winchester .32 special .. any good ?

[buckweet]

howdy .. I've a chance to buy a older winchester in .32 special...
been reading some threads . interesting. to say the least.
....
so just to verify everything .. i thought i would start a new thread.. and see what the guys with a 32 have to say.
... i want to have a nice cast boolit dedicated rifle.. for plinking . and the occasion if it appears.. to deer hunt.
...
i understand 30-30 brass can be used and 8 mm mold will work .
but ? depending on your thoughts .
before i plunk down the cash. for rifle and everything I'll need ..

....
the cartridge fascinates me . very interesting.
just wanting to talk about the winchester .32 special.. :)

[JSnover]

Here's some light reading: http://www.levergun.com/articles/special.htm

[L Ross]

Cast friendly twist right from Winchester. Easy to work with. I find .323" bullets to work best for me and in particular I like the old Lyman 321297 with 14.0 gr of 4227 at about 1,400 fps for casual plinking and levergun matches and 1,700 to 2,000 for deer.

Duke

[Bullshop]

The cartridge was designed for boolits and black powder. Its true it is not considered a BP cartridge but it was intended to be re loaded with black powder and cast boolits that's why it was given a much slower twist than the 30/30. When the 30/30 came out smokeless powder was too new and there were people that would not use it. The 32 special was aimed at them and the design intent by Winchester was to sell guns in 32 to the older folks that would never switch over to smokeless and 30/30 to the younger that know everything.
BTW we have a few designs for the 32 that have proven very accurate in Winchester 94s.

[hound13]

i had one years ago loved it if i could buy a new one i would in a heart beat//////// but there not made any more hound13

[MostlyLeverGuns]

I've got 2 Marlin's, a 336SC with 24" barrel and a 336RC with the 20" barrel and full magazine. With a 4-16 Weaver and a Bullshop 200 grain .323 NEI bullet using 5744 I get about 2 1/2 inch groups at 200 yards. With a commercial 160 grain Cowboy plain-base and 10 gr of HS-7 (no longer available) I manage 1 1/2 groups at 100 yards. I have killed a cow elk, several deer, and several antelope with the 20" barrel and jacketed bullets. I believe it is a better killer than the .30-30, closer to the .300 Savage in its abilities. It is a little light for elk unless your very careful. Certainly not for that guided hunt for a big bull, unless its a high fence hunt. It is a better killer than the most of the 6mm and .25's. I have a large supply of closeout Remington brass bought in the 80's. I have found that the rim thickness on several different lots is .055 so even tight rifles show primer protrusion with light loads. I have not tried using any other brass(.30-30, .32-40, .38-55 or .375 Win). I have found accurate loads are not hard to develop. It might be easier to develop accurate cast bullet loads with the .32 than with many other cartridges, based on my observations. Like most tube-feed lever-actions, checking that the magazine tube is not binding the barrel, good sights(no further comment) and of course a good trigger makes a big difference in group size/accuracy.

[nekshot]

first gun I bought with my money was a old winny 94 in 32 special, and could that baby shoot- far better than I could at that time in my life. I want

[1Shirt]

Excellent article JSnover, had not seen it before, and found it to be excellent. Has been a long time since I have shot a 32S, never had a chance to pick one up at a reasonable price.
1Shirt!

[prs]

Mine is more accurate with its original iron sights than my eyes can see. The old reputation for poor accuracy seems to be from folks trying to push bullets to high velocity or heavy bullets. Be picky with bore condition.

prs

[dondiego]

I have 2 Winchesters made in the '40's and they shoot well. A cheap plinking load is 8.5 grains od Red Dot and the RCBS 180 grain FN. .32 brass is easily made from 30-30 brass just by running the lubed 30-30 brass through the .32 SPL. sizing die. A little lube in the neck doesn't hurt.

[MtGun44]

Bullshop's comments are what I have heard about the cartridge, but I have never
used it.

Bill

[williamwaco]

WOW.

That is all good info, but:

TMI

If it appeals to you, buy it. You will love it!

If you have any reservations, wait for the .30-30. You will love it too.

My personal preference is the .30-30 because of all the zillions of .30 cal molds and brass is essentially free. I have never been to the rifle range that I didn't pickup 10 to 20 .30-30 once fired cases.

[HeavyMetal]

Beware of bore condition! Many of the older guns were BP shooters and never cleaned correctly which causes bore damage.

Check it and check it hard take it to a GS with a bore scope.

Now a lot of this depends on both condition of the rifle and the asking price. A barrel swap can be made if the gun price is low enough.

Case in point: I traded my nephew a nice Marlin 336 in 30-30, a late 50's gun, for a trashed Model 94 SRC in 32 Special. The 94 was made in 1910 and the barrel was like an old abandoned mine shaft: Dark and lumpy!

But I only had 150 in the Marlin and figured I could re work the 94 ( Like I need another project, LOL!) Nephew had already had a hard time trying to buy ammo for the 32 so the swap to the 30-30 was considered and a few rounds down range sealed the deal.

The bore ( and the rest of the SRC) was in such bad shape I never tried shooting it!

I have found a butt stock ( original was dry and cracked) and a replacement barrel, new in box from a run made in the late 50's made by winchester.

The barrel has been swapped but the stock is in storage with everything else pending finding new digs I like.

When finished this should be a great shooter and I'll have the pleasure of restoring it myself....someday.

But back to my only concern: be sure the barrel is spotless or get it cheap! Not sure if you'll get as lucky as I did on a new barrel!

[roharmon]

I shoot a 1953 Marlin chambered for the 32 special and love it. I use a Lee 8mm mold and load as cast over IMR 3031 and/or 4064. It is very accurate out to 100 yards for me, but would probably do better with a more accomplished shooter. My wife's grandfather took many a deer with it in West Virginia, but now it just shoots paper, cans and nutria in Louisiana.

[Scharfschuetze]

I just fell victim to the 32 Special fever last year. I came across an unfired Winchester Model 64 that, as you might have guessed, came home with me without a second thought. While it came with a few boxes of 32 Special factory ammunition, this rifle will remain a cast boolit shooter.

It's been a hoot so far with 170 grain plain base 32/40 (.322") boolits and Red Dot powder. I'll soon test it at higher velocities with a GC mold that was given to me last summer by a fellow member here at the forum. I've got the various ingots set aside to make a 2%-4%-94% alloy which should be just about perfect for the projected 1,800 to 2,000 fps goal for this boolit.

I form my cases from 30/30 brass and other than they're a bit short, they still are long enough to crimp properly for magazine use. I just ordered and received a Redding bushing type neck sizing die for it. With the bushings of various sizes (already on hand) I'll be able to use this one die for my 30 Remington, 30/30 and the 32 Special.

As with all my lever action rifles, I put an aperture sight on it.

[buckweet]

thanks to all of you .. very helpfull.....:)
keep talking . I'm getting the .32 special fever.

[buckweet]

wow.. reading the posts above. 2000 fps ? with a plain base cast boolit ?
electrified me !
that's for sure one heck of a deer thumper !

[gandydancer]

Is there any one"best" barrel length for this caliber? Thanks. GD

[Scharfschuetze]

wow.. reading the posts above. 2000 fps ? with a plain base cast boolit ?
electrified me !
that's for sure one heck of a deer thumper !

Buckweet,

If you're refering to my post above, that goal of 1,800 to 2,000 will be with a gas check (GC) design of 170 grains. With LeverEvolution powder, it may even go faster than that; but I don't have any of that propellant on hand right now. Perhaps later I will see what it'll do when it becomes available again.

My plain base boolits are lumbering along at just over 1,200 fps for best accuracy and lack of leading.

[buckweet]

Buckweet,

If you're refering to my post above, that goal of 1,800 to 2,000 will be with a gas check (GC) design of 170 grains. With LeverEvolution powder, it may even go faster than that; but I don't have any of that propellant on hand right now. Perhaps later I will see what it'll do when it becomes available again.

My plain base boolits are lumbering along at just over 1,200 fps for best accuracy and lack of leading.


ahhh ! thank you .. had me going there for a minute .:)

[451whitworth]

my 1950's microgroove Marlin in 32 Win Spl has been nothing but pure joy to shoot cast out of. Using RL-7 and bullets from Accurate mould 32-170B and 180 gr. LBT LFN I have no problem matching factory jacketed loads at 2250fps with equal accuracy. I shoot mine with .325" diameter bullets. A perfect cast bullet rifle/cartridge combo.

[wmitty]

I've an early 50's 336 with very light 4 groove rifling and the 16" twist and I like it a lot! Using .30-30 brass to form cases and the RCBS 32-170 gr mould works great and with a Williams Foolproof mounted and Re-7 it shoots very well indeed.

[autofix4u]

32ws, if you don't like it you haven't shot it. The best cast boolit cartridge there is. Find one with a good bore and you are set.
I have found it not to be real picky about powder selection. Red dot to 4064, they all seem to work well. Mine burns a lot of H380 under the ranch dog boolit.

[texassako]

I love it's almost identical except rimless competitor, the .32 Remington. Same bore, similar twist rate in pump(Rem 14/141) and autoloader(Rem 8/81) rifles. It was one of the easiest cartridges to work up a cast load, even when needing enough recoil to operate my Model 8.

[Harter66]

My 32 Rem pushed a plain based 170 gr 2100 fps w/less than the starting load of Imr 4350. That gets it just over the hump for Nv big game legal