always on the lookout and this one caught my eye! We won’t discuss prices, other than to say that classic firearms are rapidly increasing in value, thereby making it a good investment and anyway, my wife does not need to know!
What I actually bought was a BSA 310 Martini Cadet Rifle, made during the first decade of the 20th Century for the Australian Army Cadet Forces. Without bothering you too much with the history of the beast, suffice to say following their use by Cadets, Australian home defence forces were issued with them in the Second World War and thereafter they were sold as surplus on the world market.
My Cadet Rifle is a relatively late production version numbering 51,747 out of the 60,000 made. The front sight is a thick blade common of the military type and the rear notch is proportionately too small, making for a usable but uninspiring sight-picture. The rear sight has some sophistication having micrometer adjustment for both elevation and windage; it is optimistically graduated for ranges up to 600 yards, only time will tell.
The condition of the woodwork gives the impression that cadets may have occasionally pressed it into service as a cricket bat and being designed for the stature of youth it is a bit short in the stock. Despite this, it is light, pointable and there is no noticeable creep in trigger, which is rather on the heavy side. The metal work has most of the original finish and overall I think I got a bit of a bargain.
Most importantly I know of no other rifle in this chambering - making ammunition supply strictly a home-loaded proposition. Cadet rifles still retain their popularity in Australia and Western Firearms in Sydney have supplied, at modest cost due to a favourable exchange rate, a Lee Precision custom three die
65
Rook ‘n’ Rabbit Class
The Original and Uniquely British Gallery Rifle by Alan Whittle
set. They also do cartridge cases by Bertram but at nearly £1 a piece I opted for conversion of some new Remington 32-20 brass instead.
Bullets are of the outside lubricated heeled type, rather like the 22 rimfire. A heeled bullet is an archaic design of bullet where the internal diameter of the barrel is the same diameter as the cartridge case, and
the bullet has a step at the rear to allow it to fit inside the case. Luckily the Trafalgar Arms Fair also revealed a quantity of suitable lead bullets of the appropriate style and weight (120 grains), by Cast Boolits.
These bullets have no lube groove and therefore require lubricating with Lee liquid Alox. Ballistically the 120 grain bullet should be propelled at 1200 fps to duplicate the original loading and, although I cannot find any reloading tables which include this calibre, there are plenty of websites exchanging loading data.
Thus I have a project for the winter time and I will report progress on ammunition manufacture and performance in future issues.
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