I have a Martini Cadet that was rebarrelled in .357 Mag. The rifle extracts .38 Specials easily, but .357 loads extract very hard. I guess I am suspicious of the chambering job. The receiver was drilled to clean from the breach, and the split pin that holds the trigger assembly was replaced by a threaded bolt. The butt stock is as issued. The forend was shortened and has a metal band holding a sling swivel.

One choice seems to be to rebarrel, restock and reblue to make this the beautiful piece it could be. Who could do the work and what would such a project cost?

Another choice is to sell the project as is. What would it be worth?

Why don't you take a handful of 357 cases and trim .010" off each one in sequential order, then chamber and extract each one. It is entirely possible that the chamber is ten or twelve thousandths too short, and that is what you are experiencing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with trimming to less than minimum if it fixes your problem!

I suspect that your Cadet needs to have its striker nose bushed to a smaller diameter, and even possibly a new mainspring. These little rifles have no primary extraction feature and little direct leverage for extraction anyway, so the striker nose tends to stick when the primer flows back around the striker nose upon ignition. Low pressure cartridges are usually no problem but when the pressure gets up around 35-40K then things start to stick.

The solution is to reduce the OD of the striker nose and its hole in the breech block. I've found that a nose diameter of 0.050"-0.062" will work very well if its hole is SNUGly fitted.

The block can be welded or have a tight-fitting plug installed, and then redrilled to achieve the snug striker nose fit. I've done it several ways and all seem to work equally well.

Many of these splendid little rifles have bent or otherwise FUBARed mainsprings which will contribute to further primer flowback problems even after the striker bushing job. A new and stronger Cadet mainspring can be made by cutting a (stronger aftermarket) 1903 Springfield mainspring in half. The end coils of aftermarket springs are often slightly larger in diameter so sometimes you'll need to grind a few thou off the outside of the end coils to keep it from binding.

If the striker nose is properly bushed and the spring is strong, then your little Cadet should handle 357 Magnum pressures up to 50K (!) with little problem.
Regards, Joe

rebarrelling and bluing is going to set you back around 400, restocking is somewhat dependent on how nice a piece of wood you want. not a cheap process in any case. no custom job ever is. it's another - call it - a labor of love

My experience with a Cadet confirms exactly what JD Steele and butchloc have posted. Douglas barrel, chambering,scope mounting and blueing was $425 several years ago. I did the breach block, firing pin, lever bending and stock work myself. Also see my posting in "Wildcat Cartridges" on this forum under 22/357.

You might consider reworking to .357Max. The barrel is easy to remove, just be sure there is an index mark, mine didn't have one till I put it. I rechambered mine, took all of about 30 minutes, now can use all 3 kinds of .38's. There is an NEF forum on "go2gbo.com" where you can rent the reamer cheap. Hope this helps. Goat

I agree withJ.D. but a chamber cast will tell it all. Too many of these delightful little rifles were done into higher pressure cartridges than 310 without the firing pin being bushed.
Back in 1960 while home on furlough I went into Wigwam [Hawaiis answer to K-Mart]and ended up buy a wooden keg FULL of Martini Cadets in different calibres for something stupid like 10.00 each. I got the keg too and still have it. 310, 357, 22 Hornet---you name it. I don`t think any of them had the pins bushed. Sorrowfully it is now empty but it kept me busy for 30+ years.
Aloha, Mark