Why 32-20 for a revolver?

[shooting on a shoestring]

Awww.
The pics are upside down.

[shooting on a shoestring]

RedNeck way of fixing it. Turned the gun upside down and took new pics.

[salvadore]

CAS said it all. I own a 1931 OP and a JM 94CL and they make me smile. I load nice gc 115 gr. for thE CL 1680 works best and almost the identical plain base bullet with 231 is a tack driver in the Colt. Oh yeah, forgot the 32 Hornady hbwc works well in both.

[P Flados]

As noted by the OP, it is all about the guns. In a good gun, the 32-20 is a very good and practical round.

Many 32-20s were "top of the class" guns as compared to the large volume of inexpensive 32s made for the shorter cases. Yes, some 32 Long (and "short") were in fine guns, but we are talking about overall production numbers here.

I have a 4.2" SP-101 in 327 that will make a bang with the best of the 357s. The bang is actually "not really fun" when the ammo is full tilt.

When you get right down to it, fun is frequently not in line with bang.

I recently did the stub tube thing to create a 7.25" Contender barrel with a 0.308" bore and a 32 ACP length chamber. I now consider it more fun/useful for target practice than my SP-101.

Not that I have given up on the SP.

I will probably pop more caps between these two in the next year than in the rest of my arsenal combined.

[nicholst55]

None of them new-fangled .32s have a song written about them, for one thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0H_5PSNokk The original.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhVLWcPcR4o Eric Clapton

As far as no current bottleneck revolver cartridges? Obviously nobody has told Gary Reeder that.

[smkummer]

No doubt in its day, 32-20 was used and killed as many creatures as any other cartridge made, especially if Winchester marketed it as a deer cartridge. Maybe purchased new back then as a farm/ranch gun which would kill anything including larger livestock with a headshot. A little bit of new life was introduce with smokeless HV loading for guns able to handle the pressure. Colt and S&W were able to sell more handguns by chambering them in rifle cartridges. That was then.

So here today these old relics still exist and many are in fine shootable condition of which some of us like breathing new life into classic cartridges. 32-20 can of course be loaded down. I can’t see any modern advantage of a cartridge needing a gun the size of a 357 and being chambered in anything other than 357 or a bigger straight wall pistol cartridge but a few new classic designed guns chambered in it have found a market including cowboy action shooters.

Interesting that today, 357 and 44 magnum were first pistol cartridges that were later chambered in rifles while the opposite was true over 100 years ago. I know a farmer/rancher in N.Dak that over 30 years ago had a 1894C in 357 as his ranch gun. He probably still uses it as such.

[shooting on a shoestring]

“Why 32-20 in a revolver?”
Ahhh...
They’re FUN!

[Bent Ramrod]

The new, straight .32 cartridges have the advantage of being compatible with carbide dies, so the loading is easier. You can also, of course, shoot all the shorter cartridges in the longer chambers.

You need a real shoulder or extreme taper to back cases out of cylinders. The straight sides of the .32-20 and the .22 Kay-Chuck overcame any tendency for the minuscule shoulders to back the shells out of the chambers, unlike cases like the .256 Magnum or the .22 Jet, which caused trouble.

Except for the S&W Short, new or fired straight-case .32 brass (at least where I go looking for it) is nonexistent compared even to those days in the past where the .32-20 was out of production. There was always enough old stock to keep one’s .32-20 firearms shooting. Having several longish straight-case .32s competing with each other in a niche market would indicate to me that a shakeout is possible in the future, and anybody wishing to keep their .32 Magnum of whatever length going had better lay in a stock of shells. The .32-20 seems to have revived and ammo and brass should be available indefinitely.

Also, the “big” .32 handguns, at least to me, seem to be at their most effective with thick cylinders and long barrels. Most production straight-case .32s come in miniature SA size or 4” barrel carry guns. Colt SAA clones in .32-20 abound, and with the 7-1/2” barrels can be loaded to equal or exceed any straight-case loading.

I suppose if you’re coming into the game cold and want the latest and greatest, you could look for a custom cylinder for a big Ruger revolver and go to a Magnum or Federal. But I don’t see myself unloading my .32-20s (four rifles and three revolvers at last count) to get basically the same performance from newer, harder to find cartridges.

[Drm50]

I usually have a 32/20 revolver S&W. Right now I don't. The 1905 model in 4" & 6" barrels are fairly
common as well as Colts in my area. I want a 1905 4th change target model. The fixed sight models
are ok but you have to fool with finding load & bullet to print sights. I have a original Marlin 1894
made in early 1900s and a Win 53 in 32/20. I have loaded for 32/20 in revolvers and rifles for over
50yrs and never had set back problems. I've never had any problem loading 32/20 or 25/20 and all
my loads are cast. I have found that most 32/20s will shoot cast a lot better than Jackets. That is
not including the new manufactured replicas and Marlin remake of 1894, I have no experience with
them. Only new 32/20 I owned was the Buckeye Ruger. It shot jackets ok. I only keep the older guns
the S&W 1905s can be picked up for less than a imported replica, in fixed sight model.

[Outpost75]

Around here .32-20 rifles and revolvers are common at estate and farm sales and sell affordably. S&Ws and Savages are very much less expensive than collectible Colts and Winchesters in like condition. Most guns are entirely functional, and well cared for, but carried alot and were well-used, having been handed down in families over generations, frequently over as much as 100 years of continuous field use.

Before WW2 the .32-20 was THE agricultural utility gun of choice in most of rural America east of the Mississippi. Eastern farming families were more likely to have a .32-20 behind the kitchen door than did Western cattle ranchers, who would probably keep a .44-40 in the same spot. Here in rural West Virginia many locals who could afford only one gun larger than a .22 valued .32-20s during the Great Depression. Its was a mild and effective small and medium game cartridge which was effective against common farm varmints such as groundhogs, which in the 1930s were an important food source, given depleted deer populations. Being able to cast bullets inexpensively with any available source of scrap lead, using an Ideal tong tool and getting 2000 rounds from a pound of Bullseye powder made loading for the .32 less expensive for farm families than buying .22s from the Sears catalogue, having the ammunition shipped by Railway Express and having to drive into a depot in town to get it. There was no "brown truck" back then and the Postman wouldn't deliver ammo...

While it is not recommended practice today, it was a common expedient to fire .32 S&W Long or Colt New Police ammunition as "shorts" in .32-20 rifles or revolvers. The .32 Long revolvers were also popular, and S&W cartridges a bit cheaper and likely to be carried at the local hardware store and might be in stock if they were "out" of .32-20s. But .32 S&W cartridges were much less often be bought purposefully, than exploited when acquired in a trade or as windfall.

The mouth of the 0.92" .32 S&W Long case is positioned by the shoulder of the .32-20 chamber, which begins at 0.882 ahead of the rim, thus centering the case body. This distributes radial case expansion of the .337" diameter .32 S&W Long case in the .32-20 chamber which is .342" diameter at the shoulder and .354" at its base. The result is that a good gas seal is obtained. Velocity of factory .32 S&W Long ammunition is little different when fired from the .32-20 chamber than it would be from a .32 S&W Long revolver of the same barrel length. The .314" diameter .32 S&W Long bullet must jump about 0.3" past the .332 neck diameter the .32-20 chamber, but accuracy is reasonable at close range, enabling use of less expensive alternative ammunition for trapline and animal slaughtering purposes.

You can expect about one split case out of each cylinder full, so this should be viewed as a "useful to know" emergency expedient, not being recommended for frequent, or regular use.

Attachment 228950Attachment 228951

[bones37]

Outpost75,
I must live in an area where the 32-20 wasn't very popular. I'm 46, and I've never heard any of the older generations talk about the cartridge. In fact, I have never seen any for sale locally whether it be at a gun shop or estate sale. Now I'm not saying there haven't been a few around, but for the most part, 32-20s in either a rifle or revolver were uncommon. The 32 Long was more popular in my area, but not by much. Most people around here used rimfire 22s or a shotgun as that is what most people could afford or what they already owned.
bones37

[salvadore]

When I talked guns with geezers in the early 70s no one mentioned 32/20s. The prefered deer round in NC was a .22 rimfire out the kitchen window for both the fossilized and contemporary shooters. Out west it was much the same but no.22 for deer, 30/30 & 30-06 were the cartridge of choice. I've talked to a lot of folks born before 1920 and never heard 32/20 mentioned

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

The .32-20 gained popularity as a small to medium game round. .22/.25/.32 rimfires with blackpowder lacked the power the .32-20 had when it came to larger vermin like coyote and wolf.

As for why there are so many revolvers in .32-20, Mexico forbid having a firearm in the same caliber as the military/police. There goes the .38 Special. The only contender in the mid-bore arena was ...............? Additionally, it did shoot flatter than the .38 Special, and you could have a rifle and revolver with the same caliber.

[Tom W.]

A fellow that I used to know traded an FIE .380 for a S&W 32/20 and got a box of cartridges With it. He called me up and I went over to his house to see ( and shoot ) it. The bbl. said .32 ctg. on it. He fired it and all of the brass split and was ruined. I decided it was wise to put it away until we found out what it was.

After looking and reading reference books ( this was pre - internet days ) I saw a picture of a revolver that was exactly like his and found that it was indeed a 32/20, not a .32 S&W. After buying a proper box or two of ammo we had a lot of fun plinking with that revolver.

[35remington]

A good many 32-20s were sold. Somebody was buying them. City folk likely were not, so that sort of narrows it down some.

Here in Nebraska we run across the 32-20 users in the central and western part of the state, Sandhills included. I started my 32-20 loading with the C113F (fortunately as cast .313” or a bit larger) for a well taken care of Winchester carbine that did ranch duty near Ogallala, and another Winchester in the Loess Hills just east of the Sandhills near Taylor.

Both owners mentioned using them to keep the yard free of vermin and when the deer started coming back after WW2 they used the HV loading to fill their tags to retaliate on those critters munching on the stacked hay near the place. They were kept loaded and ready for whatever, four legged or two legged. A box of ammo lasted a while because they were shot carefully and not wastefully. They would tend to stock up on ammo in one fell swoop and ride that supply for a while.

Enough more range and power than a 22 that they had their valuable place. The owners introduced them to me by turning them over and over in their hands while they started their stories by saying, “this rifle here has shot a bunch of critters......”

Incidentally, the Ogallala friend runs the mortuary in Ogallala. Draucker is the name. Keel over there and he’ll fix you right up.