M1894 Winchester in .32-40

[AntiqueSledMan]

Hey veeman,

I never annealed any, just ran the 32 Spl expander through, then sized in the 32-40 Die.
It's a fun one, little recoil.

Hey ndnchf,

Looks like it has a little longer nose, I never tried to see how long a cartridge would still function in my Marlin.

AntiqueSledMan.

[turtlezx]

i just run 30 30 thru the lee die to make 32 40
use the lee 8mm mold 170gr shoot as cast .325
.321 boolits would tumble in the 1893 marlin even though the rifling looks good

[dverna]

Those old cartridges do look neat.

Just curious, I see a number of 1894's in .32 Special. What makes the .32/40 so desirable? It's history as a match caliber? The long neck for cast bullet?

[ndnchf]

I just made up a dummy round using the Lee 8mm bullet. It will work in my Win carbine. I sized it to .321" and loaded it to an OAL of 2.525". It cycled fine.

Is there any concern with the nose shape? It doesn't have as large a meplat as the typical 32-40 bullet. Here are the two side by side. 8mm on the left.

[ndnchf]

Those old cartridges do look neat.

Just curious, I see a number of 1894's in .32 Special. What makes the .32/40 so desirable? It's history as a match caliber? The long neck for cast bullet?

Everyone has their own reasons. I've always liked the old hyphenated cartridges because they are from the black powder era. I've been shooting black powder cartridge guns since I got my first one in 1981. Before getting this carbine, I'd never had a 32-40. But I was intrigued by this one because it has a mint bore and a nickel steel barrel. Nickel steel was typically used for smokeless cartridges, while these had Ordnance steel barrels. By 1929, they werent making a lot of 32-40 94s. The 32 Win Special was more powerful, so it was a bigger seller.

[AntiqueSledMan]

Hello turtlezx,

I mix 7 parts Wheel Weight to 1 part 60/40 Solder, they keyholed with my 1893.
So I mixed it 3 parts Wheel Weight to 1 part 60/40 Solder, they shot straight, as did the John Wayne's.

hey ndnchf,

I was always told flat nose in Winchester & Marlin, round nose in Remington tube feed.
That's why I went with flat nose, lots of people use round nose.

Hello deverna,

I paid about $95 for mine back in 1990. Sad part was some idiot put Silver Dollars in the buttock, one on each side.
Then another, maybe the same idiot popped them out. So when I found it, it had & still has these two ugly holes in the stock.
One day I always planned on getting it re-stocked & cleaned up. It is quite different from the usual, it has a 20" octagon barrel
with a serpentine buttplate, and a nose cap like a rifle would have. I did use it deer hunting one year,
shot a doe at 60 yards, clean kill. Fun rifle to shoot. A 32 Special would be fun also.

Forgot to mention, mine says "Special Smokeless Steel".

AntiqueSledMan.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

A bit off topic, but 32/40 brass is as rare as in this part of the world. A small shipment of Winchester brass came through last year at $AU75 for 50, which I thought was robbery!

Like a lot of shooters, I tend to get the brass then look for a rifle. I have a small supply of 38/55 and 32 Special, enough for this job!

[ndnchf]

I took the .32-40 back to the range yesterday. This time my load was 17.0gr of RL-7 behind the gas checked, Lee 8mm, 172gr bullet sized to .321". I didnt bring the chrono, but this load should run 1475-1500 fps. This is at 100yds. Not a great group, but not bad considering my aging eyes, the short barrel and big ivory bead front sight. It about covers this bull at 100 yds. I am liking this bullet.

[ndnchf]

I replaced the too tall ivory bead front sight with a new, original style blade. After a little bit of trimming, it shoots right to point of aim at 50 yards now. It really seems to like 17.0gr of Reloader - 7 under either a Lee 8mm, 175gr bullet, or a Hunter Supply 170gr bullet. Next time out I'll move to 100yds and see how close the ladder sight markings are.

[ndnchf]

Today I was casting bullets and decided to try out the 100+ year old Ideal 32-40 hand tool's integral mold.

It took a while to get up to proper casting temp due to the mass of steel. But once warmed up, it cast beautiful bullets. I was expecting them to be around .320"-.321" diameter, which would barely be large enough for my carbine's .3205" groove size. It was a very happy surprise that they came out at .322"-.3225" with my 96/3/1 alloy. So I sized them to. 322" and loaded them up over 14.5gr of IMR 4227. It should be good for 1400-1450fps.