.32 Special, Anyone?

[windy]

swapped my lgs a couple of ho-hum oldies fer a 1907-built winchester "extra light sporting rifle" in 32 special monday night. it's "patinated"--brown, mainly--with a full-length mag tube scabbed onto the 26" octagon-to-round barrel. it has other issues, but the bore is fairly crisp, though possibly not enough to shoot cb's with. so far the accuracy has been so-so; best hope so far is with the speer 170gr j-bullet and about 35 grains of 4320. once i figger out the jay-birds, what's a good source for a variety of cast boolit styles and sizes--say 115gc to 190 or 200 plain-based? my old ideal no. 37 book shows a jacketed 110gr load at 2825 ft/sec., but i've no clue how to find a stash of those old hotties. love to have a varmint boolit cruisin' at 2500, and a bear-thumper about 195gr at 2000 outta that long, long barrel.
mind yer topknots!
windy

[missionary5155]

Greetings
My first center fire was a Marlin Waffletop in 32 Win. Special. Used it on fox, groundhogs and one muskrat. That was a bit overkill. Had it for years till I went to Bible School and it had to go for moving. Always thought I get another but discovered the caliber 38's and just seemed to be for me. Every Marlin I get in the 32's smaller cousin gets turned into a fatter caliber. No regrets either. Mike in Peru

[jonp]

Well, I just made another impulse rifle buy. Went over to another town with the wife and stopped in the one shop open on Sunday and there it was. My favorite rifle in the world is an old Marlin .35 Remington with a 24" barrel and the 3/4 magazine, this one is the same except for a short barrel and full magazine. Big, forend, I think it's called a perchbelly???

It is a pre-Micro Groove, so that's good. Only problem is someone cut it short for a kid and installed a recoil pad, I may try it as is, though. One thing I have been noticing during deer season is that the stocks on most rifles seem to be too long. I'm a wuss where cold is concerned and dress accordingly in our December season, so maybe a short rifle will help with the heavy coat adding an inch or more to my length of pull.

Now I need a mold and dies. I never have owned a .32/8mm, so this will be interesting.

I found one just like that for $150 several years ago. I ordered a blank from Brownells and spent several weekends on the porch with a file, some sandpaper and a couple of woodworking tools fitting it then used some oil on the hardwood. Came out nice.

[pls1911]

I managed to find a curious slab sided Marin in .32, virtually unused little beauty, and carried what looked like a factory threaed muzzle and knurled thread cover.
Never fire it yet.
Plan to get a can to use on this and .30BLK next year.

[roharmon]

Congratulations Bruce, and thank you for your service to our Nation.

damn close. under 30 days Rich. even got a job waiting in Indiana as well. just waiting on resolution on a home lease until we get the lay of the city for a home purchase.

[richhodg66]

I have four .32 Win Specials. A 1949 Win Model 94, a 1968 Win Model 94, a 1951 Marlin 336SC, and a 1957 Marlin 336SC. Both my Marlins have ballard style rifling and both are scoped. I shoot the older RCBS 08-170 GCFN in all of them. I also shoot the Ranch Dog 323-170 GCFN bullet. I tried the Lyman 321-297 boollet but could not get it to feed in any of my .32 Win Specials. The .32 Special has been the easiest caliber for me to get super accuracy from cast boollets. Whether I launch them at 1650fps or 2300fps, accuracy is match grade. My most accurate .32 Special is the 1957 Marlin 336SC due it's 3lb trigger pull and the Leupold scope mounted. Shot my first deer with my 1949 vintage Win Model 94 when I was 12 years old. My Uncle Jack loaned it to me for that rainy November morning and then he sold it to me when I returned home from overseas in 1973. I truly enjoy my .32 Win Specials a lot.
358 Win

I now have a Lyman 321297 mold on the way. I just now read your post closely and saw you had problems getting it to feed, can you elaborate on that a bit? My old Lyman manual lists it as a good bullet for the cartridge, I was hopeing it would work out well in this Marlin. Guess I'll have to try it and find out.

[Gaucho Gringo]

.32WS was made with black powder reloading in mind. It was never manufactured as a black powder cartridge but the thought was that is was to be reloaded with black powder. This was in the very early days of smokeless powder and old habits die hard. I have been looking for a LA in .32WS just to shoot black powder out of. Also the twist of the barrels is more friendly towards cast boolits.

[OverMax]

Nobody should have 15-16 Marlins unto themselves. Darn >Life's so unfair!!
BTW I was actually given a Marlin model 36-A__ 30-30 by a widow Lady a few years back. Apparently it was her fathers favorite. A pretty decent looking closed sided flat bolt. Reason received: I was asked to sell off her recently deceased husbands weaponry at a fair market price because she no longer wanted them in her house. I was given the 36-A rifle as a unwanted favor for my efforts. Have never shot the 36. Reason not too: Got a couple pre-64 >94s here for that purpose. 32 S. & 30-wcf.

O/M

[OverMax]

richhodg66 said: I just made another impulse rifle buy. Went over to another town with the wife and stopped in the one shop open on Sunday and there it was. My favorite rifle in the world is an old Marlin .35 Remington with a 24" barrel and the 3/4 magazine, this one is the same except for a short barrel and full magazine.

Your number #13 post. A bit confused here.___ Did you buy a 35 Rem or a 32 Special Sir? ___As you later commented in the same paragraph you were looking to purchase 32/8mm dies & a mold in the same thread. In no way am I intentionally critiquing your thread Rich. Just looking for little clarity is all.

BTW: I hope you bought a 32 special rifle instead of a 35 REM. Many who already own a 35 are now having trouble finding brass at this time & date.

O/M

[richhodg66]

I bought a .32 Special. My older .35 is sitting quietly in the safe, but it's an awesome rifle. I also have a .30-30 Marling (sold under the Sears name), and it's a micro groove, the other two have Ballard rifling.

I have a mold and brass coming now for the .32. I still need dies and a sizer and gas checks. I'm looking forward to shooting this one.

I have a good bit of brass for the .35 and haven't shot it much in the past few years, so it should last a while.

[TXGunNut]

BTW: I hope you bought a 32 special rifle instead of a 35 REM. Many who already own a 35 are now having trouble finding brass at this time & date. -OverMax

I'm greedy, seems I have to have both. If he has a good supply of brass on hand he's good, the 35 Rem is easy on brass. If not WW is still making them and this is one rifle cartridge that WW seems to do a good job making brass for. Have to smile every time I pick up a new Remlin in 35 Rem, someone didn't get the memo!

Interesting theories, Gaucho Gringo. Have heard both, cast boolit theory makes some sense but BP is a bit of a stretch for me. Biggest problem with both is why would a company that makes ammo and rifles do anything to make it better for the reloader? I think it's a round that happens to work quite well for CB's but I think the BP theories are a bit off the mark.

[OverMax]

TXGunNut: Do you happen to know what the twist rate is in a 336 32 special? __(I've often wondered if it was the same as a 94s)

[Lead Fred]

I have two hunting buds, one uses his gramps 32 special, the other my old 30-30 Marlin.
The 30-30 shoots the pants of the 32sp over 70 yards, inside 70 yards the 32sp knocksem down better

Ive passed on several 32sps after getting my 1941 winnie 30 wcf

[Nobade]

TXGunNut: Do you happen to know what the twist rate is in a 336 32 special? __(I've often wondered if it was the same as a 94s)

Mine is 1:16.

-Nobade

[bob208]

any one ever seen the special smokless sight on a .32 spl. rifle ?

[dakota]

One of the rifles that I'll keep to the end is a 94 made in about 54 - 32 Win Special. Some rifles just seem to feel right in every way. This is one. I have 30-30's - one in a 64 deluxe that I'll be using in silhouette shooting. So far though I've not been able to shoot that as well as the 32 -- ???

[358 Win]

I now have a Lyman 321297 mold on the way. I just now read your post closely and saw you had problems getting it to feed, can you elaborate on that a bit? My old Lyman manual lists it as a good bullet for the cartridge, I was hopeing it would work out well in this Marlin. Guess I'll have to try it and find out.

The Lyman 321297 boolet would get hung up coming out of the magazine and onto the carrier in all my four .32 Win Specials. Did not matter if I trimmed the cases short and loaded to a shorther COL. Funny, the same bullet functioned flawlessly in my buddies five pre war Win Model 94's and his two .32-40's.


If my photo posting worked it should show my 1957 Marlin 336SC used to shoot both targets shot with my cast boolets. The large round black target was shot with the Ranch Dog .323-170FNGC @ 1744fps using Alliant 2400 powder and the square block target is the RCBS 08-170FNGC boolit @ 2300fps using the new LVR powder from Hodgdon. Both boolits weigh 182 grains fully dressed ready to shoot. Ranch Dog boolit is sized .323 and RCBS bullet is sized .3225. Both groups are five shots @ 50 yards.

358 Win

[OverMax]

Both the 94 & 336 32s do have the same twist apparently. (1-16) Thanks Nobade

[roberto mervicini]

My son Eric second rifle, and the first that he bought with his own saving, almost 25 yrs a go was a win. 32 spl. He paid 150 dollars and the rifle was almost like new, and still look as good ( I offer him a 6.5x55 as first rifle ) .
About a year after with this gun he impress the hell out of me and couple hunting buddy, we where in a big sand pit shooting; at the end we all standing when a friend tossed a can of pepsi and told Eric: kid show me how that new gun work.... Eric of hand took a shoot that send the can dawn range, same with the second shoot, the third flip the can up in the air, and he keep it up with the next 2 shoots just like in some old western movie!!!!

Till present I reload with Speer 170 FP since had a tremendous deal at the time, a store going out of business on the last day in reloading had only 15 boxes of .32flat point and few die left I purchased all of them, still have couple left, but I read here that boolits from a .324 mold could produce good results. This is the same I use on a mauser 8x57. 324-175R-GC
Two questions:
-round nose is ok, not dangerous to set off the next round in the tube magazine .?
-from your experience couple of powder giving good results with the 175 grain boolit at around 1900 fps
thanks, regards
roberto

[TXGunNut]

TXGunNut: Do you happen to know what the twist rate is in a 336 32 special? __(I've often wondered if it was the same as a 94s)

I'm sorry, but no. Will see if I can find out.


Edit:
Thanks, Nobade. Don't recall seeing a 336 in 32WS. Now it's definitely on my wish list.