Win / Marlin .32 Special

ronecol

ronecol

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Orillia, Ontario
Between here and GP there are several .32 Special lever rifles for sale with very few being sold. Conversely comparatively speaking relatively few in 30-30 are available especially pre-64s.

I suspect that both Winchester and Marlin discontinuing rifles in this caliber and the absence of .32 Special ammo is causing these rifles to go out of favor. Am I wrong?
 
The .32 Special is one of the best eastern brush deer rifle calibre offerings. Unfortunately the old .30WCF does as well and ammo is easier to find. IF you have a .32 Special a reasonably priced and avaialble supply of ammo will have to be reloaded. Dies, bullets can be had often for less than a box of factory offerings. I prefer the old .32 over the .30-30 but mostly my preference is nostalgia driven. In my 24" Winchester Model 64 the .32 can be made with handloading to outperform the .30-30 with ease. BUT we are still talking 170 grain bullets at moderate speed. I agree that the lack of ammo and the few Winchester and Marlin carbines out there is causing the .32 to go out of favour but that has been happening since the late 1960's.
Darryl
 
I would say you're on the money, except they're not causing these rifles to go out of favor now, they've already been out of favor for some time.

I would think once bolt actions became the norm over lever actions there just wasn't enough market share to support two cartridges that do virtually the same thing, and the 30-30 was the more popular of the two and thus the one that survived the cull. That's speculative though.
 
Fair point. :)

I priced out 38-55 the other day. Factory Winchester basic ammo is $115 for 20 cartridges. Having learned that, I guess I kinda assumed everyone shooting these old numbers reloads. Or is either an international assassin / coke dealer. Otherwise, who could afford it?
 
Plus the modern 38/55 loads I have seen have .375 diameter bullets and cause more than a few to suspect their vintage 38/55 is shot out with large groups and even keyhole bullets. .379 to .381 bullets usually group well in the old guns.
 
Discontinued???

ronecol said:
Between here and GP there are several .32 Special lever rifles for sale with very few being sold. Conversely comparatively speaking relatively few in 30-30 are available especially pre-64s.

I suspect that both Winchester and Marlin discontinuing rifles in this caliber and the absence of .32 Special ammo is causing these rifles to go out of favor. Am I wrong?
Click to expand...

I don't think the 32Spl is quite dead yet. A quick look on Winchesters site shows 3 models of 32Spl in production.


I reload for my Marlin 336RC 32Spl. Dies where available 2 years ago when I bought rifle and I've slowly accumulated brass and projectiles since.
It's not high up on my plinking list, so less than 50 rounds thru it since I bought it. My eyes would like a rear Lyman 66 receiver peep site for this rifle.

YALgHmal.jpg

Ser# U##### Aug 1960 - Aug 1961 production, Marlin 336RC 32WinSpl.
 
I scored 7 full boxes of factory 32WS a couple of days ago. The catch was that I had to buy 5 Model 94’s. One of the rifles was a nice 1960 94 in 32WS.
 
Mike Webb said:
Plus the modern 38/55 loads I have seen have .375 diameter bullets and cause more than a few to suspect their vintage 38/55 is shot out with large groups and even keyhole bullets. .379 to .381 bullets usually group well in the old guns.
Click to expand...

Both the 38-55's I have had (a Win 94 and a savage 99) preferred 377 diameter bullets, which winchester and Barnes both used to sell. - dan
 
madtrapper143 said:
The .32 Special is one of the best eastern brush deer rifle calibre offerings. Unfortunately the old .30WCF does as well and ammo is easier to find. IF you have a .32 Special a reasonably priced and avaialble supply of ammo will have to be reloaded. Dies, bullets can be had often for less than a box of factory offerings. I prefer the old .32 over the .30-30 but mostly my preference is nostalgia driven. In my 24" Winchester Model 64 the .32 can be made with handloading to outperform the .30-30 with ease. BUT we are still talking 170 grain bullets at moderate speed. I agree that the lack of ammo and the few Winchester and Marlin carbines out there is causing the .32 to go out of favour but that has been happening since the late 1960's.
Darryl
Click to expand...

I am with you and my Win. 64 in .32 W Sp. Shot an 8 pt. whitail last year with it ,,,,,, All Good.
 
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