32-40 new to me...

[rpludwig]

With the help from a great forum member who sent me some components awhile back, I finally got around to reloading for this old gal (Win 1894 c1902). Bore is good, metal & wood finish is well worn to say the least.

Loaded some lesser starting loads from an old Hodgden manual, then settled on forum member's recommendation, Oregon Trail 170gr over 21.5gr 4895 w/buffer.

Managed 2" - 5 shot grps @ 50yds with old eyes, open sights, low light and some gusty winds.

Wow, what a fun shooter...kinda like a .22 hornet on a bit of steroids...

Going to spend some time with this one, great old caliber IMO.

Anyone out there with some 32-40 brass, plz pm me!

Happy New Year to all!

Ron

[stubbicatt]

I hope you enjoy that cartridge. Depending on your goals, and bullet weight, I have found that 13.5 to 14.2 grains of IMR 4227, no buffer, and 200 grain Saeco tapered bullet shoot really well in my high wall. Very mild recoil. IMR 4759 and AA XMP 5744 also have accuracy potential in that cartridge. This is with either fixed or breach seated bullets... the breach seated bullets do shoot noticeably better than the fixed ammo.

I don't have any 32-40 brass I'm willing to part with, but what I did to avoid using up that Winchester brass was to buy Starline 38-55 brass and reform it in a 32-40 die. I lost 5 or 6 out of 50 due to wrinkling, but those that sized down successfully have worked just fine. Oh. Do be sure to trim to length after you reform the cases to the finished caliber.

Hope this helps.

[rpludwig]

Stubb...thx for your input on suggested loads...may have to go the reforming route...seems 32-40 brass is a seasonal run by Winchester...what season, I'm not sure!

[bosterr]

My Great Grandad's Model 94 is slightly older than yours, but is in great shape, about 90% blue intact. My supply of Winchester brass is starting to run low, so I got 2 of each free from Starline, 38-55 2.080 and 2.125 (thanks to wwmartin on here for the info). As he suggested I'll end up ordering the 2.080 since the length ends up pretty close to trim-to-length. He cautioned about hard to see dents, and suggested running all brass through a 38-55 size die, which I don't have. I have a 375 JDJ size die I used to re-round the necks and still got the very small wrinkles he warned me about further down the case, but I think still usable. Use case lube VERY sparingly.

My load is Accurate's 323180C with 23.0 IMR4895 for 1700 FPS, no filler. Groups are about 4 inches at 100 yards with a Lyman tang sight (pretty darn good for my old eyes). No doubt with a scope, groups would be much smaller, but would be a sacrilege to even consider such a move. I took a big doe with this load at 120 yds. last year.

[mac266]

Sorry, I don't have any brass to give you! I've never owned a gun in that caliber, but it's on my rather long list of "guns I'd love to acquire so I can play with making lead boolits" list :) I hope you have a lot of fun with it! Keep us informed.

[jazzman251]

If you can't find any 32-40 brass (good luck) i would recommend using 32 special brass and reform it. I have done this with good results. Check the OAL after resizing as it might be a little undersized.
You can usually find once fired 32 special brass at most gunshows.
Good luck.

[rpludwig]

guys, thx for the replys...

Jazzman...I have read reforming 32 spcl is better/easier than 38-55 although OAL may be an issue as you mention, may go that route (one or the other)...gonna snag a few of each from Starline as bosterr suggests, and experiment...

(off topic, you a jazz player? (I am)... where u located in NYS?)

Ron

[MT Chambers]

I've made acceptable 32/40 brass from 30/30s.

[P Flados]

Back in the the late 70's, I started reloading as a teenager. One of my first efforts was to load up 32-40 deer hunting ammo for the old model 94 my dad got from an uncle. We were not expecting much due to the bad bore pitting.

Using easy to find J words (I remember them as Speer 170s that looked just like the picture at the link below) from the LGS, I worked up to max published loads (close to 30-30 performance) without any problems. I was surprised at how well they shot. Hitting coke cans at 100 yds off of the bench was no problem even with open sights.

http://www.natchezss.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/398x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/S/P/SP2259.jpg

Pretty much all of my shooting was done with 30-30 cases that I just ran through the 32-40 dies. I remember using 30-30 brass was pretty much considered "standard practice" at the time. With the powder I was using, there was still plenty of free space in the case. As such I don't think that the "deeper seating" effect from the shorter cases made any difference at all.

[rintinglen]

I made up 93 from 30-30 brass. I found it very helpful to anneal the neck and shoulder before sizing. Imperial sizing wax is a must. But once annealed and lubed, they pretty much make themselves. I also tried making some from 38-55 brass, but the wastage ran in excess of 10% due to neck wrinkles.

[rpludwig]

I worked some 30/30's, imperial wax, no anneal, eze into a 32-40 die...ww brass a bit more stubborn than others, but still fine....no rejects...

Starline sent a few ea. of the 38-55's, but I suspect wrinkling neck issues as others have mentioned.

Now, on to working up a more accurate load having overcome the brass issue....helluva fun caliber, with good accuracy potential, minimal recoil...only struggle is old eyes/open sights...!

[Le Loup Solitaire]

The 32/40 was back in the day considered to be an excellent target cartridge and was used to set many records. A picture of one of these outstanding performances is shown in the NRA handloading book. It was IIRC a one hole event at 200 yards fired from a specially barreled Winchester Hi Wall and the record stood for a very long time. Hard to remember for sure, but the shooter's name was Rowland. LLS

[flintlocke]

Rowland shooting a George Schoyen barreled Ballard, in 1931, put 40 (yes, forty) consecutive shots in a 1/2 inch group at two hundred yards. Took him two days, but they were consecutive shots. Well witnessed and attested by many bystanders and newspaper reporters. If you can get your hands on a 25th Anniversary Gun Digest it has a lengthy article on Schoyen, with these events highlighted. If I have my facts straight it also mentions another member of the Denver Rifle Club, who put five consecutive shots through a silver dollar, OFFHAND, with a Schoyen at 200. Harry Pope got the glory, but he wasn't the only nugget in the pan. Flintlocke

[stubbicatt]

Yep. I've wanted to drive by Schoyen's address in Denver. I might do that, snap a photo, and post it here.

Heck, the other day I shot a 1" group with fixed ammo featuring that same "Pope" style tapered bullet from my 1904 High Wall at 100 yards. --Looks like I have some work to do to meet that rifle's potential. I was quite happy with the 1" group. LOL.

IIRC, The 25 ring at 200 yards is ¾ inch on the old red German target. Some fellas back in the era, like Doc Hudson, would shoot "pinwheels" fairly regularly. Offhand.

Here's a fun read from the 1920's: http://www.issa-schuetzen.org/pdfs/westergaard-defining.pdf

[rpludwig]

Stubb...great read, thx for posting it.....gotta love this quote from the article!

"So far only one position is allowed in these tournaments - the one in which you stand up and shoot like a man"

[Reverend Al]

I have 5 rifles in .32-40 at the moment and would likely own more if I found some more! Love the cartridge ... accurate and pleasant to shoot. As you say though brass is often hard to find since it's a "seasonal" run case for Winchester and when they do become available they're gone like smoke! I have lots of "shooter" brass that I reformed from .30-30 cases, but they do come up a bit short of course. To be honest though I've never found that they hurt accuracy and I've shot local matches with my Ballard and High Wall and won them using my short brass .32-40's so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Of course it still bothered my "OCD" that they were shorter than spec so if any of you want to form full length .32-40 brass without the high cost of buying .38-55's and reforming them then you can do what I just did. I finally "bit the bullet" and ordered a "Kal Max Case Stretcher" from Red River Rick out in Winnipeg this summer. I will now be able to stretch .30-30 cases to make full length .32-40's and .38-55's, .303 British cases to make full length .35 WCF and .405 WCF, and .45-70's to make full length .45-90's and .40-82 WCF. Rick does awesome work and has state of the art CNC and CAD equipment that he uses to make his custom moulds, mould handles and other shooting related accessories. He also makes and sells the Kal Max case stretching jig that I bought. (Just waiting for it to arrive in the mail any day now ...)

http://kal.castpics.net/CaseStretcher.html

[OverMax]

If you're into making holes in paper or thumping iron plate at 200 yards. 32-40 is a Jim Dandy cartridge for either purpose. Shoots cast, jacketed, and no doubt is a great candidate for paper patching. Only draw back in shooting such old calibers likened to your 32-40 and other popular old timer straight wall cartridges.> You definitely get too enjoying them way to much. Those other long guns you have cased under the bed, maybe closeted, or perhaps sitting in a safe at home. They can only hope to see some daylight sometime soon. Enjoy.

[stubbicatt]

If you're into making holes in paper or thumping iron plate at 200 yards. 32-40 is a Jim Dandy cartridge for either purpose. Shoots cast, jacketed, and no doubt is a great candidate for paper patching. Only draw back in shooting such old calibers likened to your 32-40 and other popular old timer straight wall cartridges.> You definitely get too enjoying them way to much. Those other long guns you have cased under the bed, maybe closeted, or perhaps sitting in a safe at home. They can only hope to see some daylight sometime soon. Enjoy.

Very much so. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one. I would say my 32-40 gets easily 5 times as much use as my next cartridge, the 22 rimfire. I can't remember the last time I shot any 308. Although 30-30 may get the nod here soon, I don't see it supplanting the 32-40. Its just that the quality of the old High Wall is so good, the Fecker scope so pleasant to use, the recoil so modest, it is just pleasant to use, and shoots plain based cast bullets so very well. It makes shooting fun again.

I guess I am so accustomed to shooting tight groups with jacketed bullets that when, for some reason, the rifle/shooter doesn't perform, I get aggravated. Somehow, whenever a tight group with plain based cast bullets forms up on the target, the feeling is one of elation, perhaps because I don't expect as much.

[rpludwig]

great (and educational) replys guys...so perhaps a stupid question...with all the positive attributes of the 32-40, why did it fall into obsolescence...accurate, mild recoil, good for small game, great for paper punching....etc.

After my limited experience, I am on the hunt for another (few) 32-40's!

[stubbicatt]

32-40 was a black powder cartridge of, for its time, a small bore. Like a lot of black powder cartridges, it was pushed out of the way by the newer, high performance, smokeless cartridges. Folks weren't buying 32-40 rifles, they were buying 30-30, 30-06, and many other performance numbers. The bolt action was gaining in popularity, semi autos were the new thing, and the old single shots and lever guns looked dated in comparison. To my knowledge, there were no factory chambered 32-40 bolt actions, neither semi autos.

Just like the buggy whip, technology marched on past and left it in the dust beside the road to progress.