Thread: 32-40

if the rifles are indeed rocking horse tail hair rare....you could do a LOT worse than what sixty ten has done with bakail single shot break open...find correct barrel size and chamber it after machine work to convert the donor barrel stub.
the options for donor action are many ,if you have correct barrel blank and reamer....SMLE comes to mind but if accuracy was end goal possibly step back wards.

looking at the rounds shown thought ran through mind,is it the loooooong neck and deeeep seating that helped accuracy??? did giving projectile a chance to align properly in early stage of acceleration give it the edge over its competition back in the day???

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greeting Jhon,
There seem to be two options depending on what rings your bell. One of the John Wayne rifles may be around depending on what they fetch. Should be less than vintage 94 or 99 rifles in shootable condition. Or a 32 Special that could be loaded with cast lead and black powder as a reasonable substitute. There wont be many of these around either but they should be cheaper. From memory of an article in Handloader John Barsness, I think got about 1,450 fps with black and a 170 grain cast bullet. Its just a matter of finding one.
Happy hunting. Grandpamac.

Quite interesting that the 32 special never really seemed to take off here. If my memory is right...pretty sure it was the second most produced caliber in the model 94, after 30-30. I think it was something like 25% of model 94's were in 32 special. As to why it never gained traction here, I do not know.

Originally Posted by Waynesworld

Quite interesting that the 32 special never really seemed to take off here. If my memory is right...pretty sure it was the second most produced caliber in the model 94, after 30-30. I think it was something like 25% of model 94's were in 32 special. As to why it never gained traction here, I do not know.

I think it was probably timing. By the time new rifles became available and affordable in NZ the 32 Specials time had passed. As late as the 1960's the most common rifle encountered in the ranges was a sporterised .303. I only remember seeing one lever action rifle in those early days and it was a M94 .30 WCF (aka 30-30). I thought the cartridges looked great. Later on I knew people that used other lever actions including a Win 88 and Savage 99, the later in .303 Savage
Regards Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greeting Jhon,
There seem to be two options depending on what rings your bell. One of the John Wayne rifles may be around depending on what they fetch. Should be less than vintage 94 or 99 rifles in shootable condition. Or a 32 Special that could be loaded with cast lead and black powder as a reasonable substitute. There wont be many of these around either but they should be cheaper. From memory of an article in Handloader John Barsness, I think got about 1,450 fps with black and a 170 grain cast bullet. Its just a matter of finding one.
Happy hunting. Grandpamac.

Cheers. Be nice, given current interest in LAs if Rossi, Henry or Ruger started doing some runs of some of the older calibres. Heck, even the single shot guys would probably sell me one or two. Not because they are competitive cartridges on the contemporary scene but because they are bloody interesting.

Originally Posted by Jhon

Cheers. Be nice, given current interest in LAs if Rossi, Henry or Ruger started doing some runs of some of the older calibres. Heck, even the single shot guys would probably sell me one or two. Not because they are competitive cartridges on the contemporary scene but because they are bloody interesting.

Greetings again Jhon,
Seeing you mentioned single shots the 32-40 was originally chambered in all manner of single shots including the Peabody. This was a tilting block action that was later improved by Martini to become the Martini Henry and later Martini Enfield. Poor old Peabody's name got lost in the shuffle. The Martini action would suit the 32-40 just fine if you can find one beyond collector interest. Mine was 30-30 for a while until I had it rechambered for 30-40 Krag. Getting a suitable .320 inch groove barrel could be the biggest problem. My Martini shoots really well. Dreams are cheap. Unfortunately turning them into reality's is the expensive bit.
Regards Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by Waynesworld

Quite interesting that the 32 special never really seemed to take off here. If my memory is right...pretty sure it was the second most produced caliber in the model 94, after 30-30. I think it was something like 25% of model 94's were in 32 special. As to why it never gained traction here, I do not know.

The 32 special came out after the 3030, it was a smokeless powder factory round but was intended to be suitable for reloading with bp as smokeless was in its infancy at the time. The rifles had a 1:12 twist which was better than the 1:10 of the 3030 at resisting bp fouling.
Power was identical to the 3030 which proved to be far more popular and the 32 special kind of died off.

@grandpamac Also 303B Enfield ex military were cheap as chips. My first centrefire was a fully wooded 303 I paid somewhere around $60 for in 1977, covered in thick grease, and sporterised by moi. Bloody fine job I did of it too with not a clue as to what I was doing. Had no trouble filling the freezer with rounds reloaded with a Lee Loader and a fair amount of trepidation. You may well have convinced me of the superiority of a Winchester LA in 32-40 but my budget of the day would never have accommodated it.

Originally Posted by Jhon

@grandpamac Also 303B Enfield ex military were cheap as chips. My first centrefire was a fully wooded 303 I paid somewhere around $60 for in 1977, covered in thick grease, and sporterised by moi. Bloody fine job I did of it too with not a clue as to what I was doing. Had no trouble filling the freezer with rounds reloaded with a Lee Loader and a fair amount of trepidation. You may well have convinced me of the superiority of a Winchester LA in 32-40 but my budget of the day would never have accommodated it.

Greetings again Jhon,
I see that Match Grade Machine in the US offers barrels for the Contender in 32-40. Somewhere in my banana boxes of Handloader and Rifle mags there will be load data for the cartridge using the Contender. The desire for something different burns deep in most rifle people. For some it is the latest cutting edge cartridge but for others, to use the words of the late Bob Hayley, it is the weird wacky and wonderful. I and likely you fall into this camp. Bob was a custom handloader that specialised in rounds few others had heard of. Cutting edge cartridges can become common over time thus loosing their appeal. Oddballs only improve with age.
Regards Grandpamac.

@grandpamac Love reading your posts about old cartridges!

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

@grandpamac Love reading your posts about old cartridges!

Greetings and thanks Bumblefoot and all,
Clearly I have spent far too much time reading about interesting old stuff. The 32-20 and other target cartridges were often not loaded as we do now with the projectile seated in the case. The projectile was seated into the rifle throat, partly into the rifling. Some even loaded it from the muzzle. The case with powder charge was then loaded behind the projectile. Clearly this was target shooting in the slow lane. One of the shooting disciplines was shot standing at a range of 40 rods. A rod is an arcane land measurement that works out to ever so slightly over 5 metres so the range was about 200 metres (201.168 precisely), 10 chains or 220 yards. These days we have difficulty getting people to shoot any discipline other than prone with a bipod.
Old fashioned stuff can be really fascinating. Terry Wieland writes interesting articles for Rifle and Handloader mag about these neat old rifles.
Regards Grandpamac.

A friend of mine bought a single shot target rifle at a Ted Rogers Auction a few years back in 32-40. It is a handmade rifle by Earl Wyatt. A beautiful piece and very accurate as is usual for anything made by Earl.

@grandpamac I pig-hunted with a guy back in the early 1980's who used a 32/20 as a bail gun

I have 2 rifles in 32-20, A BSA 310 Cadet rebrreled and rechambered and a old Savage bolt action. Came into the stable last year and did some setup with them but now waiting on me to complete exit from Auckland.

Appropo some of the other comments in the thread to date, wouldn't it be fantastic to revive the single shot target shooting of the early 1900s in the USA? Apparently it was more popular than golf and the 32-40 ruled the day with the 38-55 a close second if your shoulder could stand the pain.