What's Up With 32-20 And 25-20 Prices?

[35 Rem]

Run a garden variety 30-30 into a .32 WS sizing die and you got a .32 WS .

True but when you have rifles chambered for both, I don't want such similar cartridges laying around that both have the same head stamp. Besides I got a good enough price on the 32 Specials that it was not much more than 30-30 anyhow.

[35 Rem]

2000 cases on the way. I believe that if you put yourself on the backorder list you'll be notified when they make their production.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

Problem is that they won't take backorders most of the time.

[cwtebay]

Problem is that they won't take backorders most of the time.

I'm unsure about that part, Starline has always been incredible to do business with. I had this on backorder for a minute or two, but they've delivered everything I have ever ordered from them.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[obssd1958]

I've had .41 Colt on backorder from Starline since September of 2022. They assure me that they will eventually get to it...

[cwtebay]

I've had .41 Colt on backorder from Starline since September of 2022. They assure me that they will eventually get to it...

They will, I got my 41 Colt after waiting for some time.

[dtknowles]

I have 100 or so 32-20, all loaded at this time. Why do ya'll need so much brass. I shoot them and reload them and shoot them again. I anneal them so they last longer after a few cycles. I probably have 25 or so antique loaded factory rounds that I will never shoot, well except for Armageddon I guess. I am pretty sure I could make brass from .223 if I got desperate but having 100 plus on the shelf and dozens of other guns to shoot, I don't feel I need more brass.
TEK

[35 Rem]

I have 100 or so 32-20, all loaded at this time. Why do ya'll need so much brass. I shoot them and reload them and shoot them again. I anneal them so they last longer after a few cycles. I probably have 25 or so antique loaded factory rounds that I will never shoot, well except for Armageddon I guess. I am pretty sure I could make brass from .223 if I got desperate but having 100 plus on the shelf and dozens of other guns to shoot, I don't feel I need more brass.
TEK

Mainly because of times like we have experienced with Obama and Biden in the White House, political unrest, nutjobs shooting up public places with liberals reacting by trying to outlaw guns, then the public responding to that by grabbing up anything that will go "Boom" for years. These things can cause years and years of famine in the supply chain for all things gun related. I feel a lot more comfortable if I have enough to weather these hard times without buying until things normalize. I sure wish it wasn't like that.

[HWooldridge]

I suppose the question "how much is enough" has to be answered by each individual. Granted, I am not a cowboy action shooter but I've never been at a loss for brass. Biggest concern for me has always been primers, so 500 cases of any size is way more than I'll ever need. I started reloading 45 years ago (just counted - had to take off my shoes and socks...LOL) and still have cases from when I started. Some of my 44-40 cases began as a 50 round box of factory ammo that I bought at a hardware store before I ever considered reloading my own shells, so that brass is even older. I will certainly concede that competitive shooters are in a different world but I'd wager most people either sell it off as surplus or die and leave it for the heirs.

I looked at the Track of the Wolf brass yesterday when it was available and decided against buying more - I just don't need it...YMMV

[freakonaleash]

I've been finding 32 20 and 25 20 brass at local gunshows. The old timers must be croaking off and their reloading components are turning up on gunshow tables. I buy all the old obsolete brass I come across.

[cwtebay]

I have 100 or so 32-20, all loaded at this time. Why do ya'll need so much brass. I shoot them and reload them and shoot them again. I anneal them so they last longer after a few cycles. I probably have 25 or so antique loaded factory rounds that I will never shoot, well except for Armageddon I guess. I am pretty sure I could make brass from .223 if I got desperate but having 100 plus on the shelf and dozens of other guns to shoot, I don't feel I need more brass.
TEK

This brass in particular is lost through attrition with me. 218 Bee - case head separation, 25-20 - neck fails, 32-20 - case splits. My kids and nephews and nieces love the 1892's and the Winchester 43 is my go to for ground squirrels and such. All get more than their share of use.

(Several also get donated back to mother earth when misplaced, and I seem to be pretty proficient at crushing at least one per loading session)

[farmbif]

Remington bankruptcy didn't help any. for about the past 20 years ive seen only one box of winchester 25-20 but a dozen years ago or so when Remington made a "seasonal"run i was able to get case of the 86 grain soft point ammo and brass was impossible to find anywhere and even then it was quite expensive. about $1.50/round.
I remember when I first got the 25-20 went to all the local shops looking for ammo and only one place even knew what it was.
both the 32-20 and the 25-20 ammo are things that you have to keep searching till you find it. a few years ago I stumbled upon a place called duck creek and he had new 25-20 and 35 rem brass at very reasonable cost.
got to stock up when you find it and keep your eyes open.

[Kai]

I have 100 or so 32-20, all loaded at this time. Why do ya'll need so much brass. I shoot them and reload them and shoot them again. I anneal them so they last longer after a few cycles. I probably have 25 or so antique loaded factory rounds that I will never shoot, well except for Armageddon I guess. I am pretty sure I could make brass from .223 if I got desperate but having 100 plus on the shelf and dozens of other guns to shoot, I don't feel I need more brass.
TEK

To each his own but if you are like others and shoot very often your 100 cases will be warn out before you know it and with shortages your rifle will soon be hanging in the wall. 32-20 from .223 brass? I don't think that's gona work. You need a rim!

[smkummer]

I've been finding 32 20 and 25 20 brass at local gunshows. The old timers must be croaking off and their reloading components are turning up on gunshow tables. I buy all the old obsolete brass I come across.

Yep, I’ve noticed this as well. I’ve got 600 cases and about all are loaded at this time. Shooting cowboy action, I bring back about 45-50 of the 60 I shoot out of my 92. I’m good until Starline starts making them again.

[dtknowles]

To each his own but if you are like others and shoot very often your 100 cases will be warn out before you know it and with shortages your rifle will soon be hanging in the wall. 32-20 from .223 brass? I don't think that's gona work. You need a rim!

My cases will not be worn out before I know it. I anneal them so that they last longer. I am shooting mild loads (about the same as 32 S&W long), and I don't overdo the belling or crimp. I shoot them in a revolver, so I rarely lose brass. Also like I said, I have many guns I shoot so the 32-20 does not get a lot of range time but it is the most accurate revolver I have ever shot. It is a Dan Wesson.

Regarding making brass from .223, I am pretty sure I can do it but it would be a lot of work. I have made a couple .32 extra long from .223 brass.

I just measured some ammo, the rim on the 32-20 was 0.405" dia and 0.060" thick. The body at the head was 0.349". The rim on the .223 was 0.375" dia and 0.040" thick so the rim would be undersized but not so much that it would not work in a revolver probably would not extract reliability in a lever gun. They would have to be sized, trimmed, turned on a lathe and sized again. Like I said, a lot of work. Could do the same thing with .357 mag brass and end up with the proper rim.

Tim

[cwtebay]

My cases will not be worn out before I know it. I anneal them so that they last longer. I am shooting mild loads (about the same as 32 S&W long), and I don't overdo the belling or crimp. I shoot them in a revolver, so I rarely lose brass. Also like I said, I have many guns I shoot so the 32-20 does not get a lot of range time but it is the most accurate revolver I have ever shot. It is a Dan Wesson.

Regarding making brass from .223, I am pretty sure I can do it but it would be a lot of work. I have made a couple .32 extra long from .223 brass.

I just measured some ammo, the rim on the 32-20 was 0.405" dia and 0.060" thick. The body at the head was 0.349". The rim on the .223 was 0.375" dia and 0.040" thick so the rim would be undersized but not so much that it would not work in a revolver probably would not extract reliability in a lever gun. They would have to be sized, trimmed, turned on a lathe and sized again. Like I said, a lot of work. Could do the same thing with .357 mag brass and end up with the proper rim.

Tim

If you are shooting them infrequently in a revolver at mild loads - can't disagree with you there. I tend to make my 32-20 loads to match the original loadings or slightly below for my rifles and carbines. I load one SRC for lion hunting with 100gr j-words at around 2000fps and do enjoy shooting that one as well - brass life is much shorter than the 750fps'ish loading.
I get roughly 8 reloadings for that and probably double that (and far more) for my boolit loads at 1695fps. I have several containers labeled 1-8+ for my reloaded brass and the 8+ always seems to be fairly full.
But as I mentioned before - I lose brass through attrition, and that means that nothing in will equal nothing out in fairly short order.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[cwtebay]

My cases will not be worn out before I know it. I anneal them so that they last longer. I am shooting mild loads (about the same as 32 S&W long), and I don't overdo the belling or crimp. I shoot them in a revolver, so I rarely lose brass. Also like I said, I have many guns I shoot so the 32-20 does not get a lot of range time but it is the most accurate revolver I have ever shot. It is a Dan Wesson.

Regarding making brass from .223, I am pretty sure I can do it but it would be a lot of work. I have made a couple .32 extra long from .223 brass.

I just measured some ammo, the rim on the 32-20 was 0.405" dia and 0.060" thick. The body at the head was 0.349". The rim on the .223 was 0.375" dia and 0.040" thick so the rim would be undersized but not so much that it would not work in a revolver probably would not extract reliability in a lever gun. They would have to be sized, trimmed, turned on a lathe and sized again. Like I said, a lot of work. Could do the same thing with .357 mag brass and end up with the proper rim.

Tim

Also - forming brass for this family of cartridges from 5.56 is possible! I had a bit of time several years ago and did it! It required me to put a cheater bar on my press and trimming them in a mini chop saw. I then put them through multiple dies to arrive at my desired shoulder and case mouth. The upside is that they are incredibly hardy brass! I used military 5.56 for this and can't believe how much the volume changes. The downside has been that extraction has been a challenge (due to the rim) and the volume change has been enough to make changes in charge fairly prominent on the to do list, and EXTRACTION sucks (did I mention that?).
I find it fun to see how many folks are making 7.62 Nagant brass into 32-20! I recall when starting my foray into reloading making 32-20 into 7.62 Nagant. Then the Iron Curtain dropped and lo and behold the little cardboard boxes with Cyrillic writing were as cheap as 22RF.


Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[Bigslug]

Figure that both a .32-20 and a .38 Special/.357 Magnum case use about the same amount of raw material, and the demand and rate of sale for the latter will outweigh the former by about 300 billion to one. Which would YOU rather tool up to produce?

I've got my weird cartridges: went through an Ackley Improved phase, get a great deal of joy out of the .32-20 blown out in a modified Martini Cadet, and have a strange weakness for Webley revolvers. But the realization I keep coming to is that the history of cartridge development gave us AT LEAST ten different cartridges that for all practical purposes are identical to each other in performance. In that light, the guys with the "boring" .38, 9mm, 5.56, .308, and .30-06 will be awash in a sea of brass - a lot of it free. The dinosaurs are fun, but you can't take their continued availability for granted, and had better strike hard during those times of plenty.

It would be nice if the Big Boys and Starline could come to some kind of agreement where the large factories could make component brass for the Wal Mart calibers and Starline would exclusively handle the old "dash" rounds, but it ain't the way to make a steady buck.

Truth is, the logistically superior rounds are just as fun when the primer pops.

[Lance Boyle]

With allies in two wars and China itching for a third, ammo components will be dear for years. There are hoarders out there sitting on thousands of cases and wanting to order more. Starline won't be able to meet demand, and I can't see them shutting down a line to change tooling to an obsolete cartridge and then back. They can service the greatest number of people by cranking out the popular cases. We lose.

I was thinking of chambering a single shot in 32-20 but will have to settle for 38/357 instead. Starline has a "green light" on those, and I have empties of each on my shelves.

I suspect this will certainly be a problem for us going forward for a good five years at least unless we get a streak of love and peace in the world. There is a bigger demand for the raw materials that our stuff uses but is also used by military powders. I am guessing even cannon powder has a huge crossover to our smokeless gun powder. I have seen more stories on cannon shell production not being able to keep pace with expenditures in Ukraine. They fire more per day than we can make, or even buy or borrow from allies. The only good thing is all the allies will rotate their old stocks out of the warehouses but it may leave them short if they need it,....like we are doing to ourselves. I was in the service in the eighties and nineties. We were shooting WW2 .50 cal ammo and Korean war era mortar shells. Those stocks are gone as well they should be as we all know even well stored things potentially break down chemically.

Until the gov is satisfied with their stock our stuff will still take a back seat and cost more due to the competition for resources.

Oh and don’t get me started on the near monopoly on gun powder sales in the U.S. that Hodgdon holds. When you own your competition things aren’t less expensive ever.

[farmbif]

not to get side tracked on this but hodgdon does now have 4 big brands but the increase in price is much less then alliant, my jaw about hit the floor looking at the current cost for a jug of 2400. Ive been in this reloading hobby all my adult life and stocked up on supplies when I could, you can never have enough 2400, so now the powder bunker is well stocked, and it is a powder bunker, legal and legit to powder storage standards. just one thing you need to keep in mind is where you gonna store the stuff.

[fordwannabe]

Don’t know f they still have any but a month ago ET brass in Ohio had factory primed Winchester 25-20 brass $30 for 50 cases. I got 500!