Favourite .310 Cadet Mold

[Southern Son]

I reckon this is the place to post this question. I have an old .310 Cadet. BSA manufacture (windage adjustable rear sight). My dad gave it to me, and he got it from his brother, who bought it from a long gone Newcastle gun shop back in the late fifties. I was going to rebarrel it, but it has all the same numbers from front to back (including on the stock), along with CMF markings. It is not in like new conditions, but it is in good shape over all, especially considering the age. So I have decided to keep it original and shoot it that way.

My question is, what is your favourite .310 Cadet mold?

I have bought a Lee heel base boolit mold, but it is rubbish. Fins all over the boolit base, the sprue plate won't stay put and the boolits are way under size for my bore (I have not slugged it, but I reckon if I can almost push one of the cast boolits into the muzzle with no more mechanical advantage than my thumb, then it probably aint gonna go well). IIRC, they measure .312, and they shot poorly (unalbe to get them to actually stay on the paper at 25 yards, so measuring the group was difficult).

I have just bought and tried some Black Hawk hard cast boolits and they shot quite well (they measure about .323-324 at their widest point). At 50 yards hitting the cap off a spray paint can was all too easy. They weigh in at 128 Grains and look like the CBE mold.

What do you guys like to shoot in your .310s?

[m.chalmers]

http://www.castbulletengineering.com

Hell, your in OZ! Talk to Jim, he'll set you up.
Now, if you find any extra brass... Keep your "Mates" on this side of the pond in mind :)

[Southern Son]

I wish that I could help with the brass, but the only stuff available down here is Bertram, it is rubbish. I have a mate with a lathe and a 32-20. He took one of the Bertram shells home and used it for measurements. He got some old 32-20 shells with split necks, trimmed them back to length, and then shaved a little off the upper side of the rim. He made me up about half a dozen out of old Winchester brass and they are the ducks nuts. Told me that I should buy a packet of 32-20 brass and he would convert it over for me. I was thinking that it might be better to get a gunsmith to cut the chamber a little deeper on the rim so that I would only have to shorten the 32-20 brass and not worry about the rim (apparently some Cadets have a chamber that will accempt brass with rims as thick as the 32-20, but mine is too tight by about .015).

I have seen the CBE mold (I actually think that the Black Hawk cast bullets I bought were cast out of one of his, they are very similar in shape). Do you have a CBE mold? If you do, which one? He has a few for the .310. Off the top of my head, I can think of two RN (a 120 Grain and a 130 Grain IIRC) and a FP (says it is for hunting on the website).

What are you loading in yours? I found some old 2400 (how old you ask, it is marked Hercules) in my powder cupboard. 8 Grains of that with the 128 Grain Black Hawk is giving 1420fps and better accuracy that I can do with open sights.

[m.chalmers]

For my .310 I run a RCBS mold. Next order from CBE will have another .310. As for CBE molds, I run two for my 303 Brits. one drops at .314 the other is .316 for my worn girls.
CBE also has sweet 190 gr. mold for the 38 S&W.

[The Double D]

I don't know what Bertram brass you got, perhaps old inventory, but the new stuff is superb.!!!!

I use the 120 CBE mould and it is excellent. The mould and its output are in my avatar.

RCBS makes a mould for the cadet and the bullets from it are good, but the quality of the mould does not hold a candle to the CBE mould!! Both of these mould throw bullets in the proper .320-.321 diameter range that is correct for the Cadet.

[Southern Son]

I rang CBE today, but Jim wasn't there. Double D, My computer screen is rubbish and I cannot get it to enlarge you Avatar, it that a 2 or 3 cavity mold?

[Euan]

I use CBE 120 grain cadet mold, & it is sweet as. Works a treat.
Cheers Euan.

[Jumptrap]

I have a Cadet that I had to put together from parts.....seems an action fell in the ocean off NSW and swam over to the States. Then, a friend gave me the front half of a rifle he had rebarreled and yet another friend came up with an original stock.

And as you you say......it works a treat. Hehe!

The only realistic way to feed a Cadet is with a CBE mold.....I think mine makes a 130 grain bullet. Whatever....it is one of the very best molds I own.

I also bought a set of Simplex dies from down under.

There is no need in trying to half ass the loading of Cadet ammo when proper tools are available and the very best made come from Australia......right in your neighborhood.

I shoot 10-11 grains of 2400 under my CBE bullets, using trimmed 32-20 brass. My barrel just so happens to swallow the 32-20 rim, as is.

You're quite lucky to have an all matching rifle, treasure it.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

I have 9 Cadets in original condition and a 'spare' that is now fixed by rechambering to 32/40. It's bore was 0.321

The normal barrel dimension is 0.316 so I use CBE's mould 317.120 which is not a heeled bullet. Loaded with 4.5gn AP70 and no crimp, they will group 1.5" at 50yds. Cast boolits are sized and lubed through a 0.317 die. The neck expander that came with my loading dies was only 0.312 so I made a new one to 0.316

As for Bertram Brass quality, I did a bulk order of factory seconds last year and out of 2700 cases I found only 2 that were not useable. Incidently, they cost me $AU40/100 posted direct from the factory.

If there is no problem with importing empty brass into USA, or getting it through customs and out of Oz, I'd be happy to set up another order and send them over.

[Southern Son]

Bad Ass Wallace, the brass you got, when you look at the rim, does it loos like it has been thinned on a lathe? The ones I got look like the factory turned them on a lathe and thinned the rim from a 32-20. The cases them selves are so thin in the walls that if I try and turn the turret on the press before I have the de-capping pin all the way out of the case, the de-capping pin will tear throught the side wall of the case. I have seen 32/20 and 44/40 brass that was thin, but this is like aluminium foil.

I have been using the AP70 in my .38spl loads, so I might have to give that load of yours a go. I don't have much in the way of 2400 left. I only started loading for this rifle because I don't want to have a gun in my safe that I don't shoot. But it is such a fun little rifle to shoot I cannot leave it alone.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Brass looked normal as drawn brass, the two rejects were because the walls had crumbled and folded inward. I had to true about 30 in the lathe that were just a whisker long and not square.

310 Brass is normally quite thin in the side walls. This is not a bad thing, as the brass case seals the chamber and doesn't allow gas to blow back in low powered loads.

I have a seven shot Winchester 92 with a 310 Cadet barrel fitted but left in the original chambering, amazing how much ammo you consume with a bit of plinking.

[Myshot]

Southern Son. I have been using Bertram brass in my 310 and several other calibres for years without a problem. I shoot the Hawksbury 120 and 128 grn bullets with 9.5 ADI 2205, and resize the loaded round in the resize die with the spindle removed. This crimps them and trues up the bullets. Especially recommended with heeled bullets. Just like the 22 rimfire. These are great rifles for rabbits, foxes and plinking. Nearly cheaper than the 22. I have tried 4grn AP70 with some success, but will now try 4.5grns. Win 296 alos works very well.

Wayne

[The Double D]

I rang CBE today, but Jim wasn't there. Double D, My computer screen is rubbish and I cannot get it to enlarge you Avatar, it that a 2 or 3 cavity mold?

Sorry for not responding sooner, it's a two cavity mould.

BAW, will you make me some slugs from your rifle and send them to me. I have slugged and measured slugs from a good number of cadets and had yet to find one that was actually .316.

I know from what you have posted here, that you know what you are doing. If you do actually have a .316, I want to be able to report that in my book. The smallest I have found so far is .319, and that was one rifle. All the rest have been .320-.321.

If you can help me out, drop me a PM and I will get you mailing info.