BSA Martini .310 Cadet

[CptCurl]

I recently acquired a nice original BSA Martini Cadet rifle in its original chamber of .310 Greener.

The rifle remains in excellent condition. Importantly, its bore is like new.

I studied on how to get into loading for this rifle and asked a few questions along the way. I got help on several online forums.

Over the last few weeks I gathered what I needed to load this little cartridge. Buffalo Arms sells Starline .32-20 brass converted to fit the little Martinis. They also have dies. Finally, I got an RCBS mould for the little 125 grain heeled bullet.

Earlier this week I fired up my lead furnace and cast a few hundred bullets. The RCBS mould does a fine job.

The next morning after my casting session I lubed 50 bullets using Honda motorcycle chain lube. I just set them up on a piece of wax paper and sprayed them with the lube. It dries quickly. Pretty soon I had 50 rounds of ammo ready for the range.

I snapped a few photos while getting ready to shoot.

I shot targets at 50 and 100 yards. The rifle has good sights, but they are just battle sights. That limits what I am able to do. However, the little thing will certainly shoot. Here are a couple of targets.

I was not disappointed. That's about as good as I can shoot with those sights. It's a shooter! This was my first time ever shooting this rifle and this caliber. It was a load recommended on a discussion forum and the only load I have tried. I'm happy.

Here's what the little guy eats:

Lots of fun!

Curl

 

[5-Shot]

I never heard of using chain lube before. I like it!

Ed

 

[Maddog 521]

Very unique rifle and story. Thanks

 

[nedlate]

I might have to buy a bullet mold just in case I ever buy one of those rifles! Fine looking Martini and it shoots great!
Ed

 

[Jebus35745]

I’ve had a .310 for years but only started shooting it the last couple. About 25 years ago a friend that is into Martini cadets was shooting his .310 at 100 yds at a bowing pin offhand. I took some shots with it, mild recoil and actually kept hitting the bowling pin. Fun. He was shooting 100 gr Hdy XTP’s, they grabbed the rifling. Saw one for sale cheap shortly after shooting his and bought it. Back then they were hard to find.

Keep running into reloading problems with it so it always goes to the back burner. The rifle range I have access to is over 1 hour away so I own few rifles. Couple years ago I bought package with bullets, original brass and a set of dies.

There were some articles by Ross Seyfried in Rifle magazine abt the .310 and they are quite accurate rifles. They were used in Australia for long range practice.

Have a 12/15 Cadet in .22, it a very accurate gun but heavy. Found my second .310 about 5 yrs ago converted to .357 mag. It retains the .310 sights and has an octagon barrel. Nicely done wood also, whoever did the conversion does great work. Would like to see a scope on it to see how good it shoots.

Post more shooting sessions with your Cadet, glad to see someone else enjoying this great little rifle. Larry

 

[CptCurl]

I never heard of using chain lube before. I like it!

Ed

I had that idea a couple years ago when loading for my S&W .38 Regulation Police (.38 S&W). I had some 125 grain round nose cast bullets that had not been sized or lubricated. Since the .38 S&W uses a slightly larger diameter bullet than a .38 Spl. I didn't want to run these through my Lyman bullet sizer/lubricator. I didn't have any liquid alox. It occurred to me that my motorcycle chain lube would work great to lube these bullets without sizing them. I tried it and was happy with the result.

The .310 Cadet bullets presented a similar situation. I shot them with M/C chain lube and again it worked perfectly. I had no leading in my rifle barrel. It cleaned just fine with a couple of patches with solvent.

Try it. You will like it!

Curl

 

[Drm50]

I have had several Martinis over the years and have never fired
one in original 310 Cadet. Quite a few were rechambered for
32/20 back in 60s and sold by the big importers. The last one I
had was rebarreled to 22 Ackley Jet. If I ever ran into one in the
kind of shape of the OPs I would be loading 310 myself.

 

[diyj98]

Neat guns. I purchased four of them out of a collection a number of years ago, all in the original chambering. He had a couple that had been converted to 32-20, but those didn't interest me. They were in super nice condition with all the original wood cartouches still showing. I've seen traded them off as my collecting interests changed, but still have some ammo lying around.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

On my What the Hell Was I Thinking List is a custom small Martini in 218 Bee.
It has nice wood, bull barrel and a brass ball on the operating handle.
No clue why I sold that gun!