a buddy has one that has been rechamber to 32-20,but still has the 310 barrel. a 32-20 bullet drops through this .321 barrel,so he is thinking about relineing the barrel. in checking into, this,the cost is about $300.00,big bucks.
is there any other way to salvage this rifle,for better shooting? its shoots and extracts good,just can't hit anything with it.
thank for your time---------parker

http://www.cliffsgunsmithing.com/Cat_BC3235.htm

Shoot the .323 diameter bullets, you shouldn't have any problems.

-Spencer

I believe RCBS makes a mold for the .310 Cadet.

Capt Parker.

The first thing you need are PROPER heeled .310 Cadet bullets.

About 2 years ago I bought a nice,mint .310 Cadet rifle.I later bought an RCBS .310 mold and several hundred .310 casings from Buffalo Arms and was all ready to go.

A few weeks after this a gun collector friend of mine asked me about casting some bullets for his Cadet as well.He told me he had a rifle just like yours with an all origional bore except it had been rechambered to 32-20.The accuracy with .314" bullets 32-20 was predictably very mediocre.

About a day or so of pondering his plight and examining and measuring .310 and .32-20 casings,I hit on a solution that has REALLY worked out well for him.

I call it making ".310 American" ammo for such guns.A "Hybrid" .310 Cadet round from the shoulder up and a .32-20 from the shoulder back.

Basically from the neck up,the rechambered .310 barrels are STILL .310 cadets.The .32-20 cases will work fine in terms of loaded round diameter at the neck when loaded with the .310 heeled bullets in the .32 casings.

What we did was TRIM BACK the .32-20 casings at the mouth to make room for the full diameter exposed driving band of the origional .310 bullets.

Using Win or Rem trimmed cases and 32-20 dies,the heeled RCBS .310 cast slugs slip fit nicley in the newly made cases with finger pressure only.The bullets were cast soft(wheel wts or 1-20) and hand tumble lubed with Lee liquid Alox.

My friend loaded them with IMR 4227,(I have also used charges of Unigue and LILGUN as well).

In short,the new ".310 American" rounds basically allow the old Cadets that have been "ruined" by rechambering to shoot again to their former glory.

Kenny's Cadet now shoots as good as my totally origional one ever did.At a shoot last year using the tangent rear sights,he was keeping the rounds on a miniature 30" Steel Buffalo silheoutte at 600 yards consistently firing prone,He still chuckles about it.

If you need particulars on the trim length, I will be seeing him in a few days and will get the exact measurements .I think the trim amount is just about 1/10th of an inch.

I hope this helps..

Most cadet barrels are .316/.317. I have 16 of these little guns and a few spare 'new in grease' barrels.
Loading the 32/20 derivative is easy if you use a set of cadet dies with a 32/20 shellholder. The fired shell becomes a magnum version of the 310 (or 310 American). We have a local supplier of 120gn 317 jacketed bullets.
I use a locally made .317 x 120gn non healed bullet with excellent results.

Interesting... I have been playing with .32-40 loads and have an article here from the Feb 1972 American Rifleman on loading for the 8.15x46R Shuetzen rifles. It also lists Lyman Ideal mold numbers in this area:
316204 - .317"
316275 - .317"
316475 GC - .318"
31947 - .319"

Maybe try and find one of these molds - we all know where that would be!

Now all we need is for a few of Bad Ass Wallaces' 310 Cadet's to make their way stateside

I have had very good luck with paper patched bullets in my .310. I use unsized Lyman cast bullets of around 115 grs. made for a M-1 carbine and heavy bond paper. I have also used gas checks seated cup down over the powder and a .32 handgun bullet that has done well. The bullet is undersized, but the gas check seems to keep gas blow by to a minimum.

Telly