A ’modern 32-20’…

[AJMD429]

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I have always felt that the 32-20 filled the niche between 22 LR and 357 Magnum quite nicely, although 22 hornet or 218 Bee might be candidates as well. The biggest problem is finding firearms chambered in those rounds that were in good shape, as well as the brass, being more fragile than the 44 Mag brass, which was what I had loaded almost exclusively prior to getting my first 32-20.

My first 32-20 firearms were a Smith & Wesson model 10 double action revolver and a Marlin 1889 rifle.

Then came a new-manufacture Marlin 1894 CL chambered in 32-20, followed by a Ruger Buckeye single action revolver conversion that also had the 32 H&R cylinder. So of course I picked up a box of 32 H&R to fiddle with.

The H&R brass seemed much sturdier, and for a little while it was easier to find, and it made me think that it would be nice if the two modern guns I had were chambered in that round so that I wouldn’t accidentally get my more high velocity loads, and my vintage loads mixed up. I wasn’t real keen on trying to have the Marlin re-barreled in 32 H&R though, and not even sure if it would feed or function properly.

Then things got even more confusing when they came out with the 327 Federal Mag. Not really feeling the need to hot rod the cartridge, it’s still looked like the Federal might be more likely to become popular, and remain available for a couple decades versus the H&R.

At this point, I don’t really need any more firearms, and I found a few hundred 32–20 Starline brass a few years ago, so I think that will keep me plenty busy without adding yet another cartridge.

However, a couple years ago a gift certificate led me to wind up with a new Henry lever action, and since I have all the other modern chamberings covered, I elected to get a 327 Federal levergun (in hindsight, I think I would’ve been better off getting into the pointy cartridge field with one of their Long Ranger leverguns in 243 Winchester).

Unfortunately, ammunition was very hard to find and what factory ammunition I did shoot, proved very inaccurate in the 327 Federal levergun. Since part of the point of the little 32 caliber leverguns is high accuracy potential I put the gun in the back of the safe, too busy to mess around with just trying to see if Henry could make it shoot better, or if it was just a matter of me needing to do some load development or tinkering.

So the other day I ran across this inadvertent Safe Queen, and realized it is a gun I don’t have much ammunition or brass for, and will probably just go back to the 32-20 and hope that for the remainder of my life span I can still find enough brass to shoot the guns I have.

That got me to wondering if some of the younger guys on the forum are into 32 caliber leverguns, and if so, whether they are sticking with the hyphenated old cartridge, or one of the new straight walled equivalents.

[348win]

I shoot 32-20

Probably the funnest cartridge of all, for plinking or small game.

And the most head scratching over if it would get brought along for a deer

A modern rifle w a modern load, sure hits the steel hard. That's a 90gr got to be doing 2200fps I would think. Haven't measured yet.

[4t5]

Check out this discussion..
https://www.shootersforum.com/threads/a ... ead.47667/

[Scott Tschirhart]

I have a couple of Ruger Single Sevens in .327 and a Marlin levergun.

I’m having a hard time getting too excited about any of them.

[Rockrat]

I have a full size Blackhawk and a Single seven in 32mag/327 and find I like the Single Seven more to shoot. In a rifle, all I have is a '92 in 32-20, although I did have a Marlin 32mag that I foolishly sold. Just like the convenience of carbide dies. Don't think I have ever shot a single 327 round. All 32mag or 32 long colt, usually with a 115gr boolit although I sometimes load a lighter wadcutter round.

[marlinman93]

.32-20 is one of my favorite cartridges! Mainly just for shooting at targets as I've never used mine to hunt anything. I own a Remington #2 Roller, and Ballard #2 in .32-20. Also a couple SAA replicas in it, and just picked up an early S&W Hand Ejector recently in .32-20!

[yooper2]

I have a pair of 32-20 revolvers, one Smith and one Official Police. Also have a Single Six in 32 Mag, its a fair gun but nothing special and i think it has left me a bit cold on the cartridge.
I prefer the 32-20s and would like to find one of the 90s half mag Marlin 94s to try it in a rifle. I mostly shoot the RCBS 98gr SWC and the Lyman 311316 with the gas check reamed out.

Eric

[joepb]

I have a ruger buckeye and a marlin lever cl and love them........Joe

[ikocher]

That got me to wondering if some of the younger guys on the forum are into 32 caliber leverguns, and if so, whether they are sticking with the hyphenated old cartridge, or one of the new straight walled equivalents.

I'm pretty sure that statement of "younger guys" applies to me. Your generic answer is yes. I have become very interested in the .32's in general. I haven't done anything with any of the .32's save 32 ACP yet since we just had a baby and now my tinkering money is unavailable. I've been playing around with .357 Mag for a the last few years and working through it's use a Universal / General Purpose cartridge https://blog.ikocher.com/2025/04/357-ma ... se-or.html but it's got me looking at .327 to do the same job. .327 Fed Mag came out not long after I had gotten out of high school so I was too busy with the modern stuff back then but I really liked what it had to offer even if I didn't fully understand what it was capable of.

Part of this recent interest (just in the last 2 years) came from reading Elmer Keith's Six Gun book along with a research project I had done on pistol caliber lever actions and seeing what folks had done with the old "hyphenated" carts by switching to smokeless. Those older HV loads really can perform. People under estimate what your can do with a rifle and a good bullet.

That said, if I had to choose between a new setup in the .32-20 or .327 FM, I'll take the Fed Mag just for the higher pressure limits along with the straight walls.

My suspicion is that the same setup I found with the Remington HTP 357 load could be done in .327 Fed Mag with a new Henry and a Ruger LCR or SP101 and be just as effective for self defense and whitetail (rifle) but being more efficient with power and lead. In the current economy, using less powder and less lead to achieve the same results sits nicely with me. Additionally, I figure that a Single Seven with the correct load would make for the perfect hunting buddy for any rifle. You can run lower power 32 loads for small game hunting. We can't do that here in Georgia since small game laws limit us to rimfire .22 but I liked the idea that I could have a .32 HR for small game and self defense and have a good rifle for just the big game I'm hunting.

On a side note, I've been poking at Heritage to make the Rosco in .32 H&R cause I think it could be a pretty good option to match especially that we're seeing people get interested in the .32 stuff again. 30 Super Carry would be part of that.

[AJMD429]

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There is certainly something 'romantic' about all the 'hyphenated' cartridges. They also seem to feed better in most leverguns versus their straight-walled equivalents.

Too bad the brass isn't just a bit sturdier, or more widely available - those things would sure help.

I get the 'problem' that vintage guns require 'vintage' loads, so the factory-ammo people are going to be reluctant to make 'modern' loads in 38-40, 44-40, 32-20, 32-40, and so on. Maybe if they made 1/10" longer cases like when the 38 Special morphed to 357 Magnum... But from a practical standpoint, I suppose that the gun makers are going to say "why should we make a 44-40 Magnum, just to compete with the 44 Magnum we already are producing - too much extra production hassle and cost for a minuscule amount of additional sales".

It is interesting though to see how the 'modernization' of the various diameter cartridges (and I know the name versus actual diameters correlate poorly) varies...

44 pretty much flipped to 44 Mag, and 357 did to 357 Mag, and both are VERY popular 'pistol caliber levergun' setups.

30-30 hasn't really been flipped to any other 30 caliber long-action round, perhaps because the 30-30 is just co iconic.

45-70 never really flipped to 450 Marlin though, and even the 444 Marlin didn't encroach much on that niche.

At the other end of the spectrum the 32-20 has kind of just plodded along, always 'almost on the verge of extinction' since I started shooting in the 1970's, but with a faithful band of followers. The "other 32's" seem to be slowly making inroads though, and it will be interesting to see what happens. It will likely be largely a result of whatever the 'younger crowd' decides THEY want - do they want to keep shooting grandpa's old guns in 32-20, or modern replicas in 327 Fed, or perhaps some completely new design of firearm with a completely new cartridge of that sort will come along.

Right now I enjoy my 32-20's and doubt I'll live long enough to wear out all the brass I have, unless I win the lottery and start having a bunch more free time to shoot. But I do like fiddling with gun-stuff, so the Henry 327 I have might get enough range-time someday to see if I can make it into a nice squirrel-head shooter. If I can get it to shoot as accurately as my Marlin 1894cs 32-20, then maybe at that point I'll get some sort of revolver in 327 Fed so I can pass along a 'pair' to one of the kids or grandkids. But I certainly won't get rid of my 32-20's in the meantime.

Thanks for the link, 4t5 - I like the guy in the thread from ShootersForum, who said he would like a Ruger 77/327 set up like their 77/44 and 77/357 rifles - that clearly is in the "something I don't need but really would like to have" category... A few years ago, I almost got an Encore barrel made up in 32-20 with a fast twist so I could put a suppressor on it and shoot some 7.62x39 bullets out of it...now THAT would be quite the unusual 32-20 rig...

[.45colt]

I bought My Marlin CL 32-20 in '07 after Kirk D from Canada posted here about the round. Starline has 1000pcs of brass for $246.50. The 32-20 and 45-70 will do anything I could ask for in Ohio. They would be the last I would ever sell.

[awp101]

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That got me to wondering if some of the younger guys on the forum are into 32 caliber leverguns

Define younger. I'm 53 and just picked up my first .32-20 levergun, a 20" Taylor's 1873. Needs a bit of TLC but I plan on getting some range time with it this weekend so I'll report back then.

[AJMD429]

I bought My Marlin CL 32-20 in '07 after Kirk D from Canada posted here about the round. Starline has 1000pcs of brass for $246.50. The 32-20 and 45-70 will do anything I could ask for in Ohio. They would be the last I would ever sell.

Same here in Indiana - for me it would be the 32-20 Marlin 1894CL, and the 500 S&W in a BHA 89 - everything else is just filling in the gaps between 'em...

[GunnyMack]

This thread got me looking, Midway has both H&R and Federal mag ammo in stock. Some brass too. Not that I need either but others might be looking for ammo.