Modern .32-20

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Weldmeister

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Hello folks, and thank you for letting me join here.

To get to the point: I want a Modern .32-20 Smith and Wesson Revolver. I have finally accumulated what I think would be the necessary parts.. I have a Model 15 .38 Special, a 6" Model 48 barrel and a Model 17 cylinder and crane. I have been collecting these parts for the last 5 years or so, and now it is time to make this thing come together.. But: No one seems to be in the rebore/re-rifle business anymore, at least for handgun barrels. Redman's told me they aren't interested in this kind of work, and from chasing links on this page, everyone I have found who did this kind of work is either very ill or dead. I don't know if this barrel could be re lined, but from what I have read the liners' outside diameter looks too big to work. Any thoughts would be appreciated. This is kind of my bucket list gun, and I hope it can be realized. Thanks for any input or suggestions!
 
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Sorry, but I have to ask. Why do you want to do that? That’s what Gunbroker is for.
Seriously though, you do know 32-20 is not a straight wall case? The cylinders have steps in them. How are you going handle that?
 
John Taylor@taylormachine does relines and uses TJ's barrel liners which are probably the best.Has a website and does excellent work. Origional 32-20 had about a 1x20 twist. TJ's lines has one or two that are slightly faster. Google his website. Does excellent work. Not up on pressures for a modern 32-20 so he'd be the one to ask. Frank
 
A liner in a 32 is a bit thin once you do the forcing cone. Better method is to turn a piece of .312 barrel to .540 and then thread enough of it at 36 to the inch to get your barrel to cylinder gap. Then after cutting the barrel extension off the 14 barrel drill and ream it to just slip fit and silver solder it on the turned down barrel.

Or buy a 16-4 and fit a K22 cylinder reamed to 32-20 to it.

I am going another way. I have a 16-4. So going to ream a K-22 cylinder to 327 Federal. Then, having an older 32-20, make a another K22 cylinder into a 32 long cylinder for it and mill it for adjustable sights.


The problem with 32 gun conversions is that factory barrels are extremely hard to find and as you have found guys who will rebore a barrel are rarer.
 
I too have been on a hunt for a modern 32-20 as well.

I grew up in Texas in the 60's and started my shooting with my step-father's Colt first generation SAA in 32-20. I shot that gun for years as my main shooter and loved it. College came and went, as have many years behind me. I somehow lost the sixgun forever when he sold it to a friend. I offered the friend twice what he paid claiming it as a family heirloom, but he wouldn't even return my calls. So much for family friends, who aren't.

I handloaded for the 32-20 and we never made really stout, hot loads because of the fear of shooting them through the old Colt. Sounds like the OP may be thinking the same thing asking for a "modern" version.

Karma has a way of coming around and I used up some of my built-up good stuff a couple of months ago. A friend out in Bullhead City, AZ sold me his Ruger Buckeye Convertible for more than a fair price. The Buckeye is a tank in Victoria's Secret blue velvet. It may be the strongest 32-20 ever made.

I've been shooting hot loads and it is swallowing them whole. I climbed the ladder on 4227 and 118gr pills and now like my average around 1330fps. It's flat shooting and hits steel surprisingly hard at 100 yards.

The BONUS is that it also comes with a H&R magnum cylinder as well.

I don't think you could build this sixgun for three times the price.


Prescut
I also picked up the T/C Contender barrel in this caliber called the 30-20.
 
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Not a smith, but probably the least expensive option. Ruger GP100 .327 chambers rebored to 32-20, gun could be a convertible if Ruger would sell you another cylinder. The GP cylinder is long enough for the 32-20 round.
 
StrawHat said:
Check with Andy Horvath. He has made a good living working on S&W revolvers.

Kevin
Click to expand...

^^^ This ^^^

I had Andy do my Project 616 a few years ago, while Jim Dubell was still working... he rebored/rerifled the Model 617 barrel I used while Andy did everything else. I would try to find an original 32 barrel or rebore a 22 barrel rather than relining if I possibly could. Andy flat refused to talk to me about relining for 327 FM, but that is a hotter round. :eek:

I'm not sure why jag22 asked about the stepped chamber... S&W was building 32-20 revolvers on the old M&P platform from about the turn of the last century, so it shouldn't be a problem. :)

One of the dumbest things I ever did in my life was sell my Ruger Buckeye Special 32 combo gun. If I still had that one, I could have saved a BUNCH of money on later purchases, and that's a fact! I've got the short production Blackhawk 8-shooter in 327, but that blued 32 combo was a dream... why oh why was I dumb enough to let it go? :(

Good luck on your project Weldmeister, and by all means, keep us up to date with your progress. If you would like to discuss any of it off forum, please feel free to drop me a PM. BTW, I've though that it would be neat to have a second cylinder mechanism built for Project 616 in 32-20, and even went to far as to buy another 22 cylinder, but I found a Uberti copy SAA in the caliber and that took some of the itch away. :cool:

Regards,
Froggie
 
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While an interesting project, I'm left scratching my head.

There are decent .32-20 revolvers with heat treated cylinders up on Gunbroker pretty much all the time.

The modern .32-20 is the .32 H&R Magnum or better yet the .327. sure, there's not scads of revolvers in either caliber, particularly S&Ws, but they are out there.

I do appreciate the "one of a kind" factor in this thread and also the .38 Special I Frame thread that's had a lot of recent posts. Neither make a ton of sense when you start doing some accounting and cost/benefit analysis...but they're guns, not retirement funds.
 
hkcavalier said:
While an interesting project, I'm left scratching my head.

There are decent .32-20 revolvers with heat treated cylinders up on Gunbroker pretty much all the time.

The modern .32-20 is the .32 H&R Magnum or better yet the .327. sure, there's not scads of revolvers in either caliber, particularly S&Ws, but they are out there.

I do appreciate the "one of a kind" factor in this thread and also the .38 Special I Frame thread that's had a lot of recent posts. Neither make a ton of sense when you start doing some accounting and cost/benefit analysis...but they're guns, not retirement funds.
Click to expand...

As someone who has been through a couple of these projects (Project 616 and My Faux K-32 is Here! ) I can say for certain that they are not money makers or even "investments" in the traditional sense of the word. You need to really want something that is unlikely available any way except for building yourself. I had both of these built because of an ingrained desire to have these specific variants, one a totally unavailable model (the "616"") and the other a fairly rare and hard to find model that had eluded me for a long time.

The 32-20 is admittedly an "obsolete" cartridge, especially now that the 327 is on the scene, but there is a certain panache that comes from having a model nobody else has and that you can't walk into your LGS and buy. It's a strange kind of obsession, and if you don't have it, you won't understand. As John Sebastian once sang, "...it's like tryin' to tell a stranger 'bout Rock'n' Roll..." That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Froggie
 
cgt4570 said:
I also have all the parts to assemble a post-war 5-screw target sighted .32-20. It's still a few slots down on my project list. Some day.
Click to expand...
,
My only concern about original S&W 32-20 parts is the cylinder... is it late enough to have the improved heat treating? My 32-20 M&P is about 2000 too early, so it gets babied. ;). Like you, I’ve got most of the stuff to make a target sighted 32-20 but it’s pretty low on my list of projects. :rolleyes:

Froggie
 
I used to have a Win low wall in 32-20 and that was fun to shoot. Cast my own bullets and reloaded them using a Lyman tong tool. Someone with more money than brains offered me an obscene amount of money for it so off it went. After the Christmas and New Years holidays are over might send out a low wall in 25-20 single shot with the trashed out barrel and get John Taylor to reline it for me. Or send out an old BSA model 12 with a centerfire trigger group and have John do me a heavy barreled 32-20. I have brass, dies and bullet mold Lyman's 311316 gas check. Decisions,decisions. Frank
 
Good luck with your project gun, build it the way you want so you will be happy with it in the end. Andy Horvath built 2 for me abt the time Green Frog had his gun built. One is a 5” 32 long made from a 6” K-22. The other is a 5” PPC gun in .32 long. Andy is good but getting older. Have the parts to make another .32 something, maybe a .327 3” full lug round butt carry gun Larry
 
Considering the factory pressures for the .327, as well as potential handloader pressures for the 32-20 when it get leaned on a bit, is a K 22 cylinder stout enough to be rechambered to either? And if it is, is it long enough to fit in a 16-4 (sorry, no K 22 on site or I'd measure it). But I agree - build what you want and enjoy the heck out of it. Of course its not practical, but then again, practicality isn't the reason behind the build.
Dave
 
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