32-20 WCF

[AndyUSMC1107]

Morning Gun Guys & Gals. I’m still learning the in’s/out’s of posting. The preceding pic is of my just acquired 1905 HE (3rd-4th Model) 6” 32-20 WCF revolver. Wondering if any of you still actively shoot this venerable old cartridge?

 

[Walkalong]

I also have a 1905 in .32-20 and enjoy shooting it.

 

[Barbaroja]

Beautiful gun. I’ve recently taken an interest in the the round, I’m considering it for a small game hunting cartridge.

 

[GBExpat]

Welcome to THR, AndyUSMC1107!

That is one beautiful revolver that you have there!

I have 2 5" Colt Police Positive Specials, 2 6" S&W Model 1905 Hand Ejectors (one/ea 3rd & 4th change), 1 5" Colt Army Special, 1 5" Colt Official Police and 1 Marlin 1927-S Pump Action Rifle ... all chambered in .32-20. Sorry, you asked.

Using Starline brass I load my "standard everything" cartridges with 100gr or 115gr lead over Trailboss and rifle-only 85gr or 100gr XTPs over IMR-4227.

Yeah ... I got a little bit hooked on .32-20 a few years ago.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

The 32-20 is the backbone of my collection of Colt revolvers and Winchester rifles. It's a fun cartridge to reload and shoot.

 

[jag22]

Yep, got one of those along with Colt SAA, Colt Army specials (3), Win 1892 (2), and Rem 25, a wonderful little
pump action, and a Win 1873. I do miss the 100 grain plated bullet that Ranier made. Got some 100 grn. lead
from Rim Rock but haven’t tried them yet due to primer shortage.

 

[Old Sandman 71]

Yes!
In the same model of 1905 as you, but a little more worn, I also have a Colt Army Special, and a Winchester ‘73 in .32 WCF.
I always been enamored with the little cartridge, and am always on the lookout for more!

 

[cfullgraf]

I have an S&W 32 Hand Ejector chambered in 32-20 from the early 1920's and a Winchester 1873 chambered in 32-20 from the early 1890's. I get them out once in a while and plink away with them. They are fun to shoot.

Unfortunately, value wise, both have been refinished before they entered my life. Therefore, I do not mind shooting them. They do look nice though.

They got me interested in 32 caliber revolvers and lever action rifles.

Edit...
Here's my 32 Hand Ejector

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

View attachment 993949
Morning Gun Guys & Gals. I’m still learning the in’s/out’s of posting. The preceding pic is of my just acquired 1905 HE (3rd-4th Model) 6” 32-20 WCF revolver. Wondering if any of you still actively shoot this venerable old cartridge?

Absolutely. I have a Smith 4th Change Square Butt and a Colt's Official Police, both in .32-20. I had an 1905 2nd Change Round Butt but the bore was .002" larger than either the Colt or SB and loading special over-sized cast for one revolver got to be inconvenient so I sold it to another shooter who loaded .315" .32-20 for his Marlin rifle. I call it a win-win. If I get time this weekend - we're rolling out some upgrades tomorrow night so it's not going to be a fun time - I will take some horrible pictures and post them.

Great revolvers to have around. The Colt's is laser-beam accurate. Which is a shame since my eyes are barely bean-bag accurate.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Yup, I have three firearms chambered for 32 WCF (32-20). At the top of the first two photos is a Colt Police Positive Special that shipped in 1926, and at the bottom is a Smith & Wesson 32-20 Hand Ejector 4th Change that shipped in 1916. Both have six inch barrels.








In this photo they are pictured with a Winchester Model 1892, also chambered for 32 WCF (32 Winchester Center Fire as Winchester called it) that shipped in 1911. A very nice piece, it has a somewhat unusual octagonal barrel.






Although I have everything necessary to reload 32-20; dies, brass, primers, and bullets, I have not actually gotten around to loading any yet. I have been able to find a bunch of factory 32-20 ammo over the years and am still making my way through that stuff.

 

[BobWright]

I have very little experience with the .32-20 cartridge, if any. Can't recall even firing one. But I've always sort of thought a 7 1/2" barreled Colt New Frontier, or a 7 1/2" medium framed Ruger Blackhawk, in that caliber would be about the ultimate small game/varmint combination of revolvers. Even, maybe, a Colt Officers Model Mastch.

Bob Wright

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I have very little experience with the .32-20 cartridge, if any. Can't recall even firing one. But I've always sort of thought a 7 1/2" barreled Colt New Frontier, or a 7 1/2" medium framed Ruger Blackhawk, in that caliber would be about the ultimate small game/varmint combination of revolvers. Even, maybe, a Colt Officers Model Mastch.

Bob Wright

I'm sorry to have to be the one to break the news to you but, Colt never made the OMM in .32-20. It was made from 1953 to 1970 chambered in .22S/L/LR and .38 Special (there was an estimated run of 800 chambered in .22WMRF). The .32-20 was talked about mostly as a small game/varmint/vermin hunting round and never really seemed to have caught on with competitive target shooters; especially not like the .38Spl, .32 S&W Long and .22LR did. Too bad they never made the Officer's Model Match in .32 Long, either.

 

[AndyUSMC1107]

Howdy

Yup, I have three firearms chambered for 32 WCF (32-20). At the top of the first two photos is a Colt Police Positive Special that shipped in 1926, and at the bottom is a Smith & Wesson 32-20 Hand Ejector 4th Change that shipped in 1916. Both have six inch barrels.

View attachment 994144

View attachment 994145




In this photo they are pictured with a Winchester Model 1892, also chambered for 32 WCF (32 Winchester Center Fire as Winchester called it) that shipped in 1911. A very nice piece, it has a somewhat unusual octagonal barrel.

View attachment 994146




Although I have everything necessary to reload 32-20; dies, brass, primers, and bullets, I have not actually gotten around to loading any yet. I have been able to find a bunch of factory 32-20 ammo over the years and am still making my way through that stuff.

All VERY NICE bits of history! I also have a Savage Model 23C and a Spanish Eibar 5” near S&W clone that I picked up (un-working) for 50 bucks. GunPartsCorp had the necessary part to get it functioning. What with this COVID-driven stampede on cartridges, especially those always hard to find flavors, I’ll have to break out my reloading stuff and blend some myself.

I’ve always been a big fan of dual purpose cartridges since I graduated from cap guns.

I built a Custom Remington XP-100 in.243 to go with my Ruger 77 International.

Have a Taylor’s SAA IN 357 Mag to go with my Browning 92 (that I just Birthday-ed to my Son [I figured it better to pass some of my firearms off to him to enjoy while I’m still alive]).

I’m looking to get a 92 in 44 Special to go with that flavor w/ my 44 Special wheel gun.

I’m enjoying THEHIGHROAD forum posts to off-set all the JUNK MAIL I get on a daily basis!

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

All VERY NICE bits of history! I also have a Savage Model 23C and a Spanish Eibar 5” near S&W clone that I picked up (un-working) for 50 bucks. GunPartsCorp had the necessary part to get it functioning. What with this COVID-driven stampede on cartridges, especially those always hard to find flavors, I’ll have to break out my reloading stuff and blend some myself.

I’ve always been a big fan of dual purpose cartridges since I graduated from cap guns.

I built a Custom Remington XP-100 in.243 to go with my Ruger 77 International.

Have a Taylor’s SAA IN 357 Mag to go with my Browning 92 (that I just Birthday-ed to my Son [I figured it better to pass some of my firearms off to him to enjoy while I’m still alive]).

I’m looking to get a 92 in 44 Special to go with that flavor w/ my 44 Special wheel gun.

I’m enjoying THEHIGHROAD forum posts to off-set all the JUNK MAIL I get on a daily basis!

While you're at it, .45 Colt revolvers and lever rifles are a natural combo. I used to think the same about .44-40WCF but found out the hard way revolver loads and rifle loads have to be different. Otherwise, you're using too much bullet in a revolver or too little bullet in a rifle. I never found that good enough for both load.

 

[AndyUSMC1107]

While you're at it, .45 Colt revolvers and lever rifles are a natural combo. I used to think the same about .44-40WCF but found out the hard way revolver loads and rifle loads have to be different. Otherwise, you're using too much bullet in a revolver or too little bullet in a rifle. I never found that good enough for both load.

GeoDudeFlorida, I have an older Uberti 1860 Army 45 LC conversion & would love to get a lever action Carbine to mate with it, tho loads would have to be SO anemic to work in both revolver/rifle.

 

[AndyUSMC1107]

GeoDudeFlorida, I have an older Uberti 1860 Army 45 LC conversion & would love to get a lever action Carbine to mate with it, tho loads would have to be SO anemic to work in both revolver/rifle.

Perhaps, I should tap into the 6# of Trail Boss I have on hand...

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

I used to think the same about .44-40WCF but found out the hard way revolver loads and rifle loads have to be different. Otherwise, you're using too much bullet in a revolver or too little bullet in a rifle. I never found that good enough for both load.

I have never found that to be true. I use the same 44-40 load, with a 200 grain bullet and about 35 grains of FFg in both revolvers and rifles. 200 grains is not too much for a revolver, I load my 45 Colts with a 250 grain bullet and the same amount of FFg. Regarding too little bullet in a rifle, 200 grains was good enough in 1873, it is still good enough for me.

Regarding rifles chambered for 45 Colt, I don't have any. Rifles were never chambered for 45 Colt until very recently, all my lever guns are either antiques, or replicas of the originals, and none of them are chambered for 45 Colt. I did win a 45 Colt Rossi replica 1892 in a raffle a bunch of years ago. I never fired it, I sold it and used the money as a down payment on my 44-40 Henry.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Gorgeous S&W, Andy, and welcome to the forum!

My .32-20 was horribly externally pitted when I got it, but the bore and guts are clean.

For $50, it wasn't a bad deal, and cleaned up ok.

I've probably laid in a lifetime supply of ammo for it at this point- cost ALOT more than the gun, thats for sure!

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I have never found that to be true. I use the same 44-40 load, with a 200 grain bullet and about 35 grains of FFg in both revolvers and rifles. 200 grains is not too much for a revolver, I load my 45 Colts with a 250 grain bullet and the same amount of FFg. Regarding too little bullet in a rifle, 200 grains was good enough in 1873, it is still good enough for me.

Regarding rifles chambered for 45 Colt, I don't have any. Rifles were never chambered for 45 Colt until very recently, all my lever guns are either antiques, or replicas of the originals, and none of them are chambered for 45 Colt. I did win a 45 Colt Rossi replica 1892 in a raffle a bunch of years ago. I never fired it, I sold it and used the money as a down payment on my 44-40 Henry.

I only ever loaded smokeless in .40-40. Maybe that was my mistake?

I too always use/used a 200gr. cast lead flat nose (NEVER swaged - too soft) for .44-40. I still have about 1000 WW 200 grain bullets with hard wax lube. My rifle load was 22gr. of IMR 4227 - which was too much for my Spaghetti Colt copy - or a slightly softer 17.5gr. load of 2400 powder - also a might stiff for the 1873 copy. My best revolver load is 7.0gr. of Unique - which is kind of slow and short range in a Marlin 94 b ut does just dandy in the short single-action barrel. Today my lone .44-40 is an Uberti/Remington 1890 copy and it does fine with a soft load of 5.0gr. 700X up through a stiff load of Unique. I haven't tried it with black powder, yet. Probably won't. It does fine with 7.0gr. of Unique.

BTW: Never said there wasn't such a thing as an ideal revolver/carbine load. Just that I hadn't found one. And, by "too much bullet," I was referring to pressure and muzzle blast, not bullet weight. ATB.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Gorgeous S&W, Andy, and welcome to the forum!

My .32-20 was horribly externally pitted when I got it, but the bore and guts are clean.
View attachment 994157
For $50, it wasn't a bad deal, and cleaned up ok.

I've probably laid in a lifetime supply of ammo for it at this point- cost ALOT more than the gun, thats for sure!

For $50 I think you ought to be arrested for theft.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

For $50 I think you ought to be arrested for theft.

It was so ugly, the guy I bought it from thought he ripped me off.

Honestly, when I hand it to friends for the first time, they still kinda look at me like, "You're sure this thing is safe to shoot, right?" Lol.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Today my lone .44-40 is an Uberti/Remington 1890 copy and it does fine with a soft load of 5.0gr. 700X up through a stiff load of Unique. I haven't tried it with black powder, yet. Probably won't. It does fine with 7.0gr. of Unique.

I have not loaded 44-40 with Smokeless for a long time. When I did, I used 7.5 grains of Unique under a 200 grain hard cast bullet. Did not own any revolvers chambered for 44-40 at that time, but in an original Winchester 1892 with a 24" barrel it was a pussycat load. Almost no recoil at all.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

For .32-20 I like 2400 powder, 9.5gr., under a 115gr. WW cast bullet, around BHN 10 or 11, at that load no gas check is necessary. That's a revolver load. Not sure how it would do in a carbine or rifle. Never tried BP with the .32-20, either. All of my .32's have been proofed for smokeless so no need going the smoke route.

 

[Cowhide Cliff]

OH YES! I shoot that cartridge very regularly, in fact probably more than any other. Mostly black powder.

 

[jag22]

Maybe Bob Wright is thinking of the Official Police. Didn't the Army Special kind of morph into the Official Police. There were several models that all sounded about the same. The OP was made in 32-20.