PhilOhio
Member
Saxon Pig, what do you mean, you need "a" .32-20? Are you one of these guys who eats "a" potato chip? 
About 15 years ago, a deputy cousin gave me a beat-to-pieces old rifle we could not identify under the surface corrosion. An aged widow in Toledo wanted him to get rid of it for her. And so he did.
It was a Winchester Low Wall in .32-20, with ebony forearm insert, special Beech sights, single-set trigger, and very nice wood...under the slopped paint and so forth. I fully restored it, had the bore lined, did some welding and machining to tighten up the channels for the falling block, and bushed the firing pin hole for high pressure modern ammo.
That got me hooked on .32-20. WONDERFUL cartridge! But stick with the lower pressure rounds for handguns, with one exception. And that one I have, after years of searching. Awhile back, a distributor here in Ohio commissioned Ruger to build the Buckeye Special for them. It's a big Blackhawk with two cylinders. One handles .32 S&W, .32 S&W Long, and .32 H&R Magnum (could have it reamed for .327 Federal, but why bother?); and that's because the other cylinder is for the high pressure rifle loadings of .32-20, much more powerful than .327 Federal. What a little firecracker. The gun is NIB, with box.
But here's the one I really like, being a S&W junkie.
It's a factory nickel, 1905 HE built about 1917, so it needs the handgun loadings of .32-20. The Bucheimer duty holster was ordered for this gun, and has 12 loops for .32-20 cartridges. It was bought new by a deputy in Florida, who carried it his whole career. He left it to a (niece?) of his wife, who gave it to her Ohio brother to sell. I bought it from him about 15 years ago, with holster, for $165. Ah, the old days. The gun is as tight as the day it left the factory and the bore is mint. It is as accurate as a rifle, typical of this round. The finish is about 95%, except for some very faint surface freckling on the right side, where it was exposed outside the holster every day, and one spot you can see on the right side of the barrel, just ahead of the frame.
The gun is extremely accurate, even with the fixed sights. It shoots right to point of aim.
I'm not sure if those grips are correct for this model, but they were on it. Maybe you fellas know. The checkering is almost too good on both panels, to have been carried daily.
These things are out there, and every now and then you stumble across one.
Oh yes, The Russian Nagant revolver is a very strong gun, way over-engineered for its wimpy round. I reamed one, very slightly, to take .32-20 cases and my handgun loads. It is very accurate, of course. It runs fine on the standard .312" to .314" cast lead .32-20 bullets. I size to the smaller diameter and have not had to use a gas check for this or for the rifle loads.
It's amazing how many nice .32-20s you can buy, because so many people turn up their noses at anything in that "odd and worthless" caliber. Not me. Let's hope they keep thinking that way. I'll grab one every time, if the seller is reasonable and I can act stupid and gullible enough. Just ask them a lot of goofy questions about whether you can get ammo at Wal-Mart and how much it costs.
Oh yes, stay away from all the nice looking Spanish S&W HE knockoffs in .32-20, though. Some even have real gold filled engraving, etc. Their bore diameters are so far oversize that they will barely hold enough pressure to flop a bullet downrange onto the grass. Which is probably just as well. I'm not exaggerating.
About 15 years ago, a deputy cousin gave me a beat-to-pieces old rifle we could not identify under the surface corrosion. An aged widow in Toledo wanted him to get rid of it for her. And so he did.
It was a Winchester Low Wall in .32-20, with ebony forearm insert, special Beech sights, single-set trigger, and very nice wood...under the slopped paint and so forth. I fully restored it, had the bore lined, did some welding and machining to tighten up the channels for the falling block, and bushed the firing pin hole for high pressure modern ammo.That got me hooked on .32-20. WONDERFUL cartridge! But stick with the lower pressure rounds for handguns, with one exception. And that one I have, after years of searching. Awhile back, a distributor here in Ohio commissioned Ruger to build the Buckeye Special for them. It's a big Blackhawk with two cylinders. One handles .32 S&W, .32 S&W Long, and .32 H&R Magnum (could have it reamed for .327 Federal, but why bother?); and that's because the other cylinder is for the high pressure rifle loadings of .32-20, much more powerful than .327 Federal. What a little firecracker. The gun is NIB, with box.
But here's the one I really like, being a S&W junkie.
It's a factory nickel, 1905 HE built about 1917, so it needs the handgun loadings of .32-20. The Bucheimer duty holster was ordered for this gun, and has 12 loops for .32-20 cartridges. It was bought new by a deputy in Florida, who carried it his whole career. He left it to a (niece?) of his wife, who gave it to her Ohio brother to sell. I bought it from him about 15 years ago, with holster, for $165. Ah, the old days. The gun is as tight as the day it left the factory and the bore is mint. It is as accurate as a rifle, typical of this round. The finish is about 95%, except for some very faint surface freckling on the right side, where it was exposed outside the holster every day, and one spot you can see on the right side of the barrel, just ahead of the frame.
The gun is extremely accurate, even with the fixed sights. It shoots right to point of aim.
I'm not sure if those grips are correct for this model, but they were on it. Maybe you fellas know. The checkering is almost too good on both panels, to have been carried daily.
These things are out there, and every now and then you stumble across one.
Oh yes, The Russian Nagant revolver is a very strong gun, way over-engineered for its wimpy round. I reamed one, very slightly, to take .32-20 cases and my handgun loads. It is very accurate, of course. It runs fine on the standard .312" to .314" cast lead .32-20 bullets. I size to the smaller diameter and have not had to use a gas check for this or for the rifle loads.
It's amazing how many nice .32-20s you can buy, because so many people turn up their noses at anything in that "odd and worthless" caliber. Not me. Let's hope they keep thinking that way. I'll grab one every time, if the seller is reasonable and I can act stupid and gullible enough. Just ask them a lot of goofy questions about whether you can get ammo at Wal-Mart and how much it costs.
Oh yes, stay away from all the nice looking Spanish S&W HE knockoffs in .32-20, though. Some even have real gold filled engraving, etc. Their bore diameters are so far oversize that they will barely hold enough pressure to flop a bullet downrange onto the grass. Which is probably just as well. I'm not exaggerating.
