Have one of these great little actions with a .357 barrel fitted. Shoots well but the chamber is a bit dodgy in that heavier loads,on extraction, jam about 3/8 inch out of the chamber.

Rather than cut the chamber off and ream another 357 I am leaning towards enlarging the existing chamber to a bigger cartridge.

Ballistically the 357 Herret looks good and short enough to properly feed but the hassle with brass I could do without. I know these have been done in 30-30, how would 35 Rem go?

Appreciate any advice or better suggestions.

Cheers,
Garry

I have a friend in Melbourne who has used a cadet-actioned 30-30/375 for years and swears by it .

Thanks Muzza, that sounds like an interesting unit. I would like to stick with proprietary dies and brass so being a few mil shorter in the case than 30-30 the 35 Rem should be a goer.

Wouldn't mind discussing his with your mate though.

Regards,
Garry.

quote:

Originally posted by garrys02:
Thanks Muzza, that sounds like an interesting unit. I would like to stick with proprietary dies and brass so being a few mil shorter in the case than 30-30 the 35 Rem should be a goer.

Wouldn't mind discussing his with your mate though.

Regards,
Garry.

The 35 REM sounds like a good choice.......IF the extractor will work with the rimless case.

How about the 375 Win case necked down to .357 cal?

The problem with Martini Cadet actions is they don't accept very long cartridges with straight cases.

On feeding or extracting cases, one has to be able to push the cartridge forward or pull it backward while at the same time the case head is being either held up in the air (on loading) or moved up in the air (on extraction) by the curved top of the breech block.

If it is hanging up on the top of the .357 cartridge case during either loading or extraction, then it will be even worse with any other straight case of the same diameter but greater length, or any other straight case of the same length but greater diameter.

I'd suggest going with some relatively short bottle-necked, rimmed case that has a smaller diameter at the front...like a .25-20 winchester, or even a .25-35 Winchester. The .30 Herret should also work nicely.

As to extractors, they should not be a problem...there are extractors available from folk like Bob Snapp, which can be fitted to do inital extraction of darned near anything by a skilled gunsmith. Of course initial extraction and total extraction are two completely different aspects of the horse.........

I have a Martini Cadet chambered in .30 Herrett. It has been a terrifc combination on Mule Deer. Was told by one gunsmith that due to the .75 shank that the .30-30 size case does not leave a lot of metal in the chambere area. I have not experienced any problems in the 30 years that I have had this little rifle. One could always use the .357 Maximum case necked down to .30,7mm or .25 for excellent hunting rounds at short range.

My Martini Cadet is chambered in .32 Winchester Special and shoots and functions very well....

I believe that the original .310 Greener barrel is used, just rechambered.

My plans for the rifle are to rebarrel it in .22 cal and chamber it to 5.6X50R.

The barrel shank is only .750 and when you consider thread depth, you are limited to some pretty skinny cartridge cases and if you want to keep the cost down a little, it should be a rimmed case.

I have 3 martini cadets;mach.iv .17 rimmed;.22rf and original .310 sporter.My idea for the .310 was to rechamber it with say, a shortened .30-30 case necked to take a .321 cal. projectile.
Any comments ?

Roger

why not do a 357 Max?

Rich
DRSS

The main reason is to use what I already have, a good .310 bore (.321 actually,but rough chamber)and plenty of old .30-30 brass.
Sorry to hijack your thread Garry!

Roger

No worries Yuma, further reading makes me think the 357 Herrett may be the way forward for me. It will allow to ream out the bad existing chamber, which was the objective in the first place.

Garry

Garry,I posted a similar thread on the AHN here in Australia which might interest you.

Roger

357 Herrett brass is not that hard to form and should last many firings in that gun.

Make up a couple of hundred and you will be set for life or a long time anyway.

Nice performer out of that platform too I'll bet.

quote:

Originally posted by yumastepside:
The main reason is to use what I already have, a good .310 bore (.321 actually,but rough chamber)and plenty of old .30-30 brass.
Sorry to hijack your thread Garry!

Roger

I believe that .32 Winchester Special brass can be made from 30-30 Winchester brass and rechambering the .310 Cadet to .32 Win Spec is only a matter of a reamer. The case demisnions are listed here: www.stevespages.com/page8d.htm

How about the 357x44 Bain & Davis?

Steve E.....

Roger,

Im not sure what you meant by an original .310 sporter but if you have a commercially made sporting rifle as opposed to a cut down military cadet then i would strongly urge you NOT to change anything on it.

If it is a commercial gun made by a british or another maker then it could be quite collectable.

Brett

No Brett ,what I meant was that it is still in its original .310 calibre but has had the stock cut down.

Perhaps the simplest and least expensive alternative for your Cadet would be the 35 Remington with a rim. Simply use a standard 35 Rem reamer & reloading dies (inexpensive) along with shortened 30-40 or 303 British brass and cut the rim recess with the lathe (simpler than forming 357 Herrett). Use standard 35 Rem loading data (simple & safe in the Cadet). However, it's possible that your 357 bbl is made from soft steel, so IIWY I wouldn't load very hot unless I wuz sure of its hardness.

I strongly suggest that you glass-bed or otherwise strengthen the recoil surface on the front of the buttstock tenon where it butts up against the rear of the receiver. The relatively heavy recoil of the 35 Rem will tend to compress the wood and ultimately chip the wrist area.

My friend George the Knifemaker has Cadets in many 30-30 size cartridges including Zipper, 25-35 AI, 30-30, 30 Herrett, 357 Herrett, and even 44 Magnum and 44-40 WCF. I have a Zipper and an Improved Zipper, wish I had a 25-35 AI.
Regards, Joe

Bob Snapp, who is the dean of small frame Martini gunsmiths, routinely built custom rifles on the Cadet action for cartridges in the .30-30 family. Some of them are pure works of art. But he seems to have had no issues in getting them to feed and extract.

There used to be a 35/30-30 cartridge. Basically a 30-30 necked up to 35 caliber. Don't recall the specifics of the cartridge, but did see one set up on a 788 rem for cast bullet shooting. Would be almost a straight taper case. 200 gr core lokt bullets are still available from midway and 30-30 brass is usually easier and cheaper than 35 rem cases. Should be able to get 2000 fps by careful load developement. I'd check with pacific precision about wether they have the reamer as a stock item. Frank