.32 Winchester Special

[shag]

Hello all. Just about have my SB rifle ready, just waiting for yoDave trigger kit to arrive. Thanks for all your help with that one. I haven`t been to a cowboy sil. match yet but it sure sounds like fun. I have model 94 in .32 special that was my wifes fathers that was gave to her about 20 years ago that is really in good shape. What really surprised me is what a good trigger it has! It has a 20 inch barrel with standard sights. Would it work for cowboy sil. and if so what sights would you all recommend? Not in it to win it, just want to have some fun. Also I can`t seem to find any ammo for it? Any advice greatly appreciated. Thanks Shag

[Bob259]

Should work fine for Pistol Cartridge and I believe to light for the CF targets and distances. I use Williams rear peep and a Laymann 17A front globe with a post.

[shag]

Thanks for the reply Bob,although I don`t know that much about the .32 win. special I was told by my brother-in-law that it is a rifle cartridge comparable to the 30-30. Thats about all I know about it. Any help with this is appreciated as I do have some realoading equiptment avaliable if needed. Thanks again, Shag

[Bob259]

Thanks for the reply Bob,although I don`t know that much about the .32 win. special I was told by my brother-in-law that it is a rifle cartridge comparable to the 30-30. Thats about all I know about it. Any help with this is appreciated as I do have some realoading equiptment avaliable if needed. Thanks again, Shag

I use a 30-30 for the rifle portion so I have little information that may help on your .32. However, I'm sure there will be a number of folks that have and can tell you better on it's performance.

[Finprof]

The ballistics on a .32 Winchester Special are very similar to 30/30. The main difference is that the 32 ammmo costs about three times as much to buy. I don't think either a deer or a steel ram would be able to tell the differnce whether it was hit with a 30/30 or a 32 Special.
With a 20 inch barrel I would be inclined to use a tang sight like a Marbles or Lyman. Most of teh shooters with whom I compete use a Williams Foolproof with target knobs.

[Another Dang 9]

I shoot cowboy rifle all the time and the 32 win would be just fine. the only set back is the limited ammo. It only comes in a 170 gr. bullet that I'm aware of. Unless you reload you will get beat up shooting 40 rounds of that. The williams sight is good but the marbles sight is better. if you don't have to drill the reciver go with the williams but if you do go with the marbles tang sight. thats if you have to drill it.

[shag]

I think I can just screw a reciever sight on the side but do understand the advantage a tang sight would provide. I will have to look but I think there is only one screw on the tang. If I had a gunsmith drill another hole for a tang sight would it de-value the rifle? Also was wondering do you adjust your sights for every animal like you do for SB rifle or do yo use kentucky windage! Thanks Shag

[Bob259]

I think I can just screw a reciever sight on the side but do understand the advantage a tang sight would provide. I will have to look but I think there is only one screw on the tang. If I had a gunsmith drill another hole for a tang sight would it de-value the rifle? Also was wondering do you adjust your sights for every animal like you do for SB rifle or do yo use kentucky windage! Thanks Shag

Tang sight gives you a longer sight radius

[Another Dang 9]

the reciever sight will need 2 screws as well if it does not drilling it will drop the value more than drilling the tang, I think. Plus value is always only what some one is willing to give you for it unless it has some real collector value. thats going to be a judgment call for ya. A good gunsmith would be a better judge of that so you may want to show it to someone before you do anything. I like the tang sight best and have them on all my guns even some of the somewhat collecter ones.

[shag]

Very good advice. I think I will have a gunsmith look at the rifle and check out the bore. I have been doing some research on the caliber. It seems that if the bore is even a little worn, rifles in that caliber seem to lose their accuracy sooner than say a 30-30 would. Looks like handloading will also be my only option do to the availability of ammo. Another reason to get it checked out before I invest in reloading equiptment for the caliber. Will talk about sights at that time also. Thanks again, Shag

[glen ring]

Shag

The 32 special will be fine for the 200 yard match. I found one in a pawn shop a few weeks ago, and after I'd done research, I went back to buy it, it had been sold. Ballistics are very close to a 30-30. Go to Midway USA. They have brass bullets and reloading dies for a 32 special. A good reloading manual is a must. My wife shoots a 20 inch 30-30 just for fun in Cowboy Lever Action and our aging eyes do well with a Williams Peep sight that just screws into the last two scope mount screws. We use a .50 aperture and have a great time shooting Cowboy silhouette. Midway has about everything you need to feed and shoot that gun.

[shag]

Thank you very much for the help. I am in the process of putting together a SB SIl. rifle and I had everything for it except the trigger kit. It arrived late today so I didn`t get a chance to put it all together. There is a match tomorrow so I will use the club gun one more time. Will mount up the scope and put the gun back together tomorrow afternoon or monday. I will ask when the next cowboy leveraction match is. I didn`t even know about it until I found this site. I used to shoot blackpowder matches for about five years and for some reason or another got away from shooting all these years. I now have rediscovered the joys of shooting and when I found out about cowboy SIL with open sights it really lite my fire! I will check into some sights and checkout reloading stuff from Midway. I used to buy from them years ago. Anyway not over the hill yet and I am happy to be shooting again. Thanks Shag

[timfinle]

The 32 special is great cartridge for CB silhouette. It was my first. As stated above, only 170 grain bullets are available as far as I know. With that said, you develope a nice load for the chickens, pigs and turkeys, then bump up for the rams. You probably won't need to bump up much. My load of choice is 28 grains of alliant reloader 7 over a speer 170 grain flat noice bullet. Very accurate and never looses a ram. If memory serves, the ballistics are around 2100 feet per sec.

My rifle is marlin 336A with the smoothest action of any of my rifles and the best trigger out of the box.

My advise is to go ahead, use it and have a great time. This is the rifle I let my friends use when they want to try out CB silhoutte.

[shag]

Would you say that is a meduim load or was that your ram load. I went to see my dad today and he gave me an old model 94. It says NICKLE STEEL 30WCF on the barrel. He is 80 now and has had that gun as long as I can remember. It has a 20 inch barrel with an old Marbles peep sight. The front sight is odd to me, it has a U-shaped piece that is on the barrel. The sight sits in that with a pin through it! I looked up the serial numbers and the gun was manufactured 1926. Was thinking of using that gun. Think it would be safe? Wounder If that NICKLE STEEL barrel is strong. Gun is all original and shows a lot of wear but looks to be in good shooting shape. I bet it has not been shot in 30 years! the model 94 that I have in .32 winchester special is in alot better shape,manufactured in 1953,so I think I should put some sights on it and go with that. What would be your thoughts? My biggest problem thought is I can`t find and lever action sil. near Olympia wa. Anyone with some suggestions where there will be a match? Thanks Again, Shag

[shag]

Sorry, read your post over again and saw that was your ram load. Thanks Shag