Marlin 1894CL 32-20

[SwedeNelson]

Picked up a new Marlin 94 32-20
Can any one tell me what kind of throat it has?
Slug the barrel and it comes out .309
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i80/swedenelson/32-20.jpg
Sized bullets .311 and it pushes them back in
the case when you chamber them. (bullets on the right)
Is it a short chamber?
Trimmed brass to the book length.
Next step will be make a pound slug of the throat.
Help me understand.

Swede Nelson

[Nobade]

I never cast the throat in mine, but #311008 loaded to feed through the magazine worked well and was super accurate. Wish I hadn't sold it!

[Jon K]

Al,

Slug the breecch end?

Mine slugs .311".
Looks like you're using 311316 or Lee clone of the same.
The front driviing band or the nose is pushing the boolit back as you chamber. Measure both diameters and seat deeper to make the fit.

I use 311008 & Saeco #322 here is a pic, and I only neck size the case as you can see funny lookng neck. Boolits are sized .313".

Jon

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l101/Jon_K_2006/DSC_0001-25.jpg

[SwedeNelson]

Jon

Thanks!
I'll give it a try. Wanted to use the crinp groove.
Have heard good thing about the 311008.

Swede Nelson

[brian]

Al,
My Marlin 1894CL has almost no throat. i have to seat deeper than crimp groove. no big deal. just seat deeper until can just close action and bullet just touches throat. then crimp there. it works fine. i seat the 311316 deeper than crimp groove. however it doesn't take much to turn a little brass into the lead at the case mouth so no big deal. i am anxious to try a 120 gr. LEE 6x GB mould that is a FB FN and is supposed to be able to crimp in the right place. we'll see. My rifle shoots some hornady j bullets into 1.25" at 100 so i am pleased with the accuracy. accuracy with CBs is generally about the same, but i always seem to get a flyer now and then that opens up an otherwise fine group. go figure. i picked up a 31 caliber "M" die for CBs. also use a 0.314" sizer die. the 311316 i drive hard as i can, it shoots fine. the 120 gr. FN PB i'm going to drive to around 1600 fps and call it good. I just got a old 311359 back from HPMoulds that Erik HP'd for me. i also had him open up the driving bands to 0.312" - 0.313". wasn't using it at all lately so it was the ideal candidate for a 32-20 HP CB. should weigh out around 95 - 100 gr. i suspect. has as big a cavity as Erik dared to put into it. looking forward to working with that new mould and loading for it when i get some time for that. Hoping it ends up being a dandy handy coyote load for cover where 100 yds or less is typical range. and besides, as you know, the 32-20 is just plain fun to plink with.
Brian

[9.3X62AL]

Is your new-to-you Marlin one of the 1988-1993 series rifles? I had one of these, and I can't recall much about its dimensions, but do recall that its throat was short and the leade was VERY abrupt.

I also have a 2004-vintage 1894CCL in 32-20. It also has the 6-groove Ballard rifling form like my 1989 rifle, throat runs .312" and grooves run about .311". Its throat is short--not like the earlier rifle, but still brief with a pretty abrupt leade. With Lyman #311316 sized @ .312", it will engrave about half the front drive band's length into the leade with case length of 1.305".

I trimmed back 50 of my cases to 1.280", and that lot of cases just "kisses" the leade. Using the same powder charges, I can't discern a difference in accuracy between the two loads. The longer one takes just a mild squeeze of the lever to bring it fully closed, and a moderate flick of the wrist to clear the chamber of a loaded round. The boolits don't telescope, and don't get extracted, they engrave because the roll-crimped case mouth edge bears against the boolit's crimp groove shelf. The shorter rounds take less effort, as you might expect. Both are quite usable.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Your picture appears to show the bullet on the right with a circumferential scrape where the first band ran into the end of the chamber neck, with the leade likely being very abrupt. If you seat the bullets with the front edge of the band at this scrape point, your accuracy will like maximize in terms of seating depth with this bullet. BvT

[SwedeNelson]

Thanks all

Will seat a little deeper and see what we get.
May try to trim some brass back and see what that will do.

A great little rifle and cartridge to work with.

Swede Nelson

[Ranch Dog]

Swede, I still have a web site up with all the chamber cast and various drawings from my short career at Ranch Dog Molds...

http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/TLC313115RF/Drawings/

[EDK]

Good to hear from you Mike/Ranch Dog. Hope this finds you, Miss Dianna and the rest of the family well. Your boolit designs and research are a big contribution.

Thanks from all of us

[SwedeNelson]

Ranch Dog

That is just what I was looking for!
Can trim brass back with no problems.

Thank you for your help.
Swede Nelson

[6pt-sika]

Al , I've had a fair amount of experience over the last 5 years with Marlin 1894's in 32-20 .

At one point I owned a 1894CCL , 1894CL vintage 1988 , 1894CL vintage 2004 and my remaining 1894 vintage 1906 .

I started out using the Lyman 311316 and 311419 . Both of these shot well in all four of my rifles and probably would have done much better as I used a .312" sizing die I happened to have on hand . I expect sized at .313 or .314 they would have been a bit tighter . I usually shot these bullets 4-6 grains of Unique both with the heavier 316 and with the 90 grain 419 .

About a year or so ago I was able to get one of RD's test molds for the 313115 and again I sized at .312 and they were also good in my rifles . I have since not really messed with any 32-20 loads and have gotten rid of all except my 1906 rifle .

Based on what I shot , if I crimped in the crimp groove on ANY of the bullets mentioned they cycled just fine thru all four of the rifles .

[SwedeNelson]

6pt-sika

Using my NOE 311316 MOD bullet mould.
5Gr. Unique, sized .311.
Will try some sized .312 and see.

Thanks
Swede Nelson

[John Taylor]

The SAAMI spec reamer print shows the chamber taking a 25 degree angle at 1.315" from the bolt face. From there it is .298" in diameter. There is no throat on a 32-20 chamber, just the 25 degree angle from the OD of the brass to the bore diameter. That's why it's pushing the boolets back in the case. If you want to use the crimping groove then you will need a throat reamer

[semtav]

Thanks for the drawings Ranch Dog.Those are great!! I see there is no link for the 218 Bee & 219 Zipper. did you ever have them up?
I've got all three 1894CL's and a 219 Zipper.

[Ranch Dog]

Thanks for the drawings Ranch Dog.Those are great!! I see there is no link for the 218 Bee & 219 Zipper. did you ever have them up?
I've got all three 1894CL's and a 219 Zipper.

I haven't built the actual web pages yet. I do have my personal molds on order but I won't see them until sometime mid to late next year. I figure they will be killing my 2011 coyotes. The 2010 coyotes will be killed with the 25-20 and 32-20.

I will see what I can do about getting that 20 caliber page going. The drawings always cause some great thinking!