I did it again

[MachIVshooter]

This time with a nice little Marlin 1892.

Originally a convertible .32 rimfire/.32 colt gun, I wasn't interested in adding another cartridge to the stable or messing with heeled bullets, and the chamber was kinda rough anyway, so I rechambered it to .32 S&W Long. While the barrel was off, of course I went ahead and internally threaded it for one of my adapters.

.32 S&W (short or long) are such a kick in the pants out of suppressed rifles! I have a little Stevens favorite I also converted from .32 smooth bore rimfire to .32 S&W long, so this is not the first, but I really have a thing for antique Marlins, and it was a good price on the rifle.

Can is my 1.125x6" .32 cal Cheetah model, meant for .32 ACP pistols. Very quiet on the rifles!

 

[Walkalong]

That's awesome

 

[troy fairweather]

Very cool. I'd like to see you build one internally suppressed with a octagon barrel shroud. That would be cool

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Very cool plinker and neat conversion!

Whats goin on with the end of the magazine? Is it actually cracked or supposed to be like that? Never seen one fail there.....

 

[horsemen61]

Love it nice work!

 

[MachIVshooter]

Whats goin on with the end of the magazine? Is it actually cracked or supposed to be like that? Never seen one fail there.....

That's the latch. The outer tube slides forward, exposing the loading port.

 

[troy fairweather]

Very cool plinker and neat conversion!

Whats goin on with the end of the magazine? Is it actually cracked or supposed to be like that? Never seen one fail there.....

That's how they are, not a twist lock like normal tubes.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

Bravo -- you are my kind of weirdo! Now I want one.

Frankly, with a barrel that long you can almost omit the can. I've shot some light .32 H&R HBWC loads through chamber converters in old milsurp barrels, the longest so far being a 31" Schmidt-Rubin 1889 -- indoors it sounds about the same as a .22 CB Cap. I kept checking the bore between shots to make sure the bullets made it out of the muzzle.

 

[MachIVshooter]

Frankly, with a barrel that long you can almost omit the can.

Yeah, but the can brings it down to the level of a pump up air rifle!

 

[Nature Boy]

Nice work, as always

 

[Dale Alan]

Great work , that is quite a job well done . I think it blends well also , long and slim is a cool look .

 

[Duster340]

Really neat. Love unique stuff like this!

 

[doubleh]

Nice work and I enjoy seeing examples of nice work even if isn't my cup of tea. Enjoy.

 

[chicharrones]

This time with a nice little Marlin 1892.

Originally a convertible .32 rimfire/.32 colt gun, I wasn't interested in adding another cartridge to the stable or messing with heeled bullets, and the chamber was kinda rough anyway, so I rechambered it to .32 S&W Long. While the barrel was off, of course I went ahead and internally threaded it for one of my adapters.

.32 S&W (short or long) are such a kick in the pants out of suppressed rifles! I have a little Stevens favorite I also converted from .32 smooth bore rimfire to .32 S&W long, so this is not the first, but I really have a thing for antique Marlins, and it was a good price on the rifle.

Can is my 1.125x6" .32 cal Cheetah model, meant for .32 ACP pistols. Very quiet on the rifles!

I sure would like to try to hear it fire.

 

[MachIVshooter]

I forgot to mention, there is a caveat about converting the 1892 to .32 S&W long.

It's definitely the best option if you actually want to shoot one of these rifles. .32 Long colt brass is available, but insanely expensive, and the heeled bullets as best I can tell are a cast it yourself proposition. .32 S&W long is a current production item, Starline brass is inexpensive as are bullets.

But you have to watch the bullet profile with the longer .32 S&W. All of my handloads feed and chamber fine, but it cannot eject an unfired round, and some of the factory ammo will not clear the receiver on the elevator. So a .32 S&W long converted 1892 is really handloader territory (factory ammo is expensive anyway), and if you get a dud or need to get a live round out of the chamber, you have to pop the side plate. Easy to do with the design, just that little thumb screw on the passenger side, then the bolt and elevator come right out, but something to be aware of.

Because of the ammo/usability situation, the .32 cal 1892s do often sell for a bit less than the 1890/91/93/94/97 or .22 cal 1892s (we won't talk about original 1895 prices......). A lot of them also seem to be in really good shape because they haven't been used much since before WWII with the ammo becoming obsolete. I got this ~1908 model in it's rather high original condition for only $725, and they're really fun little guns, same size as the 39A.

 

[chicharrones]

Interesting. So, what keeps you from wanting to cut the chamber a bit longer to accommodate unfired cartridge extraction?

 

[Speedo66]

Interesting. So, what keeps you from wanting to cut the chamber a bit longer to accommodate unfired cartridge extraction?

Would you have to cut the receiver to open up the ejection port?

 

[chicharrones]

Would you have to cut the receiver to open up the ejection port?

Interesting. If that's the situation, I wouldn't modify it at all.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

All of my handloads feed and chamber fine, but it cannot eject an unfired round, and some of the factory ammo will not clear the receiver on the elevator.

You've probably already considered this, but have you tried feeding shorter .32 S&W cartridges through the magazine post-conversion? The .32 RF's OAL (.948") comes fairly close to the .32 S&W's (.92).

.32 ACP (OAL .984") might also work (handloaded with lead bullets), provided the Marlin's extractor can grab its smaller semi-rim. FWIW, I have a Remington 1858 Pocket with a cartridge conversion cylinder I reamed to also accept .32 ACP brass. I did this because I have a lot of fired .32 brass on hand from my 1903 Colt Pocket Hammerless, and plenty of .312" lead bullets



A third possibility is .32 Long with a fully-seated HBWC (also .92" OAL). Granted, that might induce a whole different set of feeding issues ...

 

[MachIVshooter]

Would you have to cut the receiver to open up the ejection port?

It's the barrel they catch on. Probably could safely clearance it, but I don't chamber rounds in rifles like this one unless I'm going to fire them, so........

I'm OK with some fickleness/idiosyncrasies on range toys & plinkers. It would be more of an issue if removing a loaded round required disassembly with tools, but it's really easy with the side plate that's designed to be removed without tools. You can extract the round, pop the plate, and just pull the bolt out like you would to change the firing pin as they were designed to have done. The elevator comes right out, too, so an oops with a too-long OAL cartridge that hangs up is also easily dealt with.

Anyway, if I want to go walking around hunting varmints or fur bearers with an antique Marlin, I'll just grab the 1894 .25-20 or 1889 .32-20. They're also suppressed, and just as quiet with subsonic cast loads

You've probably already considered this, but have you tried feeding shorter .32 S&W cartridges through the magazine post-conversion? The .32 RF's OAL (.948") comes fairly close to the .32 S&W's (.92).

.32 ACP (OAL .984") might also work (handloaded with lead bullets), provided the Marlin's extractor can grab its smaller semi-rim. FWIW, I have a Remington 1858 Pocket with a cartridge conversion cylinder I reamed to also accept .32 ACP brass. I did this because I have a lot of fired .32 brass on hand from my 1903 Colt Pocket Hammerless, and plenty of .312" lead bullets

View attachment 1018224 View attachment 1018225

A third possibility is .32 Long with a fully-seated HBWC (also .92" OAL). Granted, that might induce a whole different set of feeding issues ...

The shorts feed, fire and extract fine, ejection with the short case is hit and miss. Sometimes they have to be shaken out. It holds a lot of shorts, though!

I might try seating below the last band on the LRNFPs I use the most in .32 S&W Long. If they'll stay put, which they should with so little recoil, that would make them short enough. The powder charges are so small I'm not worried about pressure from encroachment.