32 Special v 32/40

[Four Fingers of Death]

Are these the same thing? My cartridges of the world book is buried deep in the garage. I have had no experience with either, Thanks, Mick.

[45 2.1]

Same basic case head, take the same boolit (with different crimping locations, about the same length, ones bottle neck (32 Spl) and the 32-40 is straight tapered. In like strength guns, they are both about the same power, but factory loads are loaded down for the 32-40 in defference to the old Ballards chambered for it. Both are excellent cartridges in the Win. 94s or Marlin levers.

[NickSS]

I am not that familiar with the 32 spl but I have shot the 32-40 for years. the 32 spl looks like a 30-30 necked up to 32 caliber. The 32-40 has the same head size and rim diameter but is a straight tappered case down to the neck then parallel for some length. The 32-40 was and is a fine target cartridge with either black powder or smokeless. I have shot bench rest groups with my Ballard rifle that were around one inch at 200 yards with it using smokeless powder and only slightly larger with black powder. Conditions were a dead calm at the time though. I also owned a 94 winchester in that caliber and with it I was able to get the same ballistics as a 32 spl does. 32-40 brass is harder to find though and it is longer than you can make from 30-30 brass. So that said I would recomend the 32spl for hunting as it is easier to get ammo for and the 32-40 for serious target shooting.

[floodgate]

Mick:

"My cartridges of the world book is buried deep in the garage."

Keep an eye out for an incoming "surface mail" package; it's got a copy of "Cartridges of the World", the next-to-latest 10th Edition, plus another cartridge book I think you'll enjoy.

Doug / floodgate

[beagle]

Mick,

Same diameter bullet but the case is a lot different and herein lies the problem.

I rebarrelled a Marlin 336 to .32-40 some years back because I wanted one. At about the same time, I picked up an older Marlin .32 Special with the cut rifling barrel.

Both rifles shoot about the same...1 1/2 at 100 yards with good loads and a 2-10X scope when I do my part.

The loading data for the .32-40 in the maunals is very watered down because of the older rifles out there. A good modern rifle in .32-40 will shoot almost to the levels of the .32 Special.

The main difference from my perspective between the two is the bottleneck design on the .32 Special. This allows for more efficent powder burn with certain powders than does the gentle taper on the .32-40. This allows the .32 Special to be loaded to higher levels of velocity than the .32-40.

I still like the oldtime calibers and will continure to own a .32-40.

With the availability of brass, the .32-Special is a far more versatile caliber and properly loaded leaves the .30/30 in the dust. IMHO./beagle

[Four Fingers of Death]

Mick:

"My cartridges of the world book is buried deep in the garage."

Keep an eye out for an incoming "surface mail" package; it's got a copy of "Cartridges of the World", the next-to-latest 10th Edition, plus another cartridge book I think you'll enjoy.

Doug / floodgate

Thanks for that Floodgate, I'll pass on the older one to a new shooter (if I ever get around to clearing out the garage :-) ).

Mick.

[6pt-sika]

I've had three 32 Speciels for 4 or 5 years now and my 32-40 for about a year or so .

I always had a soft spot for the 32-40 , but its taken me awhile to warm up to the 32 Speciel .

I have now become quite happy with the 32 Speciel , however there is very little if any difference between it and the 30-30 .

As far as the 32-40 versus the 32 Speciel is concerned you can get a bit more velocity with a 32 Speciel then you can with a 32-40 . At least with cast bullets thats been the case for me .
In my 32-40 and my three 32 Speciels all I shoot are cast bullets .

I would like to come up with a decent 150 grain GC mould to be used in the 32 Speciel . At the moment I have 4 moulds of 165 -190 grains that can be used in the 32-40 and 32 Speciel .

[w30wcf]

Beagle,


With the availability of brass, the .32-Special is a far more versatile caliber and properly loaded leaves the .30/30 in the dust.

Not sure what you mean about more versatile. Please explain.

If anything, I think the opposite is true. Don't get me wrong, I think the .32 W.S. is a grand old cartridge, but there is a much wider variety of .30 caliber bullets and the faster twist of the .30-30 will also stabilize heavier bullets up to 220 grs. for some long range fun.

As for leaving the ".30-30 in the dust"...well....100 f.p.s. more with a 170 gr. bullet barely keeps it ahead...... Of course, one can load the 110 Sierra to 2,800 f.p.s. (26" barrel ) in the .30-30 at SAMMI pressures.........:mrgreen:

w30wcf