.32-20

[Scrounger]

I guess it was inevitable with all you guys singing the glory of the .32 caliber. I have decided my levergun assortment has a big gap in it, and only a .32-20 can fill it. I have ignored these guns for years and now that I'm looking, I find there's not many out there and what is costs twice what I could buy a .357 or .44 for. OK, got to be a Marlin or a Browning. I can buy new Marlins for ~$600, anybody knows where a good used one can be had for less, I'd appreciate it.

[Harry O]

As a longtime .32 shooter, I cannot point you to a source other than haunt the local gunshows and regularly check the Internet auction houses. However, I note that nothing I have passed up has ever gotten cheaper -- assuming you can afford it right now.

The biggest example of this (for me) is the original .32 Long S&W Masterpiece. The first one I ever saw at a gunshow was about half again more than .22LR or .38 Special Masterpieces. I passed. The next one a year or two later was twice as much. A few years later, it was 3 or 4 times as much. Now sky is the limit. The last one I saw (on the Internet) was over $3,000. I still don't have one.

[Cherokee]

Bite the boolit and buy a new one. I happen to have two original Marlin 1889's that have been relined and shoot great. They cost more than 600 each but Marlin wasn't making any new ones at the time.
:castmine:

[9.3X62AL]

Art--

New ones are hard to find. I scanned through the sites I used when I went "in search of" in 2004, and little has changed. Cimarron lists 1873 repros starting at 1100, to about 1300. Marlin shows their 1894CL, in 32-20 /22" barrel/MG rifling. Izzat the one that's going for $600? A dealer friend found my present rifle (94CCL) somewhere, it wasn't on the 'Net at the time.

It seems the CAS folks want their arsenal to be fed with 20th Century cartridges.

[Dragoon]

I have a 2-3 year old 1894CL that shoots real well, a nice rifle. You will like it a whole lot better if you buy new Starline brass right off the bat.

[Cherokee]

I would stay away from the micro groove rifling myself - just my personal experience with Marlin's with MG rifling. Might not be easy to find a currently manufactured Marlin 32-20 but they are around.

[Dragoon]

r.e. the microgroove rifling. Unless Marlin has changed it, the 32-20 has regular six groove rifling. I know the website says otherwise but mine and several people I know of with current production rifles are all the six groove.

[9.3X62AL]

Sounds like the ad people and the rifle people need to get on the same page of the playbook. It seems logical to put these up with Ballard rifling, the earlier series CL's and my CCL have the six-groove profile. If you are going to target the CAS market, Ballard rifling would make more sense.

That said, I don't have any real heartburn with the Micro-groove pattern. I have a Marlin Model 62/30 Carbine levercritter with MG, and it shoots both jacketed and cast VERY well. It is by some distance the most accurate 30 Carbine firearm I've ever used. Both Lee Soup Cans and #311316 will approach 1" at 50 yards, 1.125" would be a fair average, and this is at full velocity (1900-2000 FPS). I size them at .311", and all is well.

[Dragoon]

I think the gun company sends a web page to the computer geeks they same way they would send a catalog to a printer; once its done its done. I recall someone emailing Marlin asking them to fix the description but I checked before I posted my earlier reply and it still says microgroove. It might well be now, but if you really care one way or the other, don't take the websites "word" for it.



I really covet that 1894 CCL. I have only seen one and regret to this day not buying it.

[9.3X62AL]

I got a screamin' deal on the rifle, out the door for just under $480 in Sept. 2004. I got really sick soon after I bought it, so it didn't get the immediate range shake-down that most of my new toys get. I now have about 800-900 rounds through it, and the cast boolits are starting to behave themselves. Both this rifle and a CL in 25-20 needed 500+ rounds through them before castings started doing the right things. Jacketed bullets were instantly successful in both rifles, right from the box. THEY BETTER BE, given the price paid for the %^$# things.

The CCL has a "front-heavier" feel with that octagon barrel and full-length magazine tube that is entirely different than the CL. The CCL "hangs" better, for lack of a more succinct description. The CCL's buckhorn sights renewed my appreciation for that sort of irons--not real great on the target range, but I like 'em a lot for field work.

[Scrounger]

I'm not hooked enough to pay $600 for one cause I just don't do that sort of thing. Of the maybe 500 guns that I have owned, I maybe paid full retail for 2 or 3. A good deal has always come along if I waited long enough, it always has, it will again. Maybe that's a little payback for giving me the dirty end of the stick in other ways. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, I figure it all evens out....

[dubber123]

If you can get a deal on one of the 1894CL's, I would grab it. I got one last year, and it is one of the most accurate levers I have ever seen, and it's a hoot to shoot besides. I can send you some cast for it that I bet will be hard to beat. I won't ever get rid of mine. Good luck searching.