20 is a sweet little rifle. My first one had been rechambered/bored to .357 magnum but had been sporterized. I sold it. The .310/.32-20 is still in it’s correct wood. Heres what my .310/.32-20 ammo and a cerrosafe chamber cast looks like. It does take some effort to create the ammo. I use a 150 gr .321 bullet from Western Bullet Co and a combination of 32-20 dies and 30 carbine dies.
314000314001

[M-Tecs]

Not confused ,just wrong maybe ........must admit ,I never paid more than $30 for a cadet,and must also admit Im not in the habit of paying more for a book than the gun.....so I must remain forever uneducated ........However ,I am somewhat interested to know how US importers could chamber a BSA Cadet to 32 Win Special ,which fired a 321 dia jacketed bullet at considerable velocity thru a 316 bore .....without blowing the whole lot up.....or at least locking the action?

https://forum.assra.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1402521904/all

https://oldarmsofidaho.com/product/commonwealth-of-australia-bsa-martini-henry-cadet-32-winchester-special/

https://forum.assra.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1249484677/0

[john.k]

I looked at the references ,and they are probably more confused than I am......not saying that Im confused in any case ...because I havent seen every Cadet ,and havent taken a great deal of notice of the ones I have had..............they are a nice kids gun,and I have happy memories of plinking with a Cadet and the distinctive smell of Ballistite.

[tward]

Beautiful little guns! Some were converted to 32 Winchester. Which uses bullets of the correct diameter but the cartridges are difficult to load and the recoil can’t be pleasant in such a light rifle. Mine had been converted to 32-20 but the bore on most run .321. Several mold maker have the correct bullet design, Accurate, NOE. Enjoy the little darlin’! Tim

[Jeff Michel]

I have the RCBS and two CBE molds for the Cadet. After you get your chamber cast and know what your bore diameter is, and want to try some different bullets, Let me know. As mentioned in a prior post, Lee alox is your friend.

[challenger_i]

One of the Cadets I have was "rechambered" to 32-20. It would blow the case out to a straight wall. Also, it would "pattern, not group" with any 32-20 I fed it. I made a cast of the chamber and throat, slugged the barrel (came out at .317") and determined I could make ammo by using the fire-formed 32-20 brass, or trimming back 7.62x58 Nagant brass. I used the RCBS 8mm Nambu cast bullet, sized .318" (bought a custom Lee sizer for the task). Using 30 Carbine dies to load, and AA1680 powder, she makes a very good tack driver.

I have another Cadet that was rechambered, and the brass comes out looking like 32-20 brass. This rifle shoots accurate with J words, but not so much with cast (riddle me THAT one!).

As for the 32 Winchester Special? Shoots nice, makes a good brush gun for white tail, but it has a VERY sharp bite with the original stock.

[Bigslug]

My .32-20 conversion is a BSA, and the bore slugged out at .3185", which has me originally shooting .320" sized bullets, but the new custom tumble lube mold is going a little bigger at .321-.322". As I recall, the twist is about 1-20 or 1-21, but it's stabilizing a 150gr bullet just fine. Having great luck with AA #9 for propellant in Starline brass.

If yours is still in the original .310, that's a heeled bullet round, which I'm unfamiliar with the sizing/seating steps for. My inclination would be to check a fired case's neck for heel diameter, chamber and bore slug for nose diameter, and have Accurate create a mold with tumble lube grooves on the nose section.

[Funky]

For some reason I just like the Cadet rifles, and would like to find one, even if it has been altered. They seem like real trim rifles, just right for "woods loafing". Good Luck Chris

[challenger_i]

I warn you, sir: they are addictive! :)

[Black Beard]

If it is an original chambering then 7.62 nagant revolver dies are so close to that you can use them for sizing.

Sizing bullets is easy. Tumble lube in Lee allox and push them through a Lee sizer.

[Texas by God]

Here’s some pictures of Sams new Martini Cadet. That is a neat gun!
Jealous I am.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230519/2b1f122f8fad9270dbef8802d05bb99a.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230519/fb7aaf236decaf0848c3a8cd84a06858.jpg
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[Intel6]

I was fortunate to acquire an unaltered Cadet rifle. Had some Starline 32-20 cases altered and trimmed them to my chamber to seat the bullet from the RCBS mould. Loads with Unique and 2400 both shoot great out of the rifle, I wish I had more of them! I also tried out some Nagant brass which worked fine but I already have enough converted 32-20.

Below is a pic of mine out at the range.

314261

[koger]

OK Drum roll please, I got my chamber casting material in yesterday, and today did one. It has been rechambered, and rebored, to Win .32 special!! I have molds, need to get some brass and dies. I will only be shooting sedate cast loads in this one, dont think it would handle 170 J words at 2100fps factory loads.

[Texas by God]

Well, that solves the brass problem for sure!
Interesting- keep us posted on it, please.


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[Retired_Handloader]

7.62x58 Nagant makes a good parent case, as well.

Got a typo there: 7.62X38R is the correct case, and like you, that is my preferred case for my Cadet, too.

[challenger_i]

"Always with the negative waves, Moriarty! Always with the negative waves!" Geez! Get ONE number off, and people want to rain all over ya! :)

Just missed an unaltered Cadet on GB for reasonable money... Sucks being broke!
I want another Cadet to rechamber to 32-30 Remington. Already located a 120gr .322" mold!

[john.k]

The 32 spec chambered guns will indeed handle factory load s.....(if such exist anymore) ,and surprisingly the bullets seem to be stable .............However ,recoil is awesome in a light gun,and the conversion guns have rarely seen much use............one cure would be to shorten the barrel,and rechamber to something with a 32 dia bullet .

[Baltimoreed]

Let us know how it shoots. Good luck.

[challenger_i]

A good recoil pad, at the very least. However, the Cadets in 32 WS I have fired were tack drivers.


The 32 spec chambered guns will indeed handle factory load s.....(if such exist anymore) ,and surprisingly the bullets seem to be stable .............However ,recoil is awesome in a light gun,and the conversion guns have rarely seen much use............one cure would be to shorten the barrel,and rechamber to something with a 32 dia bullet .

[indian joe]

When I was a youngster we could buy one of these for pocket change
I remember walking into one of the Sydney gunshops (if you stood in the right spot outside central railway station you could see 6 gunshops as you looked down George street) - anyway just inside the door of one of these was a big half barrel full of 310 martinis @ 30 shillings (3 bucks?) later they were advertised mail order for 3 pounds ten shillings (7 bucks) back then AU$ vs US$ value was reversed so we (Aussie dollar) have gone from $1.33U$ way down to $0.65centsU$

most of these military cast offs I have seen had good barrels - not done a lot of work.

There were quite a few winchester 92's refurbished (in 32/20) using reclaimed Martini barrels - that seemed to work ok

The Martini was converted to use 32/20 brass - just needed the rim deepened - (I have the tool in my kit for doing that operation)

many hundreds of conversions to 222rimmed came out of Myra's gunshop in Broken Hill - ballistics supposedly almost identical to the 222

The nicest conversion I have seen is a 218Bee - that is a sweet little varmint gun.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

I have one of the 1892's with 310 barrel & sights but still in 310 Cadet.