WTT_WWB 32-20 dies

Can't help you on the dies, but i was amused...

I have a police service revolver chambered in 32-20

our local sporting goods had the carts in stock

But they are usually pretty expensive (but so are the dies). Fun round to shoot but pretty meek.

be careful about using them though. most of the 32-30 cartridges factory loaded are intended for rifles, and are not really suitable for revolvers due to the higher than expected pressures. At least so I have heard many times.

This link is to Widener's in Johnson City, TN. I wasn't sure if you were looking for new or used:

Strider

Used of course. I can buy wholesale But thanks for the effort.

Gunner

"Gun Control, the theory that a 110lb grandmother should fist fight a 250lb 19yr old criminal"

All in all its a pretty decent little cartridge, accurate enough and in a rifle, suitable for use on game up to (small) deer if you do your part.

Gunner

"Gun Control, the theory that a 110lb grandmother should fist fight a 250lb 19yr old criminal"

be careful about using them though. most of the 32-30 cartridges factory

This is wrong! The 32-20 cartridge was intended for both pistol and rifle. A rifle-pistol companion cartridge like the 32-20, 38-40, etc. would not cause higher pressures in a revolver. Pressure would probably be lower in revolvers because of cylinder clearance and shorter barrels.

Bob Swinney

The issue isn't that the revolver causes higher pressures. The issue is that manufacturers and handloaders created higher pressure loads that the revolvers (and some rifles) weren't strong enough to handle.

According to their websites, current Winchester & Remington factory .32-20 loads appear to be low pressure (100 gr @ ~ 1200 fps). I don't think that was always the case, though. I'm not sure what other manufacturers currently load the .32-20 and to what level. I'd certainly look into it before firing them in an older gun.

Check out the comments:

Winchester [not interchangeable with] 32-20 High Velocity

reference to .32-20] NOTE A: High-speed cartridges must not be used in revolvers. They should only be used in rifles made especially for them.

Also, Ken Water's article on loading the .32-20 (for rifles) mentions the potential hazard in firing high pressure factory loads in handguns and Win. 1873 rifles.

The Hornady, Speer, and Lyman loading manuals all have similar warnings about the .32-20. At least one of them lumps the Ruger Blackhawk in with the newer rifles as being capable of handling the higher pressures. At least 2 of them have separate loads entirely for the T/C Contender (and they mention that it has a .308" bore).

R, Tom Q.

My comment was re. 32-20 ammunition as furnished by regular manufacturers and intended for vintage firearms. Any fool can handload ammo to unsafe pressure levels. I believe it is safe to purchase over the counter ammo from "name" manufacturers that is intended for firearms of the period suggested by the cartridge type. Hotter than standard ammo should have warnings on the package. Cartridges of type 32-40, 38-40, 44-40 are all over one hundred years old and it follows they should never be loaded to pressures exceeding that of the original black powder loads.

As an aside, I was on the range recently when the guy next to me was spraying me with unburned, and some still burning, powder grains from a

45-70. Of course he had a modern 45-70, a Marlin I think it was. The guy was bragging about how his friend had handloaded ammo to perform like a 458 Winchester. I was afraid the gun would come apart and as I was about to leave for another position he stopped and began fiddling with his scope. The extremely sharp recoil had dislodged both cross hairs! I suggested the broken scope was testimony to vastly over-powered handloads and he was fortunate that was the only damage.

Bob Sw>

Bob..there were indeed High Velocitiy factory loadings for the 32-20. Winchester, Remington, Dominion, etc all made the HV loading for use in a rifle. Quite widely used as a deer cartridge for smaller deer and one of the very early "varmint" cartridges.

However..I rather doubt that one may run across much of this particular ammo any more, as its not a particularly popular cartridge (though like a good book..it does regain popularity every so often) and the various current ammo makers are following ANSI standards for the basic, universal loading.

The 1895 Marlin may be handloaded very well up to rather stout loadings (with no unburned powder) if one has a clue. However brass life tends to be short, with incepent head seperations the most common problems. Generally they simply break in half about 3/16-3/8"" forwards of the rim, leaving the majority of the case in the chamber.

Remington brass tends to be thicker than Winchester, so when I developed Hot loads for the 45-70, I used Remington. I built a heavy barreled 45-70 using a P-14 Enfield bolt action. It simply loves hot loads and the Lyman 500 gr Spitzer cast bullet. sub 1" center to center 5 shot groups at about 2100 fps. Minimum chamber, minimum headspace, "neck sized" only (you can neck size this case ) and I get about 8 reloads out of the brass before its done. I need to turn a bunch of cases out of bar stock one of these days, thicker walls etc. then work up a load. I have it on my Very long list of things to do..sigh.

Gunner

"Gun Control, the theory that a 110lb grandmother should fist fight a 250lb 19yr old criminal"

Or to the poor quality of most of the scopes being sold today :o). Greg Sefton