I got a Smith and Wesson that'll shoot plum through a man.

[Plain Old Dave]

I owned one of the Savage (Model 23?) .32-20 bolt actions 30 years ago. It was to be a companion piece to my .32-20 M&P Target which I was persuaded to sell. That Savage had excess head space which the model was prone to have. The short story is gunsmiths said it was not worth fixing. If I had it to do over I'd have bought the same rifle in .25-20 and necked down .32-20 brass leaving the shoulder far enough forward to fit the chamber.

During the early 1990s Marlin made their pistol cartridge size tubular magazine lever action in both .25-20 and .32-20. I would prefer that rifle.

Headspace on this one appears to be good. The design evidently doesn't tolerate "high velocity" loads, and the rifles all date to the era of "rifle only" factory ammo. Going to start experimenting with my Lee 120gr mould and find a load that is reasonably clean burning and accurate.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

 

[Eddietruett]

Careful. Some of us live in Podunk, SC.

Oh how you city folks like to brag! Some of us rednecks still live in the country outside Podunk.

 

[chiefdave]

I grew up in a household with 3 firearms. A Stevens 22/410 which my brother and I were allowed to use from about age 10 on. The second was a Stevens 235 rabbit ear 12 gauge SxS that we were allowed to take afield in our early teens. The third was a 1892 Winchester in 32-20 that neither of us ever shot because in the words of my father "that rifle is far too powerful for a boy to shoot. It'll break your shoulder." My son now has the first 2 but the fate of the Winchester is a mystery.