1892 Marlin .32 LC

[Dusty Texian]

1892 Marlin in .32 is one of the (in my book) best woods walking lever gun to come along. It is very light to carry has plenty of power with its 90gr.heeled bullet. And is very quiet. A couple of yrs. back I did some load development for my little .32 with tremendous help from w30wcf I was able to get the little rifle shooting very well. I plan on using the 92/.32 this winter for small game hunting. Was wondering if anyone here has had any hunting experience with this little cartridge rifle combo. If memory serves ,may be 6pt sitka did. Here is a pic. of my little Marlin 1892 .32,,,,,DT

[Dusty Texian]

The Ideal tong tool in .32 S&W was not designed to reload the .32LC heeled bullet , but it works just fine for me. I turned a new de-capping pin for the tool and LC. case, so now I can de-cap neck-size the brass an re-prime and seat the heeled bullet all with this tool. I do not speed shoot this or any round for that matter and I enjoy relaxing around my bench and reloading like the old days. A slower pace for me is just fine.

[Dusty Texian]

Here are .32 LC on the left and .22LR for comparison. The .32 LC. is loaded with the 299-153 90gr. bullet. It drops small game on the spot!

[rjohns94]

Beautiful

[Paladin]

Great set, up thanks for educating me about a great caliber.

[Alphawolf45]

I have a Marlin 1892 in .22 ..Geeze all these years I thought the 1892 version in .32 was a rimfire.. Centerfire would be pretty decent little rifle.

[Sixgun]

Dusty,
I will agree...they are nice woods loafing guns. A few years back I was at a 10 cent gunshow and a guy had a like new 1892 there...but it was in 32 rimfire. It was a steal at something like 600.

It takes a lot to get those heel bullet guns shooting and I see you have done well. How does it shoot?

What I will disagree with you and the finest woods loafing gun is the Remington Model 25 in 32-20 or 25-20.-----6

[ollogger]

Very nice post all the way around & a fine gun to boot, know what you mean when hand loading
with the old tools, it just seems to take ya back in time



ollogger

[plowboy 45]

Very nice
You jus got all the cool stuff

[JerryB]

Isn't the 1892 made to convert rimfire to centerfire?

[6pt-sika]

Yup I had two of those rifles . The first one I got was marked Model 92 , got it from Max France in New York state . The second one was a model 1892 and I got it off Gunbroker from a fellow in South Carolina .

Got dies from CH-4D , a 90 grain heel mold from a used mold dealer in Brattleboro VT who's name evades me at the moment . And I lucked up on 200 pieces of BRAND NEW R/P brass at a gunshop off I-81 right below the NY border in PA .

Sold both rifles to the same guy a couple years back at the Baltimore Gunshow . Moodyholler got the mold , brass and dies .

Only time I ever made it to John Kort's Silver Jubilee I carried that little Model 92 along and he seemed to have fun with it tinking the 200 meter chickens . It wouldn't knock them over but you knew pretty much anytime you hit them !

I killed a couple squills with that thing just so I could say I had . I think when I chronographed that rifle with 2.5 grains of Unique and that 90 grain cast bullet it was about 925 FPS 9 feet from the muzzle .

[6pt-sika]

Isn't the 1892 made to convert rimfire to centerfire?

Yes when they were sold knew the gun came with two firing pins . One for rim and the other for centerfire . There's also a guy in the Pacific NW that will sell you either one . But they wouldn't be that hard to make from some scrap steel . The ones you get from the guy in the NW need to be fitted as well . Think it took me about 20 minutes with a file to fit one .

[Hawkeye2]

Yes it was and it actually came with the other firing pin in a parer envelope stapled around the lever.

[6pt-sika]

I notice in your pics you haven't put any lube on the bullets .

I usually tumble lubed all mine before I loaded them in the cases . Later I got so I would just smear it around the lube grooves with my finger .

[6pt-sika]

I would suspect more then a few deer were put to sleep with these little rifles . I suppose if you were within 35 yards and shot a deer in the temple it oughtta bet the job done . Lord knows more then a trainload have been killed with the 22LR .

[Dusty Texian]

Hey Sixgun, I have found the little .32 will shoot very good with many different loads , smokeless and bp. It really likes 5.5gr.of #2400 under that 90 gr. bullet. With that load it will cut 10 shot ragged holes at 25yd. And do golf ball size groups at 50yd. I have installed a tang peep on it since the pic. and think only my eyesight keeps the rifle/load combo from doing better. I picked up the Marlin a few yrs back from a fellow in NJ ,if I remember right he said he had it re blued back in the 1960s and it had resided in his safe since then. The re blue kills the collector value ,but it is still a very tight and good rifle as a shooter. It did come with the extra Rim-fire firing pin in the paper envelope. That is the Cool part about these little 1892s and 92s they can handle Rim fire( short) and( long) and( Extra long) as a single shot. Or they will shoot (32 LC) and( Short Colt) with the CF pin. And no tools required to change the firing pins out. I have been lubing the bullets after loading ,I prefer a Tallow/WAX lube. There is no doubt in my mind that the .32 LC would put about anything to sleep with a head shot @ 35yd. I have shot a few Grey fox chest hit at 35 to 45 yd, and they just flipped over DRT. The 90 gr. bullet #2400 load shot @ 45 yd. into our steel ringer will expand into 65 cal. or there about. I am leaving for a Desert Mule deer hunt in the morning along the Tex/Mex border. Would be a good time to try it out on Javellina , but already have more guns packed than I will use. ,,,,DT

[Sixgun]

DT,
You know as well as I know that when it shoots that good......it's a keeper!

Over the years I have let many of those slip through my hands, never wanting to bother with rimfire or heel bullets. Oh well, live and learn. That's my loss.----6

[MacEntyre]

I really, really like that Marlin 92 32LC!

[w30wcf]

Interestingly, according to early Marlin catalogs, their selling point was that for the same cost, one could shoot two .32 LC cartridges vs. one .32-20.......









w30wcf

[otteray]

I sometimes load a sized 0 buckshot to .310 and then dip in some liquid alox lube. Cheap plinking fun!
Bernie at Old West Bullet Moulds in Colorado made me a 90 gr heel base mould that I also like to use.

[plowboy 45]

Got this feelin, I'm fixin to start lookin for one of these

[hondo1892]

That's one cool little rifle. I never knew that they could shoot 32 Colt rounds. I just thought they fired rim fire ammo only.

[Ysabel Kid]

That simply looks like a ton of fun!

[6pt-sika]

Got this feelin, I'm fixin to start lookin for one of these

You can get it in a Marlin model 1891 , 1892 or 92 .

[plowboy 45]

Got this feelin, I'm fixin to start lookin for one of these

You can get it in a Marlin model 1891 , 1892 or 92 .

Thanks, good to know

[w30wcf]

Unfortunately, .32 LC ammunition has not been produced since the 1970's. The .32 S&W is a cartridge that is larger in diameter since it uses a standard bullet whereas the .32 LC uses a heeled type bullet.

There were 2 different LC cartridges.......(in addition to the shot cartridge)
case length: .78" - externally lubed bullet
case length: .91" - internally lubed hollow base bullet




Accurate Molds offers bullets for each case length



w30wcf

[Bill in Oregon]

Dusty, amigo, you have immaculate taste!

[w30wcf]

Dusty, amigo, you have immaculate taste!

+1

w30wcf

[w30wcf]

A couple of Marlins used in a steel chicken plinkfest not too long ago.

left - Marlin 39A .22 circa 1948
right - Marlin 1892 .32 circa 1906

What fun!