Heavier Boolits in 32-20

[old turtle]

I am about to build up a 32-20 on a Martini Cadet action. The standard 32-20 twist is 1 in 22. But I want to use a heavier bullet. This results in two questions. The first is has anyone tried Lyman 311410 or 31356 in a 32-20? Also has any one had a 32-20 with a faster twist such as 1 in 18 or 1 in 16? Finding a 31356 mold would be difficult. I know that many people on this site have had a great deal of experience and I value many of the opinions I have seen. The rifle will be built up as a target rifle with a Parker Hale 7 rear sight and will have scope blocks for one of my old target scopes. Many think I am old and some what eccentric (also known as both stupid and crazy) but I have fun. Thanks in advance for any input.

[475BH]

I don't know how heavy/long those bullets would be, but if I had that project I would use a .30 cal. barrel w/ a twist in at least 10 or go to 1-8".
That would open up the availability to hundreds of different bullet designs and weights.
Thompson/center used to offer a .32-20 Win. barrel w/ a .308" dia.
Good Luck.

[Frank46]

There are a bunch of people shooting the 32-20 with 200 grain bullets. there is a gent that goes by the name of 38_cal on the assra site that does exactly do that. I believe that he can make one up using the take off barrel off the 308 sendero 1x12" twist. Good gunsmith also. If I ever get off my lazy bottom I have a 22 martini that needs some work. Frank

[longbow]

If you are looking for a mould, try Tom at Accurate Molds. He can make about anything in any diameter as long as it has a small meplat.

Looking at the 31356, Tom has some close:

http://www.accuratemolds.com/catalog.php

The 31-110L looks close and if made one more driving band longer would be about the weight you are looking for.

All Tom should need to reproduce a 31356 is a sample or a picture and your groove diameter. If you don't have one there is a picture of the 31356 here on page 104:

http://www.castpics.net/subsite/HistMolds/1900_Ideal_Catalog.pdf

Longbow

[bobthenailer]

i have a 32/20 pistol really a 30/20 as it has a .308 bore and a 1 & 10 twist to take advantage of 308 dia bullets offering more styles. it will also shoot .310/. 311 well
I use the RCBS 165 gr gc Silhouette bullet with 820 powder for a 1 1/2" , 25 shot composit group at 100 yards @1,250 fps. you cant get much better than that for 25 shots ! have shot 1/2" for 5 shots

Ive also used the Hornday 110 gr 30 caliber carbine bullet with great sucess under a inch at 50 yards as well as the Saeco # 302 120 gr rn gc with the same results.

[old turtle]

Thanks to all of you. I knew that I would get some good insight on this board. I was thinking about 130 grain boolits but with some of this feed back it looks like I can go much heaver. Thanks again.

[JeffinNZ]

The .310 Cadet has a 1 - 16 twist from memory so you should be able to stabilise blunt bullets up to about 180gr.

I have a .32-20 Martini that wears a .303 Brit barrel cut to 18 inches with a suppressor. I have loads with bullets ranging from 100 - 240gr, some subsonic, some not.

[HORNET]

I think the standard twist on the .310 Cadet was 1-20". I've got one that was rechambered to .32-40 (bad idea) and it would stabilize the 323470 Loverin but not the 321232 or 321297. There was a gentleman on the ASSRA site a few years ago that was competing quite successfully using a .32-20 with a 1-12" twist and an RCBS 30-180-SP that had the gas check shank reamed out to a plain base, but I think he was breech-seating them. You could run out of case capacity fast seating them in the case. You might want to search for an old thread on heavy boolits in the .30 Carbine for reference material, similar capacity but higher pressures.