The .310 Cadet, also known as the .310 Greener, or the .310 Martini, is a

centerfire Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center A centerfire cartridge is a firearm metallic cartridge whose primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i.e. "case head"). Unlike rim ...

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with b ...

cartridge, introduced in 1900 by

W.W. Greener W.W. Greener is a sporting shotgun and rifle manufacturer from England. The company produced its first firearm in 1829 and is still in business, with a fifth generation Greener serving on its board of directors. History The history of W.W. Green ...

as a

target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, f ...

round for the Martini Cadet rifle. Firing a 120

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legu ...

heeled lead projectile at 1350

ft/s The foot per second (plural feet per second) is a unit of both speed (scalar) and velocity (vector quantity, which includes direction). It expresses the distance in feet (ft) traveled or displaced, divided by the time in seconds (s). The correspon ...

the round is similar in performance to the

.32-20 Winchester The .32-20 Winchester, also known as .32 WCF (Winchester center fire), was the first small-game lever-action cartridge that Winchester produced.

and some rifles may chamber both rounds with some accuracy. The full metal jacketed round was used in cadet rifles in Australia and New Zealand after early 20th-century Defence Acts. In New Zealand, after the start of the Boer War, a cadet corps had been started; by 1901 it was recommended that membership be compulsory. 500 Westley-Richards miniature Martini–Henry rifles were available by October 1902 (Auckland Star), and 5000 by April 1903 (Star). Such rifles gained popularity in Australia, New Zealand and the United States when thousands of Martini Cadet rifles were sold by the

Australian government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

after World War II. A shorter version used as a humane killer was used in pistols. Known as the .310 cattle killer, invented by WW Greener, it was shorter in that a .310 cadet could not be accidentally chambered into the humane killer pistol.

Current Use

After being sold by the Australian government many were converted to sporting or target rifles, often re-barreled to calibers like .22 Hornet,

.218 Bee The .218 Bee is a .22 caliber centerfire rifle cartridge designed for varmint hunting by Winchester in 1937. The cartridge was originally chambered in the Winchester Model 65 lever-action rifles, which may have ultimately led to its lack of po ...

.25-20 Winchester The .25-20 Winchester, or WCF (Winchester center fire), was developed around 1895 for the Winchester Model 1892 lever action rifle. It was based on necking down the .32-20 Winchester. In the early 20th century, it was a popular small game and ...

, .222 Rimmed,

.357 Magnum The .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum, .357 S&W Magnum, .357 Magnum, or 9×33mmR as it is known in unofficial metric designation, is a smokeless powder cartridge with a bullet diameter. It was created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, and Douglas B. ...

and others to .22 rimfire by gun makers like Sportco. Those still using the .310 Cadet have to either buy cases to reload, by Bertram Bullet Co. in Victoria, Australia, or several small independent ammunition makers in Australia and the United Kingdom. However these new .310 Cadet cases are 3-4 times as expensive as new

.32-20 Winchester The .32-20 Winchester, also known as .32 WCF (Winchester center fire), was the first small-game lever-action cartridge that Winchester produced.

cases, hence shooters modify .32-20 cases, as a cheaper alternative. Modifications involve length resizing, and in most cases reducing the rim thickness. Due to the .310 using a heeled projectile, the neck thickness of the .32-20 does not have to be reamed down, after first being case length resized to 1.075" (27.3 mm). Most .310 cadet chambered rifles need to have the rim of the .32-20 case reduced from 0.065" to 0.045" (1.7 mm to 1.14 mm), to allow proper head spacing and operation of rifle. However, in the unusual instance of a lever action .32-20 fitted with a .310 barrel, the rifle will cycle better without the case rim thickness being reduced. As home reloading is the main option for the .310, many shooters play with different case length reduction of the .32-20, anywhere from 0.875'' to 1.185'' (22.23 mm to 30.10 mm).

Dimensions

Gallery

References

External links

Martini–Henry Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:310 Cadet Pistol and rifle cartridges British firearm cartridges Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1900

Current Use

Dimensions

Gallery

See also

References

External links