.32-20 Army Special

[JayinAZ]

Today I tried out my first handloads in .32-20. I used 4.0 gr of Unique under a RCBS 32-098 cast of WW. I sized the bullets .313 and with lube they weigh in at 100 gr. I had to seat them to the front of the driving band to make them fit in the cylinder. Brass is Starline.

Here's a shot of 5 5 shot groups fired off hand at 15 yards. When I did my part they shot well. I think off a bench these would be one hole groups.

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/5052/3220groups.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/705/3220groups.jpg/)

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The revolver dates to 1912 and I think the grips on it were hand made by some previous owner. I've ordered a set of repro grips for it and I'm contemplating a reblue for it.


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[Hickory]

I like those old shooters!

[BarryinIN]

I have an Army Special .32-20 too. It is a fun shooter.
Mine needs proper grips too. It came with some handmade slabs of thick plastic.

[9.3X62AL]

JMHO--giving that fine roller a reblue would be like taking spray paint to the Sistine Chapel. To my eyes, it is beautiful as-is.

Right fine grouping, sir. Colts tend to run a little tighter than S&W 32-20s, my Colts have all run .311" throats and .310" grooves--S&Ws tend toward .314" x .313".

You GOTTA try SR-4756 in that 32-20. If you get those kinds of results with Unique, SR-4756 should produce bugholes. With the 100 grain RCBS, start about 5.0 grains and work toward 6.0 grains. The Army Special's strength should allow 6.5 grains without strain. Standard SP primers work fine.

[JayinAZ]

Yes I'm pretty ambivalent on the reblue. If I did it it would be with no thought of "increasing value" and I would send it to Colt's and have them do it. But I doubt I'll ever be able to justify the expense to myself.

I will see about picking up a can of SR4756, I've never tried any of those SR powders before. I also need more brass. I only have 50 that I got by buying an extremely expensive box of Ulramax cowboy ammo. I also need new sky screen brackets for my chronograph so I can see what I'm getting out of it.

[BarryinIN]

4756 did pretty well in mine too

[williamwaco]

Really nice shooter.

Please don't reblue it.


,

[John 242]

On rebluing...
If you do, having Colt or a reputable gunsmith do the work would be a wise idea.
Recently I've come across two Colt revolvers that must have been hit hard with a buffing wheel. The screw holes were dished out and what should have been corners were rounded.
It's a sad thing to see that.
One was a New Service and I forget the other.
I guess I'm a romantic, but I hate to see old guns like these get thrashed like that.

[9.3X62AL]

4756 did pretty well in mine too

Ken Waters' Pet Loads was my source for this fuel info many years ago. It REALLY improved performance in my first Colt 32-20, a Police Positive Special.

If it can be had, get Starline brass in 32-20 caliber. Starline is considerably stronger brass than either W-W or R-P.

[Bret4207]

Good shooting! I also have an Army Special 32-20. Mine is not so pretty but it's not a real dog either. I've often thought of milling the "hog waller" on the top strap out a little and installing an S+W J frame sight. Using the one off my Kit Gun I see it wouldn't be much metal removed. The sights are the limiting factor for me with most of the old fixed sight guns and after installing a Wonder Sight on my 17 Smith I saw what a diff it made. My very best groups with my AS 32-20 are nothing to brag on really, but none of my groups from my handguns with less than adequate sights really would impress anyone.

Maybe I just need a bunch more Wonder Sights!

BTW, I've taken the 311316 way up into the Warp Factor area using big doses of 2400 and 110 IIRC. I found nothing was really gained except shortened brass life and excruciating pain if I forget my ears. Something in the 1K-1.1K area seems to work just fine on critters up into the 50 lbs class. Even them your ears are gonna hurt in a field situation with no muffs. That's the only downside to the 32-20 and hot loaded 32 Long/Mag- the noise is pretty harmful.

[ronbo]

Have the same model made in 1922 with the original hard rubber grips. Use an
Ideal 4 cavity 3118 lead bullet sized .310