32-20 wcf

[burch]

My nephew gave me a 1920 Colt police positive special in 32-20WCF. I’m looking for a die set in excellent condition. My buddy bought a Lee mold for .32 it’s a round nose 90 grn. bullet. Anyone loading for this caliber and is anyone using that mold.

[Randy Bohannon]

I have a set of RCBS Cowboy Dies 32-20 WCF that are as close to new as you’ll find with a Lee FCD that comes with the dies. If interested PM me with a offer.

[Tall]

My nephew gave me a 1920 Colt police positive special in 32-20WCF. I’m looking for a die set in excellent condition. My buddy bought a Lee mold for .32 it’s a round nose 90 grn. bullet. Anyone loading for this caliber and is anyone using that mold.

I do load for that caliber but I use bullets from Jerry's which is maybe 2 miles from my house. I like the 100 grain powder coated LSWC bullets best. Never tried any lighter ones. I have tried his LSWC in 110 grain and 120 grain but these days I am standardizing.

[Wayne Smith]

I have a 98 gr Lee group buy mold and the Winchester version of the Ideal 008 mold, that is a single cavity. I shoot these out of a Remington rifle. Not your 90gr mold.

[Green Frog]

Then there’s always the Lyman 311008 (formerly Ideal 3118) which is a 115 gr bullet designed for the original 32-20 reloaders of the late 1800s. That would be my choice.
Froggie

[Wayne Smith]

That's my single cavity Winchester mold, Froggie. Identical to the 3118.

[Green Frog]

Right you are, friend Wayne. If anyone doubts that the folks at Winchester thought the 3118 and 32-20 would go together, they only need to look at Winchester’s own mould, designed well over 125 years ago, to see where their sentiments lay.
This is not to say some lighter and even a few heavier bullets might or might not work in a given 32-20, but this old original design can be counted on to work!
Froggie

[35 Rem]

The Lyman 311008 worked so well in my Marlin 1894 32-20 that I've never even been curious about trying anything else. I load it to about 1,300 ft/sec with a moderate charge of Unique.

[tward]

My Colt liked the Lee 113 gr flat pt. Tim

[uscra112]

311008 in my .32-20 Stevens rifle was almost a 1 MOA shooter when I could still see through a small aperture tang sight.

[Tall]

If anyone doubts that the folks at Winchester thought the 3118 and 32-20 would go together
Froggie

Well I guess Winchester thought otherwise. I bought two boxes from Midway USA last week. The Winchester bullet is a 100 grain flat point.

[uscra112]

The cartridge is 130+ years old, and Winchester has gone through a few corporate shakeups, so maybe the corporate memory banks have forgotten what worked.

[Green Frog]

Let’s see, 15 gr of lead per bullet X half a million rounds = significant lead (and $$$) saved to keep the bean counters happy. Note that in my response I said some lighter or heavier bullets might work well, but it would still be hard to beat that old lead RNFP design from the 1800s. Heck, some folks even loaded jacketed bullets in the 32-20. Oh, the humanity!
Froggie

[smkummer]

Yes, I’ve used that bullet in 32-20 as it has a crimp grove for my Win. 92 rifle. Worked fine but I’ve discovered that Lyman’s 311008 115 grain sized to .314 has enough tension to hold firmly in my rifle with 10 rounds loaded in the tube for cowboy action. I’ve shot it in my police positive special as well and army special too. Both those revolvers were slugged at about .312, so hopefully your mold drops that large or larger. Like others, .311008 is so very accurate in my rifle. So I am just using that from now on.

[Bent Ramrod]

My memories of the .32-20 Police Positive Special that was my first .32-20 have faded to the point that I only remember breaking one of the grips by shooting rather vigorous handloads. (Once it became obvious that the petite revolver wasn’t going to handle Elmer Keith load recipes, I traded it off and went looking for a SAA.) But I do have an Army Special now, and it seems that it is like the PPS in that the cylinder is short compared to that of Colt SAAs and clones.

The result is that unless the 3118 is seated deeper than normal, and crimped well along the ogive rather than just past the grease grooves, the boolits will stick out the end of the cylinder in the Army Special, though they work fine in the SAA and clones. So I’ve gone to boolits with longer shanks and stubbier noses (and real crimp grooves) like the 311316, which fit the Army Special cylinder with no trouble. I reserve the 3118s for the SAAs and rifles.

You might check the length of your PPS cylinder and compare it to the OAL figures of 3118-loaded .32-20s (for 1873s and such) and see if they match up.

[Kraschenbirn]

311008 in my .32-20 Stevens rifle was almost a 1 MOA shooter when I could still see through a small aperture tang sight.

'Bout the same as my Win Low Wall.

[quack1]

Like most everybody else I shoot 3118 in my 32-20 Model 53 Win.
In answer to the OP's question, I have loaded the Lee 90gr. with no problems. It shot well in my rifle, although not quite as good as the 3118, at around 1200-1300 fps. Tried all the suitable powders I had, and found Red Dot and 2400 gave me the best accuracy. Hope this helps, although my only experience with 32-20 has been in a rifle.

[Kai]

Like most everybody else I shoot 3118 in my 32-20 Model 53 Win.
In answer to the OP's question, I have loaded the Lee 90gr. with no problems. It shot well in my rifle, although not quite as good as the 3118, at around 1200-1300 fps. Tried all the suitable powders I had, and found Red Dot and 2400 gave me the best accuracy. Hope this helps, although my only experience with 32-20 has been in a rifle.

How are you seating and crimping the 3118 bullet so that the nose is not to long and the round will chamber when using smokeless powder? Did you shorten your cases. Being a copy of the original Winchester bullet, which was meant to be used with black powder not requiring a crimp as the powder supports the bullet, if crimped in the top lube groove these do not chamber in my Winchester 53 and 92s due to the nose being to long. If crimped over the front driving band the rounds will chamber but bullets push into the cases in the magazine. I remedied all this with Saeco 322 bullet. This I believe is the perfect bullet for the 32wcf in lever action guns using smokeless powder. Has a crimp groove and shorter nose than the 3118. Very accurate. Obviously works great in revolvers as well. Just my 2 cents.

[HWooldridge]

RL-7 is a good powder in the 32-20 with a variety of pills. IIRC, I use 16.0 grs with 100 to 115 gr boolits.

[quack1]

[QUOTE=Kai;5672080]How are you seating and crimping the 3118 bullet so that the nose is not to long and the round will chamber when using smokeless powder?
I seat the bullet to the top lube groove and use a very light crimp, mostly just removing the bell. Never had a problem with bullets getting pushed farther into the case in the magazine. I don't lube the top groove, just the bottom, it holds enough lube. If I seat a bullet to just touch the lands with the front driving band, the mouth of the case ends up in the middle of the 2nd drive band. Maybe your bullet noses and/or top drive band aren't too long, but are a little too fat for your chambers? Lyman made molds for that bullet for a long time, so there were probably a lot of dimensional variations over the years.