310 Cadet

[PeterN]

I have been reloading for my .310 Cadet for a few years now . A few years ago, I inherited a few tins of Nobel powder from a friend who was emigrating to Cyprus. There were two tins of pistol 3, one still sealed, and part used tins of Pistol 2, Rifle 3 and Shotgun 82. The pistol 2 tin is not far off empty but still some left. Up to now, I have not used any of this powder. I thought that I may as well give the pistol 2 powder a try in the Cadet to see how it performs. So, I loaded up 15 rounds using the suggested load of 5.5 grains from the Nobel loading manual. I tried these out yesterday. The first shot resulted in a hard extraction. The extractor struggled to move the case so I tapped it out with a cleaning rod. The odd case does sometimes stick as they are converted .32-20 cases. The second shot had the same result so I stopped there. The primers were a little distorted in that the indentation was forced back some. Normally, the cases just pop out when you drop the lever. Today, I dismantled the remaining 13 rounds. I checked the powder to make sure I had used pistol 2 and not pistol 3 and the powder was definitely pistol 2, at least that was what was in the tin. I checked the weight of each charge on the scale and all were 5.5 grains. I have no confidence in this tin of pistol 2 now and will probably burn it off in the garden. Does anyone know why I seem to be getting over pressure loads? Has the powder degraded? It smells and looks OK. I am using small pistol primers if that makes a difference. The extract from the Nobel manual that I cribbed from a post by Dromia on another forum a few years ago.

Regards
Peter.

[FredB]

I have been shooting 310 since 1997 and I believe that the Nobel data is just plain wrong. For this purpose l always treated Nobel 2 as a superior form of Unique. 4.2 to 4.5 grn is as much as you should be using.
Fred

[Laurie]

Pete, I found a couple of sealed tins of Pistol 2 recently long lost in a cupboard. If you stick with it in the 310, they're yours free, gratis and I'll bring them over to Pickering for you.

(Do you use any Viht pistol powders? I have some odds and ends left over from my levergun revolver cartridge days that I want rid of.)

[PeterN]

If it is the Nobel loading data that is wrong as FredB indicates, I will try the Pistol 2 again with a lower charge. Is the Pistol 3 data in the Nobel book reliable?
Laurie, I will take up your offer on the Pistol 2 tins, thank you. Those and the Pistol 3 I have will probably last me forever.
I don't use any Vit pistol powders. I have most of a 500g tub of N320 with a 1985 date that I bought from Sambrooks to use in the .38 Webley and Enfield revolvers. I believe this would be suitable for the Cadet, but I have no load data for it.
Regards
Peter.