Aussie_Hunter wrote on Jul 29
th, 2015 at 7:32pm:
I understand a lot of you in the US have Martini Cadet rifles but do you keep them original and shoot the heeled projectile they were built for, similarly the 297/230 heeled projectile, if so can you recommend a bullet mould maker as I need to get moulds for both calibres. Any help greatly appreciated.
Sorry to disapoint you BUT Cadet rifles were NOT built for heeled bullets!
Original Cadets by BSA had bores of 0.316" and ammunition by Colonial Cartridge Co in 1912 were .316" jacketted bullets. Later lead cartridges by the same maker were non-heeled and .317 diameter. Our own local bullet maker produced for a time jacketted projectiles of .316".
Around 1926 the call went out for replacement barrels and the contract was won by Greener who produced barrels of .319 - .322" which did not shoot the .316"ammo very well. Again Colonial Cartridge Co. developed the solution a heeled bullet and produced this right up to WW2.
So now we have rifles - original issue which have the same serial number on the barrel, receiver and butt; and the rebarrelled ones (with oversized bores) that have a matching serial No. on the barrel and receiver and a different Serial No. on the receiver and butt.
This data has been researched and confirmed by Brian Labutta who wrote the 'bible'on Martini Cadets and lives very close to me.
My bullet for original Martini Cadets is the non-heeled CBE 317.125PB
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)