303 barrel possible to use in 32-20?

[leftiye]

Bore and groove may be correct (if you get the right barrel). How about twist? Would there be a down side to 4 groove rifling? Is there another similar caliber that would work? Thanks, ahead of time for your help.

[caseyboy]

If you are thinking of using a take off barrel from a Lee Enfield, I have only heard of them in 2 groove or 5 groove. The bore and groove diameters also range quite widely so you would want to slug and measure to find what will work.

[Nobade]

The twist is a lot faster, usually 1:10 instead of 1:20. But it should work fine if it is indeed dimensioned properly. Heck, I used a chunk of P-14 barrel to make a new barrel for my daughter's 1863 Remington pocket pistol. It works just fine and is quite accurate even though the twist is way faster than you would normally have in a roundball gun.

[ricksplace]

I have made a 32 H&R mag on a No4 Mk1 with the original five groove barrel. (cut off the chamber, sleeved the barrel, threaded it and put it back on the action). It shoots beautifully. One hole groups at 20 meters. I know the twist is all wrong, but it shoots.

[zuke]

I have made a 32 H&R mag on a No4 Mk1 with the original five groove barrel. (cut off the chamber, sleeved the barrel, threaded it and put it back on the action). It shoots beautifully. One hole groups at 20 meters. I know the twist is all wrong, but it shoots.

Sound's like a fun gun.
When can I check it out? [smilie=2:

[enfield]

sure it works, I made 2 out of enfield barrels, one on a bubba'd #4 action and one on a single shot hopkins & allan that had a worn out 32-20 barrel. You may cringe but I cut the chambers using 2 different drill bits:veryconfu and they work fine. I have only shot the gas checked lyman 311316 boolit with a few light loads so far but at 50y they are within an inch or two. ( I just loaded up some with 2400 that I have yet to go try ). Enfields are great for this type of thing, just use a 1"by14 thread bolt to make a bushing and turn down the doner barrel to fit inside, a notch for the extractor and bobs your uncle.

[sharpshooter3040]

I re-barreled an 1895 winchester with a 32-20 barrel and chambered it in 303 British. The twist is a little slow but it shoots cast bullets like a house a fire

[uscra112]

Fast twist and heavy boolits using the .32-20 case is one setup that's being used in ASSRA 200-yard target competition. Seems to work. Got a mind to try it myself. But use a strong action - those loads are working up pressures higher than even the rifle version of .32-20 ammo.

[leftiye]

Thanks for the info guys. What about the .32 win. or 32-40?

[John Taylor]

The 32 Win and 32-40 use a .320-.323 groove diameter with a 1 in 16 twist. I have used a .308 barrel for the 32 S&W with lead bullets and it shot good. An inexpensive new barrel for lead, a little tight on the bore but the price is right. http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/productdetail.aspx?id=7.62X51-BLANK

[Nobade]

Remember that Thompson Center Contenders use 1:10 twist 30 caliber barrels for 32 H&R mag and 32-20. Both of those shoot quite well, and can use either standard pistol type boolits or large rifle type ones. I used to do quite well in IHMSA standing big bore with my 10 inch 32 H&R shooting 200gr. bore riders out to 200M on the full size rams. As for pressures, heck I don't know but it was plenty. Basically we'd load them up until you couldn't get the case out of the chamber. Didn't hurt the Contender or the Starline brass but I know it's not within SAAMI spec!

[Aunegl]

Yo Nobade, did we pop some caps together?

In the 90s, I used to shoot IHMSA big-bore standing and production, at the ABQ Shooting Park, with a TC Contender 10" 32/20. I started with RCBS 165 sil until I got tired of ringing 200 m rams. I moved up to a custom Hoch nose-pour mold dropping out 200 grain boolits with better results. Both boolits were very accurate and I got a minimum of ten reloads before I had case failures.

Ralph Rodriguez

[Nobade]

Hi Ralph,
I remember you! Yes we did shoot together. I wondered where you had gone since we used to shoot out there.

I tried to get highpower rifle silo started up out there but nobody wanted to play, so I do all my noisemaking over at Zia R&P club these days.

It's good to see you are here on Cast Boolits! Are you still around Alb?

[Multigunner]

I've been saving a cut off SMLE barrel for a .32-20 build one day.

The barrel was a new old stock replacement barrel I'd bought, then discovered it had a fatal flaw.
Someone had found the crosspin hole for the rear sight base wasn't lined up, and had drilled the hole out further, leaving a rough trench that came within a FRCH of cutting through into the bore.
I only discovered this when I found the crosspin was extremely loose and removed the rear sight base to find out why. The company rep said they could not make good on the barrel since by removing the base I'd altered it. I did no more business with them till after the previous owner passed away.

Anyway to avoid the possibility of anyone ever mounting this barrel I cut it off even with the crosspin hole.

I kept the shank end intending to try a sleeved barrel conversion of an out of spec Lithgow action body with non matching bolt to a .22 centerfire.

The muzzle end is 17 inches of pristine bore that slugs at .314.

I'd been on the look out for one of the smaller sized bolt actions with shot out bore that I could rebarrel to .32-20. Instead I found a very nice 23B in .25-20, the bore excellent and about 98% original finish in very nice shape. So I put the .32-20 project on the shelf.

An article on US Army Marksmanship units told of armorers in Germany modifying a .32 target autoloader they had been using by making new barrels from cut off M14 barrel sections.
The ammo they had been issued had undersized bullets so accuracy was poor with the original barrels. IIRC the M14 barrels have a slower twist (1:12 or 1:14) than the .303 barrels.

One thing is for sure, if a .32-20 barrel is made from a good condition .303 stub its unlikely to ever wear out.

A totally shot out .303 barrel can still have as much as 10 inches or more of excellent condition bore near the muzzle to work with.

[rickster]

I made a 32-20 barrel for a Rem 25 from an Enfield barrel. It shoots fine. I did have to reduce the diameter of the reamer pilot. I forget the details, but the bore diameter of the 303 is slightly smaller than the 32-20.