Australian Cadet Rifle

I just realized tonight that I never actually shared this rifle. I talked about it years back but never showed and pics. This was the second Milsurp I ever bought. Got it at the auction from hell actually probably 20 years ago or so before I even knew I was collecting Milsurps. It was the last one I bought until about 6 or 7 years ago due to children arriving and growing up. It was a spur of the moment purchase, mainly because of the Kangaroo. It had the wife's approval because of the Kangaroo.

When purchased, this was cut down both the butt and the forearm. I did not know this at the time. When I discovered this website, I learned that it had been cut and located a forearm through another source. You guys here then helped me locate the butt stock. I was fortunate that the butt markings match the rifle, not the serial of course but the location at least.

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Looks to have been converted in civilian life from .310 to .32-20 as well.

Yes, most in the US were converted. Not much in the conversion, the rim on the 32-20 is a little bit thicker. Some weren't even reamed, just marked.

Nice rifle. Bought mine from Clein's when I was eleven years old, fifty eight years ago. Still have it.
Think I paid around eleven dollars for it.
Ed

They are a hoot to shoot. One of my favorites.

Kleins Sporting Goods stores sold them for as low as $9.95, the rechambered rifles a little more. They re-bored them to 357 magnum and even rechambered them to 32 Win Special. Years ago I turned down a 224 dia barrel
blank, threaded it and chambered it for the 218 Bee on this small action (also had to reduce the firing pin dia and hole in the bolt.

Nice piece.
Thanks for making me add another to my "need" list.

They have gotten pretty pricey these days. $700-$800 seems about average. I don't exactly remember what I paid for this. I remember it was more than I wanted to and should have based on my budget at the time but it was the heat of the moment. I'm thinking somewhere around $200 and I say that because it was very expensive compared to the other Milsurps I had. I paid $80 for my Enfield and $100 for my Swedish Mauser which I forgot about that makes this my third Milsurp, not my second.

My first was a Finnish 1891 Mosin Nagant. Thinking about where it all started makes me feel like a drug addict. Oh well not bad for my health just my wallet.

Paid $600.00 Canadian for mine 4 years ago, mind you it had a No.9 sight.

Nice looking little rifle, 32-20 would be a skookum rifle to shoot.

I have shot it, it is a lot of fun. I figured I'd take it squirrel hunting and actually did once but the lack of a safety is rather un-nerving to me and dropping a shell in and closing the action told the squirrels where I was and they disappeared pretty quick. If I took it up "home" where the squirrels aren't shot at constantly, I might get a few with it but they are too alert here.

I understand about the safety issue, if you're alone though and carry it at the trail you won't tap one off accidentally.

Commercial .32-20 could just be a little "loose" in a re-chambered original .310 "Cadet" barrel.

The .310 figure in the Cadet cartridge refers to the nominal BORE size, in a similar fashion to ".303 and, of course, ".30" Carbine / -06 / Army /Krag.

Thus, .312 bullets meant for the ".32"-20 will be barely engaging the rifling.

Original .310 ammo uses a "heeled" bullet that looks like a scaled-up .22RF bullet, with the major diameter of the bullet being much the same diameter as the brass case holding it.

".32" cartridges seem to be mostly derived from older designs that used these soft, lead, heeled bullets. In their modernized form, they appear to have "shrunk". See also ".44" cartridges like the classic .44-40. These use .429" jacketed projectiles, as does the .44 Special and its MUCH later offspring, the .44 Magnum. Ditto the ".38" Special and its direct descendant, the .357 Magnum, both using .357" (oddly enough) bullets.

The long-defunct "Riverbrand" company here in Oz made plain "lead" and jacketed soft-point bullets for these.

I don't have any of the "lead" ones here at the moment, but I do have two 100-round packets of the jacketed jobs.

The packet says, (VERY faintly): "100gn", which is about right and they measure out at 0.3155" - 0.3160" (ish) with the bulk being clustered towards 0.3155".

Not made since about the late 1960s, it seems.

If I had a Cadet in .310, I wouldn't be firing these; preferring to stick with "proper" bullets.

A couple of companies here have made heeled bullets for the .310, including one that finished them in a black, "polymer" coating.

And then there are the '92 Winchesters that have been rebarreled to run the .310 Cartridge.

Post WW2, there were still a lot of '92s in use, but "proper" ammo and components were scarce and expensive.

Thus, some enterprising folk worked out that there were reasonable quantities of .310 Cadet barrels floating around, many of them "new, in wrapper". These "mint' barrels were still being traded around collector circles in the early 1990s.

Conveniently there was a fair supply of .310 ammo around as well. Delete old, rotted-out .32-20 barrel, insert suitably machined .310 barrel.

Lithgow even did an unknown number of SMLE conversions, complete with a box magazine, in .310. These were along similar lines to their much more famous .22 Hornet conversions. There was a single-shot .410 shotgun on this action as well.

Very nice. I have a WA issued cadet action, which I have been attempting to restore for a number of years, and you must have been there at the right time to get a WA marked butt.

The 32.20 stamp may be to get around the restrictions on military type weapons during/after WWII. The 310 was a military round and were supposed to be handed in, so by being stamped 32.20 they were not a military rifle anymore.

The US doesn't have a restriction on military rounds and I'm pretty sure the conversion happened here because of the shortage of 310 ammo.

I have a Greener .310 Cadet in the original calibre.. brilliant little rifle! I got it for my boys when they were young teenagers.. good out to 200m easily!

I use both Bertram .310 cases and cut down .32-20 cases. I have a set of NDFS cut and file dies that Jim made me before he chucked in the towel. The headspace is loose enough on the Greener to allow both cases to chamber. I believe you need to thin the rims of .32-20 to fit in a BSA..

I have an RCBS mould for the bullets and load them on top of 8 grains of 2400..

During WW2 a jacketed bullet was used with these rifles (I believe it was a .303 mk7!) for use as an anti-japanese weapon by homesteaders in the northern territories.. I have actually tried this and it works fine out to 200m.. the rifles are proofed to 6000lbf

I paid CN$12 for mine in 1958 at Simpson-Sears in Guelph, Ontario,. It came with 200 rounds of .310 Cadet Mil-surp FMJ ammo that today would be worth way more than the rifle. I gave mine to my cousin who moved to San Francisco, California in the late 60's. His "bitter-half" made him get rid of the "evil gun" that occupied their happy home (?) so he sent it back to me about 12 years ago (Thank you, Larry!) BuffaloArms cases and CBE Mould blocks and I am in the .310 Cadet reloading groove. Cousin drilled and tapped for P/MH #9 peep sight--what could be better? Squirrels and Raccoons fear me. Too bad there are no woodchucks in SW Florida.

IIRC - In 1958, the CN Dollar was worth about $1.07 U.S.

I remember U.S. Gun Magazine advertisements for the "Commonwealth of Australia" - Martini cadet rifles in the 1960s. $12.00 (USD) for unaltered riles in .310 Cadet, sounds familiar. The importers 'Altered Rifles', to .32-20 and .357 Magnum, and priced these a few dollars higher.