.310 Martini cases in .32-20 Colt?

[Dave Fox]

In my golden years, wandering the recent Louisville show, I handled a Colt Bisley w/ a 7.5" barrel in .32-20 and fell in love. Have one coming from Gunbrokers. Am assembling loading gear. I've an unmodified Martini .310 Cadet that shoots shortened .32-20 brass just fine. I have 50 cases of Bertram .310 brass. Awaiting delivery of the Colt. .32-20 brass seems impossible to find. Query: can I chamber and fire the .310 cases in the ..32-20 Colt?

[LongWalker]

310 Cadet brass at 1.12" is going to be too short to sub for 32-20 (at 1.315").  You end up with a neck too short to hold the bullet.  You can post a WTB in the Classifieds here.  That will sometimes turn up brass or ammo. 

I'll check later tonight, I might have some.  (I know I've got 150 or so rounds loaded for the 32-20 I've been trying to trade off, not sure if I have any fired brass). 

[mtmarfield]

      Greetings!

   I'd keep an eye on Buffalo Arms and Starline Brass for .32-20WCF. I used to have a Martini Cadet that was "rechambered" for the .32WCF, and it's my understanding that this was a popular modification to these great little Aussie rifles. The barrel groove was around .317", and the largest bullet that I could seat in the case and chamber was about .312"( ? ). Accuracy was nonexistent.
   The .310 Cadet cartridge might chamber in your .32WCF revolver; if it does, the bullet would be rather oversized. If your Cadet was "Sporterized" to any degree, I'd consider sleeving / rebarrelling it to proper .32WCF bore dimensions.
   My first "Colt's SAA Replica" was an EMF Dakota .32WCF, 4.75" Bbl, and I still have it. I can't begin to guess how many hundreds of Ideal #311316 bullets I blew out of it! I believe that you'll love your revolver as much as I love mine!

             Enjoy!

                       M.T.M.

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[Baltimore Ed]

Run a couple of your .310 brass through your .32-20 dies and load with light loads and see what happens. They should fireform to the chamber. I use .32-20 brass in my altered 310 cadet. Would think they would work being bigger than .32-20. These are what my .32-20 brass look like after being shot in my cadet. They are very close as the case length of .32-20 is 1.315 and the cadet is 1.120. Only 0.195 dif.

[LongWalker]

For the OP: my inventory says I have some brass--I'll keep looking.  Worst case, next weekend I'll go blast off a box of the handloads to get some empty brass.

[DJ]

If you're desperate, Grafs has 7.62 Nagant that could be made to work, but you'd have to trim and form it (trimming might be a bit of a pain, but forming should be straightforward). 

Before Nagant brass became available, I always went the other way, converting .32-20 to Nagant.

--DJ

[Dave Fox]

A buddy who wielded a .32-20 '92 Winchester in cowboy action shooting is blessing me with his brass, dies, and, if he can find it, his mould. I have 49 rounds of virgin Bertram .310 Cadet which has case walls too thick to seat my bullets of choice. Am going to try to fire form them in the Bisley .32-20. Shall report back.