I'm sorry if this is posted in the wrong place. I have acquired a small bore Westley Richards rifle and I'm am looking for some information about it. I reminds me of a Martini style rifle, one side of the receiver says Westley Richards, the other side has the letters NSW and Public School Cadet Force. I looked it up on line and I seen a Minex Rifle or model. It looks like it has been highly modernized, and a fine job someone has done. The stock has been refinished or replaced, it now has a pistol grip on the butt stock and a heavy barrel. Someone put a liner in the barrel and chambered it in 218 Bee, and it has a Unertl Scope. Does anyone have any idea what I have here. I was hoping I could find a gunsmith that might be able to replace the barrel and chamber it in a K-Hornet. Thanks in advance. Fred
Westley Richards Rifle
- Thread starter Fred Baker
- Start date
jds holler
Gold $$ Contributor
I'd love to see a pic of it Fred.
Also, I'd suggest that you won't gain much, if anything by rechambering to K-Hornet, from the Bee. --unless your Bee chamber has some challenge or shortcoming that you can't overcome with custom hand loading. jd
Also, I'd suggest that you won't gain much, if anything by rechambering to K-Hornet, from the Bee. --unless your Bee chamber has some challenge or shortcoming that you can't overcome with custom hand loading. jd
jds holler
Gold $$ Contributor
The 218 Bee is a robust little case, which if kept at a reasonable pressure can be reloaded like a dozen times. I've simply quit counting on mine. When they finally go, it's from a neck crack or case separation down at the web. Never a primer pocket.
Down-side is it was designed for tube fed lever actions, with stubby little blunt nosed bullets. Not a problem for single shot rifles with no magazine constraints. jd
Down-side is it was designed for tube fed lever actions, with stubby little blunt nosed bullets. Not a problem for single shot rifles with no magazine constraints. jd
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Used by the New South Wales, Australia, public school cadet force in competitions.
Some details here:
Some details here:
I will try to get a picture posted
jds holler
Gold $$ Contributor
Of the rifles I own that I simply won't part with, my little Winchester M43 Bee is at the top of the list. It's certainly not the most valuable, nor most accurate. It IS the lightest, easiest to carry and shoot rifle I've got. It's like one of the old bolt action 22's from the fifties, with a decent scope and 3000 FPS cartridge. I got it before I turned 20, and after fifty years, I just wouldn't feel right without it. 
jd
jdNZ_Fclass
Silver $$ Contributor
The 310 Cadet rifle was made by several manufacturers - but I only know for certain of BSA and Wesley Richards. It's likely that Greener and Vickers made some too. Or parts for them. Like most rifles out of Birmingham, they would have been made in several small shops - some making barrels, others actions and stocks. At the turn of the century (1900) there would have been hundreds of small gun makers in the Birmingham (UK that is) area. By the 1960's, most had closed, some remained - Wiseman's made mostly shotguns and the occasional double rifle, Alfred J Parker sold amd modified Lee-Enfields for Palma shooting - he was involved in supplying barrels for many other makers too - . Durek was making a delightful single shot rifle and pistol ( been looking for one for years) Paker-Hale were dominant in manufacturing rifles from No 4's, German Mausers and later Spanish actions. BSA had grown and moved from military contracts to hunting rifles.
Hundreds of Cadet rifles were built -based of, or converted from 303 British after the Boer war. Many ended up in Australia (NSW - New South Wales). I have seen some excellent conversions - and some garbage - the advantage over the later BSA and Vickers Martini actions, being a centre fire rifle, rather than the 22LR's which were more often used by cadets in the UK. There's a few conversion on the rimfires - mostly Hornet, which took advantage of the 222 bore. The firing pin angle was changed - usually by welding the hole in the block and re-drilling. Those barrels are not suitable for the pressure of anything more that a Hornet.
Hundreds of Cadet rifles were built -based of, or converted from 303 British after the Boer war. Many ended up in Australia (NSW - New South Wales). I have seen some excellent conversions - and some garbage - the advantage over the later BSA and Vickers Martini actions, being a centre fire rifle, rather than the 22LR's which were more often used by cadets in the UK. There's a few conversion on the rimfires - mostly Hornet, which took advantage of the 222 bore. The firing pin angle was changed - usually by welding the hole in the block and re-drilling. Those barrels are not suitable for the pressure of anything more that a Hornet.
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Does it look like this? https://www.bing.com/images/search?...&selectedIndex=32&itb=0&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0
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