Author Topic: .32-20 rifle loads?  (Read 594 times)

Offline Dave Fox

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.32-20 rifle loads?
« on: January 03, 2023, 03:53:16 PM »
   Have fallen, as only a geriatric can, for the .32-20 cartridge and the new-to-me first generation Bisley I've been shooting it from. Am about to acquire an M.1892 Winchester in the same caliber. Am trying to use up the powders I have on the shelf, including Bullseye (currently 3.1 grains of Bullseye under a 115 grain bullet out of the revolver). Also have some W231, 2400, Trail Boss, 777, etc. Anyone have a pet rifle/revolver load using any of these powders for plinking?

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Re: .32-20 rifle loads?
« Reply #1 on: January 03, 2023, 06:06:55 PM »
I have loaded a lot of 115gr bullets with 2.7gr of Trailboss.  A lesser number with 3.2gr of 231, which is Hodgdon's minimum.  I load both of those with dippers since the Lee auto-disk powder measure isn't very consistent with very small charges. I loaded more Goex FFFg than smokeless but you didn't ask about that.  These were shot in a 1st Gen Colt, a '92 carbine, and an Uberti '73.  They were all for CAS so I really can't tell you just how accurate they were, but certainly "good enough"  :)

Offline Isom

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Re: .32-20 rifle loads?
« Reply #2 on: January 04, 2023, 06:30:27 PM »
My standard  load is 3.0 gr of Unique with a 115 gr lead bullet. If you have different headstamp cases, be sure to measure them. Had about 500 empty cases before I started reloading them. They came from years of " let me have 1-2 boxes of 32-20's". From 1996 to approx. 2006. No special brand long as they were 32-20's. Started to reload them in 2006, grabbed a good handful of old brass and a handfull of new Starline and loaded them up. Went to the range, out of 3 mags full had 2-3 with bullets pushed back in and locked up action. Short story,,, 2-3 range sessions,, 2-3 months. Found out that out of the 5-6 different headstamp cases, each had a different measurement, Starline was the shortest. Trimmed them all down to Starline, life is good. "MEASURE" CASE O.A.L.
YMMV,
Isom

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Re: .32-20 rifle loads?
« Reply #3 on: Today at 08:39:45 PM »

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Re: .32-20 rifle loads?
« Reply #3 on: January 04, 2023, 06:53:47 PM »
All of my 32-20 brass is either Starline or R-P.  As Isom mentioned, the Starline is the shortest.  Then I bought  a bunch of new R-P brass from Pettifogger.  My procedure now is to use that new brass for smokeless only, and use the older mixture of both brands for BP only.  The dies are set to the longer R-P brass so the smokeless ammo crimps into the crimp groove.  When loading BP, the bullet cannot collapse into the case because it is full of powder, so it is okay that the crimp is somewhat below the crimp groove on the Starlines (I use a Lee Factory Crimp Die).

3.0gr of Unique seems low, but it sounds like that works fine for Isom.  I used 5.0gr of Unique with the 115gr bullet which I got from the old Laser-Cast manual.  I didn't mention that one because the OP didn't have that powder.

 

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