32-20 Target

[glenncal1]

Can someone 'splain why .32-20 ammo is now priced like it was made from gold? I mean it doesn't take much powder, a 100 grain lead bullet, small primer, ok the brass is a little more complex that 9mm, but come on.

Rant over

 

[Muley Gil]

Can someone 'splain why .32-20 ammo is now priced like it was made from gold? I mean it doesn't take much powder, a 100 grain lead bullet, small primer, ok the brass is a little more complex that 9mm, but come on.

Rant over

Low production. Like it or not, right now, 9mm Luger ammo and 5.56 NATO are the kings of the hill.

 

[mm93]

The .32-20 WCF has become a reloader's cartridge due to low sales. And I personally think sales are low because everybody I know who shoots a .32-20 much reloads for it.
Starline still does occasional runs of brass and they sell for around $34 per 100. I recently bought 1400 pcs. of NIB Starline from a friend who stopped reloading for $320 and sold the unopened box of 1000 for what I paid for all of it, so added another 400 pcs. to my hoard.

 

[Kinman]

I have a friend that has a vast Thompson Center collection. He belongs to the big club devoted to this unique firearm. He has gotten me interested enough to own a few and I do think the accuracy is superior to just about any other "pistol" I have ever fired, they are single shots which makes them a little on the odd side for what most people are interested in. One of the things we talk about is cartridge shortage and in the Contender world 32-20 is one of the most sought after, it is the basis for a number of Thompson wildcats including the .218 Bee. 32-20 is in the family of irritating tender necked cartridges like .22 Hornet and 25-20, and one of the reasons fewer people today mess around with them because you can get superior results from common bargain basement calibers like .223/5.56.
From the perspective of being uncommon and as much work to produce as those more easily sold it makes sense that for as long as I can remember .22 Hornet has always been expensive to purchase outright, as well as 32-20. I had a .22 Hornet way back and a box of 50 Winchester ran $10, it was 50 rounds where most other rifle calibers were 20 to a box, if you factored that in it may not have been so expensive, it just hurt to plop down a ten dollar bill in order to shoot that rifle, before I started reloading. My grandmother reloaded that .22 Hornet with a Lee Loader, they lived way out.

 

[rct269]

Given this gathering of 32-20 aficionados, perhaps someone can speak to the values--------or more to the point, the difference in value between these two. (Both are targets---all original---both in top condition. The only difference is age.) Both were sold during the recent liquidation of my collection.

#42094, shipped December 22, 1908, and fetched $3295.

#114655 shipped August 21, 1923, and went for $1225.

Is the difference in age the only difference worth talking about when it comes to values?

Ralph Tremaine

 

[glowe]

The .32-20 WCF has become a reloader's cartridge due to low sales. And I personally think sales are low because everybody I know who shoots a .32-20 much reloads for it . . .

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the 32 Winchester was a very popular cartridge. It was offered in Colt and S&W revolvers, Winchester Model 1873 & 1892, and in Marlin rifle models starting with the Model 1889. Hundreds of thousands of guns were made in that caliber, but as happens with many calibers of the past, new and improved calibers replaced them and made them obsolete. In rifles, the 32 Special spelled the end of the underpowered 32-20. 38 Special & 38 Colt took over the revolver market in the early 1900s, ending the popularity of the 32-20 by 1920.

Just like many other calibers like 38 Colt and 32 S&W, 38 S&W, etc. that were replaced by more popular calibers, demand for those obsolete calibers also plumets. I can remember that well over 20 years ago 38 S&W was $50 a box in the stores if you could find them. Today's military demands and increased consumer demands on ammunition producers has all but eliminated even the possibility of future production of these obsolete calibers. Only the specialty ammo makers can offer these calibers and they can charge a premium.