30 carbine vs 32-20 in contender

[awsomepossum]

Hello,

I recently got two 10inch 30 cal barrels in 30 carbine and 30-20. The "30 m1" barrel was made by Bellum and should be a 1 in 12 twist. I have plans to load one of these barrels up and hunt some small hogs at my farm. Which one of these calibers would you load up first(still need to buy dies,brass,etc)? I was thinking of using hard cast because I have read they have great penetration. How would these fair out of such a short barrel? Lastly, I have read that many people would shoot these calibers in Hunters class in IHSMA, anyone have any experience with this?

Merry Christmas,

Possum

[awsomepossum]

Also I'm about 40 feet from the feeder so I'm close

[saleen322]

I have a 32-20 barrel. They were popular in Hunter class in silhouette as they had light recoil. You shot 1/2 size targets to 100 yards so you did not need much power to knock them over. The 30 carbine cartridge is designed for more pressure so loading the two to book loads I would expect the 30 carbine to be faster. Depends on what you want.

[OlDeuce]

I've got big plans for ordering a 32-20 in a low wall . The 32-20 with a normal load is like 2000fps with a 85gr boolet and that should be more than perfect
on a hog 40 to 100yds !

Ol Deuce

[dannyd]

Both the barrels are .308. I have three 32/20 barrels great round, but if I was going to hunt hogs I would use the 30 carbine. The 32/20 barrel should have 1 to 10 twist.

[John Boy]

The 32-20 with a normal load is like 2000fps with a 85gr boolet and that should be more than perfect

Never heard of a 85gr bullet in a 32-20 going 2000 fps. The max load with H-110 is 1617 fps in a strong rifle. Normal velocity range for this bullet is 950 to 1100 fps

[Aunegl]

When I was playing the handgun silhouette game, the TC 32-20 was an accurate caliber. In Big Bore, I shot in Production and Standing classes. I was shooting cast bullets. RCBS 165 SIL for the chickens, pigs and turkeys. RCBS 200 SIL for the rams. In Field Pistol, I was shooting RCBS 130. The powder of choice was 1680.

[OlDeuce]

Never heard of a 85gr bullet in a 32-20 going 2000 fps. The max load with H-110 is 1617 fps in a strong rifle. Normal velocity range for this bullet is 950 to 1100 fps

John Boy......How about this .....

This got my attention and if true should be a small hog getter !!!

Ol Deuce

[Bigslug]

I'd much rather be working with a rimmed round for that application.

Starline .32-20 brass is good stuff. I've fireformed it out to use in my Martini Cadet that's a bit of a hybrid made by running a .32-20 reamer in the Cadet's larger .3185" bore. I've got 130 grains from a custom LBT mold going comfortably around 1530 fps with Accurate #9 (1700 is about where the primers said STOP!")

You'll be running a little skinnier and lighter, and probably slower with the pistol length barrel. . . but some food for thought based on some of my earlier, slower load experiments:



Slug on left - something like water quenched wheelweights stopping in water-filled gallon jug #9. Barely any deformation - it just got a touch shorter.
Slug on right - 20-1 lead/tin stopping in gallon jug #3.

Same powder charge for both at an approximate speed of 1250 fps.

Yeah. . .you could kill pigs with that.

[uscra112]

I'm also gonna suggest that the rimmed round will be a lot friendlier in the Contender. Headspacing is my reason.

I'm drawing on some limited experience with a 10" .30 Herrett barrel I used for a while. Your velocity from the 10" barrel will be limited to 1300 fps no matter what you do, other than going to ludicrous pressures. Pick a boolit that is the heaviest your throat will allow without seating below the neck, cast it 20-1 with as little antimony as possible, load with any of the slow magnum pistol powders* for about 1300 fps, and you'll be killing pigs.

* If you can find it, give Lil'GUn a try. That worked well in my Herrett. Highest MV for the same peak pressure of any of them. Otherwise, BLue Dot, 2400, AA#9, H110, or AA 4100, (or Ramshot Enforcer, which is 4100 in different packaging).

Added: Should have mentioned that Starline is the only brass that will give reasonable life at those pressures. (You'll be in the 30,000 psi range; none of your loaded ammo should be allowed in the same county with older guns that are only safe at 16,000 psi.)

[missionary5155]

Good morning
"Small Pigs" ... About how much poundage are these small piggies on the hoof ?
Have smacked numerous ground hogs and raccoons with the 32-20 at those "under 40 yards". A Savage rifle and a Dan Wesson revolver are my primary two ground hog poppers. Me I want a FN 115+ grainer at as fast but good accuracy to put them down right there. Bust the shoulders and down they go. Piggies are tougher critters. We tend to lean to "plenty of wack" on target.
Mike in Peru

[dannyd]

Dave Scovill of Handloader magazine did a great article in September-October 1989 issue on 32-20 TC. Send pm email address I will pass it on 3 pages 2.5 mg. The old barrels were 1-10 and we used Redding 30-20 dies to load with. We shot the RCBS 165 sil at IMHSA matches.

[John Boy]

Ol Deuce - those Hornaday loads get my attention too!
The maximum pressure for the 32-20 cartridge is 16,000 CUP. If it was me, I'd ask Hornaday for the pressures of these loads that are 2000fps and larger
PS: I tried to find the Hornaday 32050 HP/HTP bullet for sale on the Internet - Nada. But they are listed at the Hornaday website though. And since I shoot 99% lead bullets, I don't have a Hornaday Loading Manual with my references

[Larry Gibson]

The Hornady 90 gr XTP would be a better choice in either Contender barrel as it is a .308 bullet. I run them at 2150 fps in my M1 Carbine.

[Outpost75]

The Hornady 90 gr XTP would be a better choice in either Contender barrel as it is a .308 bullet. I run them at 2150 fps in my M1 Carbine.

The .309" Hornady 90-grain XTP is a VERY versatile bullet. It expands some down to 900 fps in the .32 ACP with 3 grains of AutoComp in the Walther PP, and is very impressive with 7.4 grains of AutoComp in the 7.62x25 TT33 at about 1400 fps, and does not come apart at full velocity in the M1 Carbine.

It is the only light .30 JHP bullet you will ever need!

[dannyd]

Hornady TC load for the 85 grain only goes to 1750. The 2300 load is for a rifle Marlin 1894c. They list a 30 Carbine TC 90 grain at 1900 Hornady 10th edition.

[awsomepossum]

The little pigs cant be more than 50 lbs and look to be about a year old. There are about 15 of them that come in and 3 are medium(roughly 100lbs). I took my first hog ever last week with a 308 sp which had great expansion. The 100 grain hp xtp looks promising out the 30-20 from my Hornady Manual. Hard cast seems very interesting as well. My dream would be to finally use my contender to harvest a hog and see the expansion/penetration first hand to make a judgement call on bigger hogs. I'm still going to use my 308, but this would a fun project to work up. Would a regular 32-20 die set work for the 30-20 or would I have to go custom? Also, are the two die rifle sets useable for cast? I haven't reloaded much in cast besides some 41 mag and 44 mag. Thanks for the information.

[uscra112]

Ol Deuce - those Hornaday loads get my attention too!
The maximum pressure for the 32-20 cartridge is 16,000 CUP. If it was me, I'd ask Hornaday for the pressures of these loads that are 2000fps and larger
PS: I tried to find the Hornaday 32050 HP/HTP bullet for sale on the Internet - Nada. But they are listed at the Hornaday website though. And since I shoot 99% lead bullets, I don't have a Hornaday Loading Manual with my references

The SAAMI Pmax is at 16k to protect the old .32-20 revolvers and weak single shots like the Stevens 44 that are still around. The European spec is about 30,000 by the piezo CIP method.

[upnorthwis]

Regular .32-20 dies will not work. Does not size the neck down far enough. Redding makes dies just for that barrel, 30-20 TC. And they charge plenty for them too.

[uscra112]

Regular .32-20 dies will not work. Does not size the neck down far enough. Redding makes dies just for that barrel, 30-20 TC. And they charge plenty for them too.

True if you're going to shoot condom bullets. For cast, a standard .32-20 die will reduce the neck quite enough to let you size your boolits .309+ like you oughta, so long as you leave the expander stem out and expand/flare with an M-die, (which is all but mandatory anyway). I have an ancient Stevens Model 47 single shot which is nominally .32-20, but has a .309 groove diameter, (this rifle was made in 1894 or 1895 - the .30-20 ain't anything new!). That's how I'm doing it. RCBS sizer and the M-die. The .32-20 seater works OK, but I have to iron out the flare by running the loaded round into the sizer by about 1/16 of an inch.