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Thread: WINCHESTER 1894 32-40 which bullet?

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
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    170

    WINCHESTER 1894 32-40 which bullet?

    Have a Winchester 1894 in 32-40 made in 1906 and need a little help on bullet selection. Don't have any molds for this cartridge as of yet, but have been looking at Accurate Molds website and I'm eyeballing a few choices.
    32-160GP
    32-165P
    32-170D

    A little background I'd like a plain base bullet with ample groove capacity for lube to shoot with black powder loads and of course using a black powder lube.
    It has a 26" barrel that slugs .3155-.3205

    Would also like to try some smokeless loads but not sure how far to push this old girl!
    This is my first venture with this cartridge and I'm not finding a lot of reloading information, so any guidance would help

    May even entertain hunting with this gun.
    We shall see.

    Thanks
    Downwind

  2. #2
    Boolit Master

    Baja_Traveler's Avatar
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    Can't help you with the Accurate molds, as I don't use them - but for my 1902 Marlin I cast NOE 323 180 FP boolits. I loaded up 50 rounds of black for one of our levergun silhouette matches and they shot well, but my usual load is 14gr of 300MP, the same load as I use in my Highwall for Schuetzen matches. Not hot at all, but still has enough oomph to knock down a 200 yard ram. Other common loads are the same 14 gr of 4227 or 13.5gr of AA#9. Look around the Schuetzen forums and You'll find all kinds of load data for the 32-40. All the Schuetzen guys load for accuracy, not speed so their loads all tend to be on the milder side, then you can work up from there.

  3. #3
    In Remembrance Reverend Al's Avatar
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    I have an older Rapine .32-40 mould that casts a 165 grain plain base FP boolit that shoots very well in every .32-40 I've shot it in (about 6 or more of them over the years). My "go to" load that I used for Cowboy matches and informal target shooting is 12.0 grains of 2400 with that Rapine cast boolit. It's a very soft load that likely duplicates the old original black powder balistics and pressures, but I haven't chronographed it to confirm that.
    I may have passed my "Best Before" date, but I haven't reached my "Expiry" date!

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
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    Lyman's 165 grainer cast too small for either of my .32/40s, one is a John Wayne Comm. '94 and the other is a highwall with Douglas bl., with the single shot you can use long range spitzer bullets or boolits meant for the 8mm.

  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
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    Anybody using any of the bullets in the original post?

    Some of them seem to have a full diameter that runs well ahead of the crimp groove and worries me that it won't chamber without interference

  6. #6
    Boolit Buddy hockeynick39's Avatar
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    I shoot plenty of Accurate Molds plain based boolits! I also use Pat Marlins Gascheck Maker for PB boolits. If it were me, I would go with the 32-170D. If you are worried about the "bore rider" about the lower portion of the nose, don't be. It's designed like that to grip the bore as soon as it is shot from the case. Besides, when you set the lube sizer, that portion will get sized to whatever the size of the sizing die is. Good luck and stay safe!

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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