32-20 Results

[rost495]

I am very sorry, I had a quick chance to get to the deer lease and the wife was out of the house on a story assignment for her paper with the cameras. So I have no pics.

This is what I can say though. First I need to do some sight work on the sights. They just don't get it for early and late and visibility, and I'm not comfortable as is, open the rear notch to square just a bit and flatten and reverse taper the front a bit and turn it flat black so I can see the dang thing.

I learned that prone is super to hide from deer up close, but generally can't see the bottom of the deer's chest in the grass.

So I went to almost an elevated supine position, almost sitting but not really and got by with it this morning. Our deer are not out long in the AM this year and out late in the PM so sights have been a big issue. I can generally see either sight or deer but not both.

Had a 30ish yard shot this morning on one of our largest does and I wanted the yearling but she was acting stupid. So when given the shot on the lead doe I tried. I lined it up, put it just at the front leg and just covering the white hair. I suspect she moved a bit as I cant' tell whats happening as the sights cover the deer a lot and our deer continually move. Anyway I'm slow on the trigger but it broke so clean that I felt the first little stage of creep and had to stop as she moved. Then I continued and it surprised me when it barked. Popped loud thump when it hit and she kicked hard and took off as the bullet continued on and ricochet'd into the wild blue howling on..... She walked up the open hill about 80 yards, stood, got wobbly, flopped down and kept her head up a bit for maybe a minute. That was it. Lead 120 flat point PCI ammo. Hit was center height of lungs, appx back 1/3 and took out liver on exit. Missed a rib going in, 32 cal hole in both lungs, the bloody area around those holes was appx 3 inches or so and a good gash in the liver, filled up with blood when I gutted her. Took a rib on the way out. I'd have preferred a bit further forward and a hair lower but I take what I have. I have a hard time forcing the shot to the legs from my bowhunting days. Expired much in the time frame of a similarly hit one with an arrow. Of course the next doe will have a 7mm in the head so there won't be any wondering...

I should have 100 xtps loaded end of this week but I think I'm done with the 32 tillI get the sights and such the way I want them and the load worked up. I bet I can play heck with em next fall with it set up right.

Appreciate your input. I'm very sorry that I didn't have pics as promised, Its the only time this year I didn't have a camera with me. And I left in a hurry. So much so that I had 6 rounds in the tube of the 32 and never even grabbed the box of backup ammo.

Jeff

[WCF3030]

That's OK postmortem pics work just as well.
Whats the Vel of that round?

[JerryB]

Glad to here the hunt came out ok. I have not got a shot with my '92 32wcf yet, I will carry on the three day hunt the end of this month. Any shot I get will be with in 40 yards. One more muzzle loaders next week end. I feel confident that my 100 grain XTPHP load with 11 grains of 5744 will do the job.

[rost495]

Never have been home with enough light to shoot it over the chrony. I shoudl have a set of dies here Tuesday. I have 100 xtp and 2400 sitting and brass ready to load. So after this, its all different ammo again.

As to post mortem.... thats not gonna happen either, we gut at camp and take home quarters and trimmings, I can do what I need at home with pics but camp is 2.5 hours away, I bring home boneless meat and 4 boned quarters....

I hope my description is good enough. There was no secondary damage to the lungs, just bleeding around the holes. No torn tissue and so on. Just a 32 cal bullet.

And I went to the trouble to do the old stupid trick, just in case it would help, of cutting an x about 1/8 inch deep in the nose.

The exit rib was a bit more torn up than the 32 size though.

Jerry-- put the bullet where it needs to go and I have no doubts. I suspect with 100 xtps and 2400 or another powder-- I ordered something else IMR similar to the 5744, that we'll have a 50 yard god deer gun hands down.
Dang iron sights are different to my eyes by far than many years of aperture rear, post front in competition. I NEED to find an ap rear, but it won't be aged like my gun, so I'm going to work on filing on the sights and blackening them and go from there. Just hope I don't ruin value etc... though I'll never sell this one. I'm after 2-3 more and will them to the nephews.

Jeff

[Rusty]

Wouldn't it be nice if Rossi would come out with a '92 clone in .32-20?

[JerryB]

Rusty, that would be about as good as it could be, and keep the original .312 bore and not .308 as some new ones are.

[gamekeeper]

Wouldn't it be nice if Rossi would come out with a '92 clone in .32-20?

+ 1 I have tried emailing Rossi with such a request but I didn't receive an answer

[Nath]

Well done rost495, I just new you and it would pull it off. Bow men allways know how you don't need a sledge to drive a tack

Nath.

[KirkD]

rost495, I'm surprised that you got complete penetration, although I've no experience with the 32 W.C.F. on deer. What would you estimate the live weight of that deer to be?

[rost495]

Oh I pitched her up in the samuri with no problem, live weight I'd say at 90 pounds maybe?? Was a mature doe so probably in that range, I don't think this one hit 100.

I had no doubt about penetration, heck any 22lr will do the same thing all day long at taht range and hit in the ribs.

The ricochet surprised the heck out of me though.

I do have the dies and 550 rounds of practice ammo now too. Off to solve the sight issue and it'll be a gem. I think this is in my blood now. Maybe I'm aging but the lever part sure seems like fun. Plus the fact that I can't shoot em from 200 or 300 yards....

Jeff

[Nath]

Good for you rost, lets see now.
If I can take fox's from my house at 30yds with say 10ft/lb from a pell gun and they way around 15lb.
Thats errm 90lb for your deer divided by six for my fox's 15lb, so six times 10ft/lb equals 60ft/lbs

You got more than enough bro, overkill even

Nath

[JerryB]

C'mon now Nath, you know that these new age modern deer have to be hit with the cartridge of the week to die now days. my two this year didn't know it either. Arkansaw deer don't read real good anyway.

[rost495]

Finally got a note from Precision Cartridge..... they did not quote MV, but did say it was a mild load, not suggested for game. I guess when its stuck in the right place it still does the job.

I've got some leads on hard cast, with soft lead possibly hp cast ones to mess with next season on more deer and still the xtps to try next year too.

Jeff

[Glenn]

Jeff,
The XS white-stripe front sight is the most visible I've used against various backgrounds.
Glenn

[KirkD]

... live weight I'd say at 90 pounds maybe?? Was a mature doe so probably in that range, I don't think this one hit 100.

The average adult Whitetail doe in northern Ontario where I hunt weights between 150 to 200 pounds, with 200 pounds closer to the norm. The average adult buck starts around 200 pounds, and I've taken one larger than average buck that weighed 300 pounds. I'd be a little nervous about trying for one of these with a 32-20 at traditional velocities, but I must confess, that I've no experience using the 32-20 on anything larger than problem Beavers (roughly 30 pounds). I do think I could still kill a 200 pound animal with the 32-20, but I wonder how far I'd have to track it. I took one buck this fall that weighed just slightly over 200 pounds with a sideways, double lung shot (30-30). It still ran 100 yards before dropping. I had another 200 pounds doe run almost 100 yards, heart-shot with a 420 grain 45-70 bullet. Both animals had complete penetration.

Nevertheless, I am pleased with your results. Given your complete penetration and ricochet, I'd guess that your bullet was a hard cast one (say, 20 -25 BHN). I wonder if a soft cast bullet would cause more internal damage. I know that Snooky Williamson took quite a few Whitetails with his 32-20, although he stoked his loads up pretty good. Keep us posted on any further hunting results you obtain with the 32-20.

[rost495]

Yep if ours were 200-300 I don't think I'd try it. Though running 100-200 yards can be fairly common with any hit. Even one hit with my 50 bmg made over 200 yards with holes through the lungs.

I'll update next year again.

Glenn- much appreciated on the front, I think I may end up with aperture in the front though and if not, I much prefer flat black and square. White/red etc... are all the wrong shape and glow horribly not giving a defined top surface to use as accurate reference to elevation. I will look into it though, as they aren't always what they seem by name.

Jeff

[Glenn]

Jeff,

I agree the red/white/colored sights aren't very precise. The XS sight is different. It is a wide black post with a medium white line up the middle. You still have the black post that can be seen against light backgrounds, complete with a black top (on the sides). The white stripe shows up against dark backgrounds or in low light. It's the best of both worlds. I must admit I haven't actually used a true XS front sight in the woods, but have modified two plain black posts to look identical, and used them deer hunting and target shooting. I bought a couple XS front sights for a couple of my leverguns.

Hard to argue with an aperture front sight!

Glenn

[deerwhacker444]

Even one hit with my 50 bmg made over 200 yards with holes through the lungs.

I want to hear more about this...!

[Both94sPlus]

Rost--

Well done, sir. A lot of our deer in my area run about the same size as your listed specimen, so a 32-20 WCF would likely work for me. I haven't tried that (yet), and it's hard to take out the Marlin 94CCL for venison when there's a fine old '73 Winchester in 44-40 that throws a mope and gets the rest of the leverguns in the safe all stirred up when it gets left at home. You see what I'm dealing with here.

Ontario's deer are a very different scenario, if my experience in Alberta is any indicator. Those are some BIG ANIMALS, and the 30-30 would be as light a caliber as I would consider. 170 grain Nosler Partitions would get the call, too.