For those not aware of the history Australia used a lot of .310 Cadets for the training of, strangely enough, Cadets.
The service rifle at the time (Martini Henry 577/450) was considered too heavy and cumbersome for the young Cadets. In 1887 Victoria made the decision was made to use a much smaller version of the Martini action. These were the Francotte Martini in .297/300 calibre and supplied by Francotte and Greener.
NSW introduced the Braedlin Cadet Carbine a cut down version of the MH MkIV in 1891, followed by the Westley Richards Cadet Martini in .310 calibre.
After the introduction in 1910 by the Commonwealth of universal Cadet training many .310 Cadets (manufactured by Greener and BSA) were purchased and issued to the various states. Rifles marked for all states can be found my own to being marked to NSW and Victoria. A third rifle available locally is Queensland marked and I’m tempted to buy it. Both the featured rifles are of later BSA manufacture in what has become known as the Australian Cadet Pattern (I think the proper designation is 4b). The major difference was the introduction of a more sophisticated rear sight featuring windage and elevation adjustability.
Normally I don’t dwell on the ammunition but there are a couple of interesting facts regarding the ammunition I’ve run across.
In World War II such was the shortage of arms in Australia early in the war that many .310 Cadets were pressed into service to arm the Voluntary Defence Corp after having been withdrawn from the Cadet system in sometime earlier. The only available ammunition was the standard commercial loading with a solid lead projectile of 120 grains. As this contravened The Hague Convention a full metal jacketed round was hurriedly developed and produced.
In the UK in the mid 19th Century, when vets were commonly called on to dispatch animals small handheld devices were developed using either a “captive bolt” or “free ammunition”. It was also issued as standard equipment to farriers and vets in the British Army. The size was presumably for the convenience of being able to slip it into the vet’s equipment bag. One of the more popular calibres was the .310 and so evolved the .310 Cattle Killer – a slightly shortened version of the .310 Cadet. This may have something to do with the fact Greener was a big manufacturer of these devices.
And for those of you who regard the .310 as an unlikely precision target round I suggest you research “The Plater Incident” at the 1908 Olympic Games.
Side on views of both rifles, NSW marked above and Victorian marked below.
Forearms and rear sights.
Left hand side of the butts.
Left hand side of actions showing BSA trade mark.
BSA details on the barrels.
The very basic front sights
Rear sights showing detail of elevation and windage adjustment mechanisms.
Top view of actions showing the Kangaroo stamp. Note the Victorian rifle has the number 4955 (tracking
number for the state) applied to the action whereas the NSW rifle is bare.
Right side view of front sights.
Side on view of rear sights.
Right side view of action of Victorian rifle showing Commonwealth of Australia stamp, state stamp,
tracking number and serial number.
Right side view of action of NSW rifle showing Commonwealth of Australia stamp, state stamp, tracking
number and serial number.
Side on view of actions.
Right side of butts showing state and Citizens Military Forces (CMF) markings.
Some of the ammunition that came with the NSW rifle. Outer left and right rounds are jacketed military
rounds, inner left is Kynoch round and inner right is Super 310 round.
Headstamps of the above rounds.
The Super 310 ammunition.
The Kynoch ammunition.
The ammunition boxes, abit the worse for wear.
)