.32 Win Spl. good-lord!

[Rangefinder]

So I've been playing with PP'ing for my .32 Winchester for a while now and am really impressed with what has turned out with it. Accuracy is fantastic--it's well within minute-of-heart-shot on a deer at 100 yds, so it's back to being a superb brush gun that it was originally intended to be.

I was curious what kind of penetration I was getting with the alloy and velocities I was running on it. I don't have a chrony anymore since a buddy sent mine to chrony-heaven some time ago and never bothered replacing it. BUT... this is a .321 lyman 155gr. flat nose squeezed down to .311 then patched back up with 2 wraps of notebook paper and loaded over 29.5gr. H335 for the bottom end of a full jacketed load and a listed velocity just under 2100FPS. The target/catch was 1" dry phone book, 1-gallon water jug, a second 1-gallon water jug, a 5-gallon water jug (square, so a full 12" front to back), 2" dry phone book, and finally a big log (my chopping block--ponderosa pine).

I expected the phone book to be a minor issue.
I expected the first jug to get ripped apart.
I expected the second jug to be in a serious state of disarray.

What I DIDN'T expect was the 5-gallon jug to be split nearly completely in half vertically, nor did I expect full penetration of the back phone book and to have to dig the boolit out of the pine log with 1 1/2 inches of penetration!


Patched weight is 157gr. Final weight after digging it out of the log was 110.5gr and portions of the nose were in the bottom of what was left of the 5-gallon jug which brought the total recovered weight up to 139.4gr.

The result? I'd use this on any deer in the country and not feel totally under-powered if I had to use it on an elk with a broadside shot.

I'm impressed!

[jtaylor1960]

What alloy are you using?It looks like what you are using would be about perfect for deer.I have three 32spl. rifles.They don't shoot bad with cast but I wouldn't mind trying paper patched.

[Rangefinder]

Straight WW alloy with a touch of tin to sweeten.

[canyon-ghost]

Think of it like this, heavy 32 going 2100 fps! It's a big slug going a lot faster than a 32-20 or even 32 magnum, not to mention the new 327 Federal.

You've pretty much got powerful rifle round on your hands. Looks good.

Ron

[bcp477]

I shoot a load basically copied from the 32 Win. Special.....in my 7.92 x 57. RCBS 170 FN bullet, paper-patched with lined loose leaf paper, over 32.5 grains of Hodgdon Benchmark......for about 2200 fps from the 18" shorty barrel on my rifle. I don't cast my own bullets, I buy them, but my bullet supplier specs a BHN of 12.....and I think uses an alloy close to the old Lyman #2.

Anyway, I've taken two whitetails with this round. In both cases, 100 % penetration through the animal (no bullet recovery, unfortunately). Distances were about 70 yards and the other about 130 yards. Exit wounds larger than entrance - so there must be some expansion. In both cases, the animals went down as quickly as with any jacketed bullets I've used.

So, yes, I'd say you have a good deer load there, sir.

[Harter66]

I shoot a plain based 324-175 LEE in my 32Rem the rimless step sister. I've gotten to 1800 that way w/IMR4350. When I get the current trouble maker dialed in I will return to this 1 again. IIRC that was at 32.0. Food for thought, though the thoughts my go hungry.

[redneckdan]

you should see what my 375 cal 400gr WFN bullets do when cast of 50/50 ww/scrap paper patched and launched at 2000fps. I tried 8 milk jugs once and never recovered the bullet.