For the original post, factory 32-40 is a bit flatter shooting and slightly more powerful than 357 fired from most 6” barreled handguns. The bigger bullet of the 357 may even things out. 357 fired from a rifle is going to smack harder than 32-40. At one time, high velocity 32-40 made for Marlins and 94 Winchester’s would be about the equal to 357 fired from a rifle. Another way of putting this, this is a low recoil cartridge. A late friend of mine bought a refinished 94 win in 32-40 and firing it was very mild. I load my 30-30 with a 170 grain lead bullet at about 1500 FPS, that’s about like original 32-40 specs. and it’s a wonderful plinking cartridge.
I would have to believe before 30-30 caught on, 32-40 killed a lot of deer.
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 |