Lets talk 32-20

[Bigfoot]

I've had an earlier marlin model 94 ( 1905 ish ) for about as long as I can remember .
And I've never fired a single shot threw it . Part of it has been my aversion to buying factory ammo and the expense of setting up to load and cast for a new caliber. Mostly it's just the same old story of ... I'll get to it some day .

Spring is getting close it's time to turn it from a safe queen to a shooter .
I'd like to hear what you guys are using for bullets ... weight , style , plain base or gas checked . And maybe a little bit about why it worked for you .
I do plan on cutting my own mold for this so if someone's willing to send a few samples I'd be very appreciative to that as well .

I haven't slugged my bore yet , but if you have a marlin of the same vintage I'd like to know it's dimensions just to compare with mine .

 

[Bret4207]

I have several 32-20's in rifle and handgun. 311316 Lyman is my go to bullet. I've taken them up well over 2K in a Savage 23. It's also a fine light bullet for any 30 cal it fits from the 32 S+W (well, a heavy bullet in that size case) to '06 on up. Mine drop at about .314 and my only complaint is that I have but one mould, my original Lyman 2 banger. I really should get a larger mould but I have cans and cans of bullets already cast.

As far as loads, I started out following Elmers advice and loading lots of 2400 under that bullet in Remington brass. These days it's Starline brass and other powders. I forget which powder I finally found I liked best (in my rifles) but it was straight out of Ken Waters "Pet Loads". I never found a PB that really made me want to drop the 316, even at the cost of the GC. IIRC what I settled on gives it something in the 1600fps area, but my load book is out in the barn. I know that's pushing the 316 far too fast for anything but head shots on squirrels, but it knocks over other stuff up to coyote size nicely.

I really don't think you can go wrong with the 311316 in the 32-20 rifle.

I also have a 94 Marlin in 32-20. Hope your barrel is in a LOT better shape than mine. Cast is useless in that sewer pipe.

 

[RicinYakima]

Well Bigfoot, like Bret4207, I have several 32/20's also, my favorite cartridge and just about every cast bullet style made for it. My Marlin is an 1890's "Safety" whose original barrel was just pitted in the chamber, the cases would not extract. That was replaced with a surplus Marlin barrel from the 1990's CL 1894 series.

Sorry, I can't help you with bore size, as I never measure that dimension. What ever the fired case neck measures, I size the bullet .001" smaller. So usually that is .313" except for a Browning Model 53 (.311"). At least 90% of the loads are 3.0 to 3.2 grains of Bullseye with Fed 200 primers and any of the bullets I feel like loading that day. My full performance handgun load for strong guns is just a little less than Ken Waters' Pet Load and uses one of the 110 to 115 grain bullets. My full performance rifle load is either the 311316 solid or HP with a load of A2400 from an article in "Handloader" from several years ago.

PM me your address and I will send a care package of bullets your way.

 

[JonB]

A friend of mine loads for a Marlin in 32-20. I don't know anything about his gun, but he asked me to source some cast bullets for him. I got some Lee samples from another caster, who had some sized to .313 I also stumbled onto a slightly damaged mold for a very good price, A older single cavity Lyman 313226 RN 95gr. The mold had some damage to the top of the mold block at the edge of the cavity, I cleaned up the mold as best I could and cast some. They drop .314 and I lubed and sized them to .313 for my friend. He said they worked very well in his rifle...I didn't ask for any more particulars. If you are interested in some samples, I could cast you some.

 

[Bret4207]

My Marlin is an 1890's "Safety" whose original barrel was just pitted in the chamber, the cases would not extract. That was replaced with a surplus Marlin barrel from the 1990's CL 1894 series.

Rich, does the 1990's CL series barrel fit without much work? IOW- are the threads the same? I've been looking at used original '94 barrels and I can get a like new 1990's barrel for a lot less and be assured of it's bore.

 

[Eutectic]

Some more .32-20 groove diameters... My two Savage Model 23's are both .3112". My Model 43 Winchester is .3115".... My Remington Model 25 is also .3115". From various comments I would think the early Marlin larger...... Slug it and let us know please??

Pete

 

[pokute]

I recommend shooting S&W 32 Long in a 32-20. Shoots nearly silent, except for a sort of farting noise, and the bullets, traveling at about 300fps, are crazy accurate at 25 yards. The brass comes out looking awfully funny, and it doesn't resize too well.

 

[RicinYakima]

Bret4207,

The threads are the same, shoulder is the same and mine head-spaced perfectly. However, there is a difference. My 1889 Model Safety has a bolt that is flat on the front and the barrel on the left side has a 1/4 protrusion that guide the bullet nose as it feed into the chamber. The CL has a bolt with the guide built onto the bolt that holds the case to the right for guidance. I originally put the barrel on without anything there, just empty air, but if you tried to cycle the action quickly, the bullet would jam in that space. These are shown as the two projections of the left of the picture.

So, I built them up from JB Weld and hand filed them to fit. The have no function other than guiding the ejector and bullet nose. The new barrel was just flat on the left side with everything built into the bolt face.

Hope this helps, Ric

 

[Cherokee]

I have two Marlin 1889's, one 24" and one 28". I had to have both relined, used .310 liners. I also have 32/20 cylinders for my Ruger 30 Carbine SA's, with .311 throats. My bullets are sized to .311. My pet rifle load is with a 115 gr rounded flat nose behind 8.5 gr AA-9 power, which does 1250 fps from the rifles and 1050 fps from the Ruger 7.5". I use RP brass, RCBS standard dies, Lyman M die expander & Redding profile crimp die. I also discovered that CCI SP primers work best for me. I've used the Lyman 3118, Lee 314-120, Saeco 311-95, NEI 31390, Lyman 311419GC & PB, Lyman 311359GC (pistol) and a 115 gr RFN that I bought from Penn Bullets which has become my standard CB, followed by my cast 3118. Bullseye, WST, 231, AA-5, AA-7, AA-9, 2400 and 4227 are powders that have worked for me but mostly now I use WST, 231 and AA-9. Just about anything will shoot OK, you'll need to fine tune for your rifle. Have fun...A little showoff from me>>>

 

[Brad]

I have a Marlin 1994 CL in 32-20. Mine is generally fed a 120 RNFP from a group buy long ago. First group buy mould I ever bought.
I load it with SPP and Unique, I think I was using something like 5 gr.
Same bullet with 3 gr of Trailboss only runs 750 fps in the rifle and is quiet enough that I can hear the hammer spring twang on firing. 100 yard gongs are near. Pop, wait, tink.

 

[oscarflytyer]

danged bunch o' dam enablers! Now I want to go out and buy a 32-20! (confession - this is really NOT new! FIL and his generation/family had a bunch of 32-20 revolvers, but none of them survived anywhere near shooting condition, sadly...)

 

[Bigfoot]

I feel pretty lucky , my rifle has a nice bright shiny bore with crisp rifling .
Now that I have it in my mind I feel a bit like a kid waiting for Christmas .
I will try to get a slug threw the barrel this week and see what I come up with . I do expect it to be on the big side . The comparison should be fun

I notice that with the wide range of bullets being used I don't see any mention of feeding problems , I'll take that as a good sign .

 

[dromia]

I am a big fan of the 32-20 but currently only have one rifle chambered for it, a Uberti 1866 sporting rifle with a 24 1/2" octagonal barrel. My smokeless load is 4 gns of N320 good for small game and target shooting out to 100yrds. If I am looking for a bit more heft then I fill the case with Swiss 3fg black powder and seat a bullet on top.

My bullet of choice is the Accurate 314-110C plain base cast from a soft alloy circa 10 BHN sized to 0.311" for the Uberti. Black powder lube used exclusively.

 

[Bret4207]

Rich, thanks very much! That answers my question completely. Guess I'll look into the newer barrels.

 

[Bret4207]

Bigfoot, I can't recall if I've ever slugged any of my 32-20's. I started out with a .314 sizer and have stuck with it in all my 32's (32-20, 32S+W, 32 S+W Long) except my K32 Smith. That lovely old girl will take much skinnier bullets nicely, even the swaged Hornady SWCs at .311. The rest I cast as large as will chamber and go. I've used a lot of different nominal 30 cal designs in them and that .314 sizer never touched the sides of a lot of them...which made for a bit of a mess coming out of the sizer. Many of those skinnier bullets got tumble lubed and worked pretty well at the low and slow velocities, certainly as well as the factory stuff accuracy-wise. When hotter loads got into the mix...well, fit IS king after all. Some did great, those hovering in the .312+ area, other more anorexic samples, not so much. IME with the 32-20, especially above 1k fps, fatter is better. That used to require going through 4 or 5 moulds and trying to find a "fat one" or spending a few hours with valve grinding compound and lapping one out. These days, from what I read at least, you can buy a brand new, properly sized mould from a variety of reliable sources. I haven't bought a new mould in well over 10 years, so others will surely be better sources of info on who to use in that regard.

Of course, now I've mentioned new, properly sized moulds and visions of a brass 4 cav 311316 dropping them at .314+ are running though my head...

 

[Eutectic]

A scoped Savage Model 23 .32-20 with a perfect bore and cast bullets has caused more than one mouth to fall open wide! And a Winchester Model 43 is just behind............

Pete

 

[Cherokee]

As for feeding problems, that depends on OAL, bullet nose shape, and your individual rifle. The Penn bullet I primarily use works 100% in the Marlins but it took some trials to get everything right. Same for the 3118 and others I mentioned earlier. Rounded flat nose works best. Remember, LA's work best if operated briskly.

 

[Bigfoot]

I pushed a slug threw my bore today , groove dia is .313 and I suspect there might be a tiny bit of taper to the bore as the second slug I pushed all the way threw got noticeably easier to push about 10 inches or so from the chamber .
I need to heat up the pot and cast a few more round ball so I can get a slug in from the chamber end and see what it measures .
If I had some cerro safe I'd probably do a chamber cast .

 

[Bret4207]

Did you get the bore squeaky clean before slugging? Like using 4/0 steel wool and solvent clean?

 

[Bigfoot]

As squeaky clean as possible , I don't use steel wool but I did use non chlorinated brake cleaner and about 30 patches tight enough to need tapped with a leather mallet to get started .