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Thread: 32-20 CB suggestions

  1. #1
    Boolit Grand Master

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    32-20 CB suggestions

    Bid on a 32-20 Marlin on GB and almost forgot about it. Turns out I won the auction. Price was fair and I did pick up some dies from a member here so I guess it was meant to be.

    Ordered 500 casings from Starline, now all I need is a mold suggestion. Looking for plinker loads and possibly some small game hunting later this season. I can see me using it for rabbit for sure.

    I'm behind on my casting duties so if someone has a commercial cast suggestion, it would definitely get me shooting sooner.

  2. #2
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    JonB_in_Glencoe's Avatar
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    I've never loaded for 32-20, but a friend asked me to keep a lookout for a mold. I stumbled onto a single cavity Lyman 313226 (they drop around .314). It sure looks like it'd be a good one.

    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...=1#post3728481
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    “If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.”
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  3. #3
    Boolit Master




    Cherokee's Avatar
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    Commercial: http://www.pennbullets.com/32/3220115rnfpbb.html 115 gr round nose flat point. This bullet does all I need in both my 1889 Marlin LA's and Ruger revolvers. You can get it in several different sizes. Last time I bought 3K from them and they are great.
    Home cast: Lyman 3118 (311008) is a great bullet designed for the 32/20. Lyman 311419 will also perform well with or w/o the gas check.
    God Bless America
    US Army, NRA Patron, TSRA Life
    SASS, Ruger & Marlin accumulator

  4. #4
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    Marlin 32/20

    Congrats on your new purchase. Starline cases are proving to be the best 32/20 cases so you should be good to go once you get your boolit issue sorted out.

    I like the 115 grain cast boolit designs in my Marlin 1894 in 32/20.

    For a gas check design, I use the NOE 115 grain .314 design. If I'm shooting a plain base boolit for either my S&W Hand Ejector (K Frame) or the Marlin I use the Oregon Trail 32/20 .313" 115 grain boolit. It's very accurate and saves me a lot of time over the lead pot.

    NOE:

    http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=31_277

    Oregon Trail:

    http://oregontrailbullet.com/shop/

    These appear to cost more than the Pen bullets linked to above, but they do ship for free. I stop by the Oregon Trail shop in Baker City, Oregon now and then and I buy unsized and unlubed boolits from them which allows me to buy them cheaper as well as size them to exactly what I want.

    Here's my 1894CL. It's a hoot and I think that you'll find yours equally as fun to shoot and load for.
    Last edited by Scharfschuetze; 08-07-2016 at 02:30 PM.
    Keep your powder dry,

    Scharf

  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master
    rintinglen's Avatar
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    RCBS 32-98 sized .313 and served over 5.0 grains of Unique is a dandy choice that works very well in my Browning 53. I drop down a bit for use in my old S&W.
    _________________________________________________It's not that I can't spell: it is that I can't type.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    It will shoot just about anything well. For light loads (plinking), I use an RCBS 32-98 RNF. For more powerful loads (considerably over factory loads, but safe in the rifle), I use a 311316 GC. The 311008 also works for light loads. Hornady XTP for heavy loads. 2400 works well with heavier loads. SR4756 worked great with lighter loads, but it is no longer available. I will probably go to Unique or HS-6 for them in the very near future.

  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy
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    I like the Saeco 322 plainbase at about 1200fps in my 32-20 which is not a Marlin but a Remington 25.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by rintinglen View Post
    RCBS 32-98 sized .313 and served over 5.0 grains of Unique is a dandy choice that works very well in my Browning 53. I drop down a bit for use in my old S&W.
    Good choice if you are happy with .5" 50 yard iron sight groups.. Yep, my favorite in my 1894 CL Marlin. Not the sexiest looking loaded round, but boy does it shoot

  9. #9
    Boolit Master

    Kraschenbirn's Avatar
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    Hard to go wrong with the Lyman 311008. Pretty much the only boolit I shoot in my Cimarron (Uberti) LowWall 'cause, from my gun, it's extremely accurate and easy to cast. 6.0 gr. of AA#5 produces around 1350 fps and holds sub-2" (iron sight) groups at 100 yds. 'off-the-bench'.

    Bill
    "I'm not often right but I've never been wrong."

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  10. #10
    Boolit Grand Master
    Mk42gunner's Avatar
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    I don't have a .32-20, but I have shot more than a few .30-.31 caliber rifles loaded with cast at that power level.

    For original BP ballistics, the Lyman 311008 or reasonable facsimile works pretty well; for the HV loadings the gas checked 311316.

    I haven't tried it yet, but the RCBS 32-98-SWC should work, while saving a bit of alloy every boolit.

    Good luck with your new to you Marlin,

    Robert

  11. #11
    Banned

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    same boolit as rintinglen.
    I also use it in my 30 carbine revolver with the cut down and re-shaped 32-20 cases.
    313 seems to work for me too.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master Guesser's Avatar
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    I've been using Ideal 3118 (Lyman 311008) since 1956 in a variety of long and short 32-20 firearms. I vary my alloy & powder by application. Slug your throat and bore; I've read that some of the later Marlins were a little tight.

  13. #13
    In Remembrance

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    No one's mentioned the LEE C309-113F. I have two, (one I drilled out with a 5/16" bit to make a plain base), and they both cast ~.314 in my alloy. This boolit makes a great plinker in the .303s and .30s, and is super-dandy in my .32-20 Contender. Gotta love LEE molds.
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  14. #14
    Boolit Master Drm50's Avatar
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    I use the 115 RnFp in Marlin 94 and Win 92, these are both original guns and cast out preforms
    jackets in both. I have a old S&W HE, that I shot the RCBS 98gr, because it prints with the fixed
    sights. I just bought a 84gr RN mold off another forum, going to see what it will do. I bought it
    for 7.63 Mauser , but might work out in 32/20. I don't own one of the remakes of Marlin or
    Brn/ Win in 32/20. I had the Marlin and was disappointed with accuracy, so I traded it off. My old
    ones do a squirrel head at 40yds with 115 cast.

  15. #15
    Boolit Master Jack Stanley's Avatar
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    My Browning has a .314" groove and the RCBS 32-98-SWC and Unique work great together . On a rifle with a smaller groove I'd favor the H&G number sixty-seven or another bullet that doesn't need a lot of sizing .

    Jack
    Buy it cheap and stack it deep , you may need it !

    Black Rifles Matter

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
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    My pet load for a 32-20 rifle is a Lyman 311008 flat point 115 gr
    4.3 grs of unique
    Starline brass
    Winchester small pistol primers

  17. #17
    Boolit Buddy
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    I've shot many thousands of saeco 326's out of my Marlin.

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
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    I bought one of the Marlin .32-20s not long after they came out, probably in the late 1980s. I still use the 120 grain flat nose bullet cast from Lyman's #311316, wheelweight alloy with or without gas check and 4.5 grs. Unique. Muzzle velocity is about 1280 fps. Having tried different sizing diameters, couldn't tell much difference between .312" and .313".

    I've tried many powders and also the RCBS 90 (?) grain bullet. As I recall, that bullet shot well, but wasn't quite as accurate as the Lyman design.

  19. #19
    Boolit Grand Master

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    My intention is to hunt small game and plink. Based on the velocity it doesn't seem like I'm gonna need a GC. So I guess the question is GC or not and since I'm asking, hp NOE design or not?

  20. #20
    Boolit Grand Master

    Wayne Smith's Avatar
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    None of my .32 boolits have a gc. Unless you will step up to a 8mm rifle cartridge they are not needed. You push the 32-20 hard enough to need a gc and you destroy a lot of meat, too, if you are hunting.
    Wayne the Shrink

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check