.310 martini cadet
- Thread starter WhelanLad
- Start date
Never seen one in original 310, i have it on my foraging list
Iv done a little research on them, what are they like in the field for hunting?
is ther collecter value on a original martini cadet?
is ammo expensive these days an is it strictly reloads.
obviously hadn "taken off" too much back in the day as i never heard of it until my buddy spoke of the calibre..
is ther collecter value on a original martini cadet?
is ammo expensive these days an is it strictly reloads.
obviously hadn "taken off" too much back in the day as i never heard of it until my buddy spoke of the calibre..
.310 Martini Cadet
Back in the good old days of the 1960s, they were freely available in a lot of surplus stores in Canada. I can remember a barrel full of them, for $9.95 and take your pick. I think they were BSA, Greener, and Wesley-Richards makes.
As no ammo was available, we used .32 Smith and Wesson Long cartridges with fair accuracy. It blew out the casing slightly, but they fired and ejected without any problems.
A lot were rebarreled for .38 Special / .357 Magnum, 30-30 Winchester, .32 Winchester Special, and other cartridges. The actions made a lot of varmint rifles too, in .22 Hornet and .218 Bee, with the extractors being modified.
I did not have access to .222 rimmed Cartridges as in Australia, but I made one up for the .222, and used "C" clips slipped into the extractor groove of the case so that they would eject. Worked well, and later when I had access to a machine shop, I made a spring loaded extractor and reset the barrel back so that I could use standard cartridges. I shot a lot of Southern Ontario Woodchucks with it.
The present price for one in Canada, if you can find them, seems to be about $400.
.
Back in the good old days of the 1960s, they were freely available in a lot of surplus stores in Canada. I can remember a barrel full of them, for $9.95 and take your pick. I think they were BSA, Greener, and Wesley-Richards makes.
As no ammo was available, we used .32 Smith and Wesson Long cartridges with fair accuracy. It blew out the casing slightly, but they fired and ejected without any problems.
A lot were rebarreled for .38 Special / .357 Magnum, 30-30 Winchester, .32 Winchester Special, and other cartridges. The actions made a lot of varmint rifles too, in .22 Hornet and .218 Bee, with the extractors being modified.
I did not have access to .222 rimmed Cartridges as in Australia, but I made one up for the .222, and used "C" clips slipped into the extractor groove of the case so that they would eject. Worked well, and later when I had access to a machine shop, I made a spring loaded extractor and reset the barrel back so that I could use standard cartridges. I shot a lot of Southern Ontario Woodchucks with it.
The present price for one in Canada, if you can find them, seems to be about $400.
.
- Location
- Tucson, Arizona
Well I have one in .310 and the bullet mould for it. the .310 bullet is designed just like a .22. The base of the bullet fits in the case , BUT the rest of it is bore size.
A32-20 bullet is undersize. Rechambering to 32 Win Spl in such a light rifle makes it unpleasent to shoot.
A32-20 bullet is undersize. Rechambering to 32 Win Spl in such a light rifle makes it unpleasent to shoot.
Even Down Under, a good number seem to have been re-done by Sportco and others. There are several in various degrees of sporterization on www.usedguns.com.au right now.
I have an original .310 ('roo on the Knox form, etc.) that I got off CGN several years ago, plus a spare barrel in case I ever get around to sending it to Ron Smith to be rebored to .357 mag. (Of course, if I'd sent it to him years ago, it would be up and running now. LAst I heard his turnaround is nearly a year and he's apparently the only one doing reboring in Canada.) They are delightfully lithe and handy little rifles and the rear sight is a very nice bit of engineering.
Relined to 25-20 would be sweet as well, but not cost-effective. Of course, I could also get off my arse and just shoot it "as is" but I'm not into casting my own bullets at this point. Just after I got it I got some bullets from a chap in the US (before I knew better, legally speaking...) but they turned out to be too long. I was able to shoot it by really shortening the cases but it was a lot of hassle.
So she is still a safe queen. (englishman.ca's post noted for future reference, though.)
Stuart
