.310 Martini Cadet - conversion
I am looking at at a Cadet, with brass and bullets. The cases are bottle neck, made from .357 Magnum. Bullets are .32. The dies are marked 310 Work. Any idea what this is?
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Since no one has replied, here are my 2 cents. The .310 Greener is very close in measurements to our .32-20. On some rifles a 32-20 will chamber and fire but the bullet is about .04 smaller than the .310. In the ‘60’s these rifles were offered in .310, 32--20, ..32 special and .357 having been rechambered and the bore enlarged for the appropriate cartridge. Some not very professionally. A .357 case cannot be cut down in diameter enough to fit the original 310 chamber, this would explain the bottle neck. I have never heard of a 310 work. But my guess is that the 310 chamber has been opened up to accept a .357 case necked down to hold a .32 ca. bullet. I would get out my mic and do some measuring. If so, and the rifle is is good condition I would be interested in it. How much are they asking. BTW, I have two Martinis, a .38 Special and a .45-90. Both having been redone with new barrels. Eddie, life member VFW & NRA
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Thanks for the reply. The problem is the cut down bottle neck .357 case is larger diameter than the .310. So to chamber a round in the opened up size chamber, the lever has to be pulled down beyond where it normally stops, to drop the breech block further. Same thing required to extract the fired case. Some people say their rechambered .357 do not require this action to load and extract. But I do not see how that is possible, the opened up, larger diameter chamber of a .357, extends below where the action normally opens.
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I'm not sure what your problem is if you can lower the breach block enough to chamber a round, chamber, fire and extract it. My .38 special works just fine.
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The problem is, when chambered for .38 the chamber is made larger diameter than the original smaller .310 chamber. When the lever is lowered, the chamber hole in the 38 extends below where the breech block opens. On these guns the lever can be pushed down lower against spring pressure, then the cartridge can be inserted. The breech block is made so that a .310 cartridge can slide into the chamber. The larger 38 can not enter the chamber when the gun action is opened normally, unless a modification of some sort is made to the breech block. Same thing for ejection. Having to push down on the lever against spring pressure makes loading and ejection awkward.
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I've built several small martini's into various calibers, up to .44 special. you can ‘slightly’ bevel the front edge of the breech block to make chambering easier. Ideally, you should have to push the breech block down slightly to chamber a round. When chambering a round there should be a slight ‘click’ as the rim slips past the front on the breech block and then will stay there until the lever is lowered to engage the extractor/ejector.
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