Marlin 1891 32 Cal Convertable

[jonp]

I recently ran across one in fairly good shape. It has 2 firing pins one for rimfire and one for centerfire. I believe it shoots 32Colt.

Never heard of one before and was thinking of picking it up. Anyone have one or have experience with one?

[Mk42gunner]

No first hand experience, but I have wanted one for a long time, does that count?

There are a few articles floating around the web about loading and shooting the .32 Colt, good luck finding Long Colt brass, the Short Colt is somewhat obtainable.

Good .32 RF ammo is made of unobtainium, and I would not waste any money on the recent lots of Navy Arms made in Brazil; it shot like cowpies through my No. 2 Rolling Block.

Robert

[6pt-sika]

I never had an actual Marlin Model 1891 in 32 , but I did have a Marlin Model 1892 and a Marlin Model 92 both. 32 cal ..Actually they will a shoot 32 Short Colt , 32 Long Colt and the rimfire version of both . I was fortunate enough to find 200 pieces of new 32 Long Colt brass and a 90 grain heel mold. Pushed with 2- 2 1/2 grains of Unique it worked well at 25 and 50 yards . I even w ent so far as to kill a couple squirrels with both the little rifles . But like a lot of others I sold them off not to long ago .

[yeahbub]

You might surf the net for articles by Mike Venturino. I remember an article he wrote in Handloader magazine about a .32 lever or two and what it took to work out accurate ammo with outside lubed heel boolits. IIRC, he used several molds, new and original, black and smokeless. I was impressed with the results he got and thought I'd like to try that out, but life happened. The chief ingredient to accuracy was that the alloy had to be soft enough for the heel to swage up to full diameter and be indistinguishable from the rest of the boolit when examining recovered specimens. Good luck with it.

[skeet1]

jonp,
You might like to look at Handloader 122 it has an in depth article on this rifle and cartridge. If you want I could e-mail you a copy.

Ken

[jonp]

jonp,
You might like to look at Handloader 122 it has an in depth article on this rifle and cartridge. If you want I could e-mail you a copy.

Ken
I'll take it Ken and thanks. PM with email coming

[w30wcf]

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,48910.0.html

w30wcf

[Rich/WIS]

Worked in a small gun shop in the late 60s, had one come in. Fired it with 32 Colt ammo and it was fun, but given 32 Colt isn't common and 32 RF is obsolete you might want to consider ammo supply before purchasing. Even casting and reloading for it could be a logistical problem, but it would be a fun small game rifle.

[jonp]

W30wcf: thanks for the link. Makes me really want one now.