It's not a lever 32-20

[1894]

But a few leverguns were made in the cartridge

Took a nice Savage Sporter to the range yesterday and tossed 10 rounds towards a paper plate .




The ammo was from an older box of Winchester , yellow box , big red W on the top with winchester written thru it in blue .
I thought it was factory , but now have doubts . 2 rounds in the box the bullet is pushed down flush with the top of the brass , bad crimp maybe

Any who , on to my question. 9 out of the 10 shots made nice round little holes in the target.
1 round however, hit that target at 25 yards completely BROADSIDE !!!
Don't see any thing that stands out in the rifle as not what it should be. The rifling is clean , crown is good ,no lead shavings apparent going into the chamber , did not notice any unusual sounds when firing , so I'm at a quandary.
What could cause only one bullet out of ten to tumble that bad ? 180 degree tumble in 25 yards ?????
Bought a box of new rem ammo today for a lil over a buck a round . But before I go blasting them up , I'd like some idea on the cause of that single helicopter round.

[32-20]

If your ammo is the copper plated lead type I would say it is the ammo. I had a rem #2 rolling block in 32-20 that wouldn't even hit the backboard at 25yds with this type ammo, but would shoot 1.5-2" groups at 50yds with the lyman 3118 bullet and 4.2gr unique. I also have a Savage 23C like yours they are great shooters.

[1894]

Box just says " 32-20 wrenchester 100 grain lead. Then a pic of the bullet and the words Inside Lubricated Oilproof 50 cartridges. "

Don't see any copper plating.

[32-20]

I think the box said lubaloy or something similar. It was a yellow box from the 60's or 70's.

[AJMD429]

Well, if they WERE reloads, or if some of them were, that could certainly be the difference; different diameter or length bullet or whatever...

[ollogger]

Did you shoot one of them that had the bullet pushed down ?

[DixieBoy]

I agree with what Doc seems to be saying. If you put 9 of 10 shots in the target and your tenth one keyholes, I would immediately suspect the ammo. Maybe some good ole boy did some "modifyin'" of that old ammo. You won't relax about the rifle until you put some ammo through it that you know to be good.

I like the looks of that old Savage. Got a certain kind of style about them. - DixieBoy

[Chuck 100 yd]

I have read many times that the little Savage is a hard one to get to shoot cast accurately. IIRC the rifling rate is marginal for 110-115 gr. bullets and a slow one may just fail to stabilize at all. Old boxes of ammo are fun to play with but for accuracy, build your own and run them over a chronograph to get the true story.

[1894]

Thanks all !!!! I seem to have forgotten how to multi quote

What Doc wrote is what I was thinking , Just needed to hear it from someone else and make sure I wasn't overlooking something .

I did not put one of those compressed rounds into the magazine . But may have had one that looked OK but the bullet got pushed in while chambering the round ?

And no I won't be able to relax until I get to put some new ammo thru it . Was pressed for time yesterday but figured the range would be close to empty and I could get in and out in 1/2 an hour. There were 3 or 4 shooters set up when I got there so I just kept going . No need to disrupt them just because I was in a hurry .
I'll get out next week when I have more time . Take the 22 as well because I really do need to spend more time shooting.

[1894]

Ok , things are looking up for the sporter . Took the new ammo out and ran half a dozen rounds through it this morning at 50 yards. The pattern ( my poor shooting ) was tighter at 50 than my first try at 25 It shot better than my 22 at the same target . So I needless to say , I need to really get to the range a lot more often

Any who , I guess I've decided I won't use this for a tomato stake in the garden after all so here are a couple more pics of the rifle.

[.45colt]

Be still My Heart.I have seen a few of those usually beat pretty good. that one is very nice.If You every want to sell it drop Me a P.M. it would look great with My Marlin.