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The .32-20 An Acurate Gentleman’s Cartridge. By John Taffin

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Above: The S&W Military & Police .32-20 is elegant, offers modest recoil and dependable accuracy. What’s not to like about this classic gun/cartridge combo?  Far left: The .32-20 works well with both cast and jacketed bullets.

The .32-20 started life in the Winchester Model 1873 and then shortly after was chambered in the newer Model 1892 rifle. The two other members of the Winchester bottle-necked levergun trio, the .44-40 and .38-40 were more serious cartridges for hunting and self-defense, while the .32-20 was obviously designed for small game and varmints.

By the time it arrived the West was much tamer than it had been in the 1870’s–1880’s and rifles were needed by farmers and ranchers mainly to keep the varmint population down.

Colt, just as they had with the .44-40 and .38-40, chambered their Colt Single Action and their Bisley Model for the .32 WCF (.32-20) and it became the fourth best-selling chambering behind the .45 Colt, .44-40 and .38-40 respectively. They would also offer it in their Model 1878 Double Action as well as the Army Special. Over at Smith & Wesson the number one vehicle for the .32-20 was the Military & Police.

Custom 81/2″ Colt Single Action by Hamilton Bowen. Even in factory guns, the .32-20 can offer guilt-edges accuracy.

Choices

Today the .32-20 can be found in replica single actions from Uberti and in the recent past has been offered in the 3rd Generation Colt Single Action, the Ruger Buckeye Commemorative, the Dan Wesson Heavy Barrel Double Action and the USFA Single Action.

When it was obvious I was not going to find the .32-20 I had long been looking for since my high school days, I had Hamilton Bowen build me the perfect sixgun. Starting with a Colt Single Action Army, Hamilton made a new cylinder, fitted an 81/2″ barrel along with an S&W adjustable rear sight and a post front sight.

It shoots just as accurately as expected, too. The Dan Wesson .32-20 is also exceptionally accurate, as is the Freedom Arms Model 97 .32 Magnum when fitted with an auxiliary .32-20 cylinder.

Just as with the .44-40 and .38-40 I load my .32-20 cartridges on the RCBS Model 2000 Progressive Press using separate dies for seating and crimping. The bottle-necked .32-20 cases are spray lubed with Hornady wax-based lubricant putting about 100 at a time in a cardboard tray. They slide in and out of the sizing die even easier than if it was carbide.

For some reason there’s a lot of variation in the overall length of .32-20 cartridge cases from various manufacturers. This means they must be separated as to headstamp or the bullets will not seat and crimp properly.

I only purchase new brass from Starline and keep my dies at the length of this cartridge case while separating the other manufacturers’ brass to use for loads safe in such older .32-20 sixguns as the Colt Army Special and the S&W Military & Police. For these two older sixguns my most-used load is the Oregon Trail 100-gr. SWC over 4.0 grains of Unique for right at 800 fps and groups well under 1″ for five shots at 20 yards.

Getting Serious

Heavier loads are saved for the Colt Single Action, the Dan Wesson and the Freedom Arms Model 97. Way back before I ever had a .32-20 I had the load I was going to use, which was 10.0 grains of #2400 and it hasn’t changed. I use cast bullets sized to 0.312″-0.313″ with excellent accuracy.

In my long-barreled Colt Single Action this load under the Oregon Trail 115-gr. SWC does over 1,450 fps and groups into a very tiny 3/4″. The same bullet using 5.0 grains of Unique results in 1,180 fps and a group of 7/8″. Jacketed bullets also perform very well with the #2400 load with Speer’s 100 JHP doing 1,313 fps and a 7/8″ group; while the Hornady 100 XTP gives 1,374 fps and a 3/4″ group.

The Dan Wesson 8″ Stainless Steel Heavy Barrel is absolutely monotonous in its accuracy. Loads well under 1″ are the norm. Lyman’s #31116HP over 10.0 grains of #2400 gives 1,300 fps in the Freedom Arms Model 97 with 3/4″ groups.

For a while Thompson/Center offered a 10″ Contender barrel in .32-20 using a 0.308″ barrel. Using the Speer 110 grain Varminter JHP over 13.0 grains of #2400 (only for use in the Contender!) muzzle velocity is close to 2,000 fps with groups of 0.5″!

With the arrival of the .327 Federal Magnum, the .32-20 is not quite as necessary as it once was for those who want to shoot varmints and small game with a revolver. It is, however still an excellent cartridge which connects us to the past.

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CANIK METE MC9 FIRST 100 ROUNDS AND REVIEW!!!

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Gunshot Wounds and the Breathtaking Power of Random By Will Dabbs, MD

I daresay most of us carry a gun regularly. It behooves us to approach that soberly.

The details really don’t matter much, but the 9mm defensive gun discharged in the man’s lap. The bullet was a top-end, state-of-the-art expanding hollowpoint — the best money could buy. That’s when things got interesting.

The man reflexively dropped his pants. The entrance wound was in the left groin, angled outward. The gun went off at contact range. There was no exit wound. Without conscious thought, the man shoved his right thumb deep into the hole. He could feel the powerful pulsing of his femoral artery. When queried, he admitted, yeah, that hurt a lot.

One bystander was in health care. By mutual agreement, it was decided that this man should assume responsibility for the wound. They lowered the victim to the floor and prepared to swap. When he removed his thumb, blood shot forcefully across the room and tracked up the wall. The guy rightfully torqued down on the wound and got the bleeding slowed but not stopped.

This is the high-performance bullet that the surgeons pulled out of this guy’s leg. It performed exactly, precisely as intended.

Details

Just like real estate, gunshot wounds are all about location. This one was bad. The injury was too far north to accommodate a tourniquet. The second man threw his weight behind the situation to get the hemorrhage under control. This was predictably excruciating.

There was no reasonable way to assess the details on site. Somebody dialed 911 and got an ambulance energized. Then reality settled in.

Retrieving his cell phone, the man punched up his wife and had The Talk. He told her what had happened and that he might not survive. He asked her to tell the kids he loved them.

The ride to the hospital was expeditious. A great deal of chaos followed. However, he had been lucky — incredibly, breathtakingly, lyrically fortunate. Though grievously injured, his femoral artery was not transected. Had that been the case, he likely would not have survived the ambulance ride.

Geometry

When you look at a naked person from the front, the pubis forms a Y independent of gender. When first learning human anatomy, medical students remember the word NAVY. Whether working from left or right, the major structures are oriented nerve, artery, and vein leading into the Y.

Arteries are high-pressure vessels that transport blood from the heart to the rest of the body. Veins are low-pressure plumbing that return blood back to the heart. Nerves are obviously the information-carrying structures that facilitate both sensation and movement. You don’t want to shoot any of that. However, if the objective is not to die, the artery is the most acutely critical of the three.

Performance Anxiety

The bullet behaved exactly, precisely as intended. Those horrifying razor-sharp petals deployed on impact and decelerated the projectile until it came to rest just underneath the skin on the far side of his thigh. Curiously, in my experience, that happens a lot. Skin is really tough stuff.

Human flesh is a heterogeneous amalgam comprised of tissues of wildly varying densities. Blood, vessels, muscle, tendons, and bone all conspire to turn a bullet’s transit into a study in rabid chaos. While this same bullet fired into ballistic gelatin would have produced a uniform, almost artistic result, this man’s leg upset the symmetry of the thing to a degree. Regardless, it still made a great big bloody mess.

The Butcher’s Bill

It is seldom like the movies. You typically leave a bullet in place unless it is threatening something significant. In this case, however, the diabolical thing was like having abandoned a box cutter underneath the skin. A surgeon later numbed the site and removed the razor-sharp projectile from the opposite side of his leg.

Miraculously, the guy eventually recovered. The plumbing remained intact. The wildly-gyrating buzzsaw cut through a fair amount of quadriceps muscle, but that did ultimately heal fairly well. The man still has a significant denervated patch on the anterior aspect of his thigh wherein he has no sensation, but he kept his leg and didn’t bleed out. On balance, he took the win.

Philosophy

There is an internet-based church that orbits around packing with a hot chamber. Acolytes of this holy dogma espouse their theology with insensible verve. The Hot Gun sect alleges that Empty Chamberers are apostate and destined for ballistic hell. The Empty Chamberers invariably quote the holy writ of Israeli close combat training to support their particular spiritual doctrine.

All I can say is that I have never known anybody personally who died because they got ambushed and did not have time to charge their handgun.

By contrast, this gentleman is the sixth person I have personally met who got shot unintentionally because of a misadventure with a hot weapon. Personally, I intentionally dabble in both.

There are times I pack hot and others when I do not, particularly when I am working around children. Some will take umbrage with that, but powerful scientific machines cannot accurately measure how little I care.

There are a great many life lessons to be found here. The first is that luck trumps everything else. This guy was not particularly irresponsible. Guns are freaking dangerous, and this was a terrible, tragic accident.

Chaos typically comes at you from unexpected quarters and out of the clear blue sky. To prevail, we must remain ever vigilant. That, and it helps to be really lucky as well.

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A HUSQVARNA 1907 MILITARY pistol in Caliber:9mm Browning Long

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10 Hunting Rifles Amazon Still Ships to Anyone — No Permit Required (For Now)

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An UPDATED WINCHESTER MODEL 92 LEVER ACTION RIFLE IN .218 BEE (1916)

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Choke Tubes for Home Defense Shotguns

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The .357 Sig IS the BEST Defensive Handgun Cartridge. Period

This is what my Google search found, so take it for what it’s worth! Grumpy

  • Cost & Availability: Ammunition is more expensive and less common than standard 9mm.
  • Muzzle Blast: Produces a loud report and significant flash due to high operating pressures.
  • Bullet Setback: The short neck on the bottlenecked case can risk bullet movement if the same round is chambered repeatedly
  • and  this also.
  • Despite its favorable ballistics and performance, the .357 SIG has not achieved the widespread adoption seen with similar cartridges.
  • One factor preventing the round from achieving greater popularity could be the cost of the ammunition, which frequently reaches double the expense of 9 mm, .40 S&W or .45 ACP ammunition.
  • Because of this, as well as availability issues, some law enforcement agencies that previously adopted the cartridge have reportedly began to move away from the .357 SIG in favor of more common rounds with comparable performance
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Colt 1903 Hammerless Pistol

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Colt Anaconda: Updating a Classic Snake Gun by William Lawson

Colt Anaconda revolver with cylinder open and ammunition scattered

Colt’s revolver Renaissance continues with the revived Anaconda, and we put the 4.25-inch .45 Colt variant through its paces over three range trips and 350 rounds. From its beefy stainless steel construction and excellent Hogue grips to its surprisingly crisp single-action trigger and modern optic-ready top strap, this Snake Gun delivers classic Colt feel with contemporary upgrades. Find out how it performed on accuracy, reliability, and recoil management—and why we hated to send it back.

Colt is leaning into what seems to be a burgeoning revolver Renaissance with new models and new variants that demand attention. The Anaconda, part of the revived Snake Gun lineup, fits that trend. Colt debuted the new Anaconda in 2024, but word is still getting out and the company kindly sent us a 4.25-inch-barreled example to test. We requested the .45 Colt chambering since everyone knows that .45 is God’s caliber.

Colt also makes the Anaconda in .44 Magnum/.44 Special, and shooters can choose between the 4.25, 6, or 8-inch barrel. Our test gun is stainless-steel, but Colt also offers a blued steel .44 Magnum variant. This review will focus on our 4.25-inch barrel, .45 Colt Anaconda test gun from this point forward.

Shooter holding a Colt Anaconda with two hands

Colt Anaconda Features

The Anaconda is a big revolver. The all-steel construction means good weight and a solid feel. The semi-bright finish gleams and the gun looks really good. The full underlug and vented top rib add to that effect, reinforcing the barrel and aiding with muzzle flip. Honestly, the Anaconda looks and feels like a buffed up Python. Nothing wrong with that.

The traditional Colt catch smoothly releases the beefy steel cylinder on an equally solid crane. The underlug shrouds the ejector rod, which includes a knurled, textured knob. The muzzle features a recessed target crown to protect the barrel’s rifling.

The single action trigger is very nice, breaking consistently at 5 lbs., with the longer double action pull coming in at just under 12 lbs. The wide trigger face is ridged for a positive purchase. The wide, serrated hammer is smooth and surprisingly light, whether you’re cocking the gun for single action or lowering it manually.

The rear sights are adjustable for windage and elevation and can be swapped out for others if you choose. The front sight includes a nice, visible orange insert that makes acquisition a breeze. The top strap is tapped for an optical plate, which can be purchased from Colt. We didn’t have the plate, so we didn’t run an optic, though I probably wouldn’t have anyway. The Anaconda, in my opinion, is tall enough as it is. But you may feel differently, so I like that Colt provides that option.

The Anaconda ships with a rubberized, Colt-branded Hogue grip, complete with finger grooves. It feels good in the hand and we like it. But Anacondas are compatible with Python grips, for which many choices exist, if you want to do something different.

Colt Anaconda with cylinder opened

The Colt Anaconda on the Range

Three extended range trips have given us a good handle on the Anaconda. We have 350 rounds through the gun, with a quick wipe down between outings. It’s now due a more detailed cleaning, but we wanted to see how it performed dirty.

My co-tester and I like the Hogue grips and the Anaconda comes on target easily. Recoil was very manageable across several loads of .45 Colt ammunition, thanks to those grips and the beefy construction. The sights are very nice, with the rear notch framing the orange front sight for easy target acquisition.

Operation is smooth, and the cylinder releases cleanly and locks up tight. The only small issue I had was that two cartridge cases somehow got underneath the ejector star, requiring me to pull them out manually. It only happened those two times, but it’s worth mentioning. It happened with two different ammo brands. The Anaconda performed flawlessly otherwise.

I was surprised by how much I liked the trigger. I don’t really know what I expected, but the single action is as good as any factory wheel gun trigger I’ve run, and even the double action was smooth and consistent. We quickly learned to stage the trigger to the break, improving our accuracy. We shot the gun in single action a few times, but the majority of our work was in double action since we believe it reflects most real world scenarios.

Shooter firing a Colt Anaconda with visible recoil

Accuracy

The Anaconda is accurate, though my revolver skills are still developing. Nevertheless, I consistently held two-inch groups with the occasional flyer at 10 yards in double action. My groups opened up to four inches at 25 yards. The groups also widened a bit as the gun heated up and got dirtier. I’m convinced that the flyers were on me since the Anaconda’s operation was consistent throughout. The groups will also shrink as my wheel gun skills increase.

We used the following loads in our testing:

My co-tester and I both liked the Winchester Cowboy Action loads the best, both for feel and performance. The Anaconda liked that load too, though none of the loads was noticeably less accurate than the others. We attribute that as much to the gun as to our shooting. But we did like the Winchester best.

The Anaconda was 100 percent reliable throughout in terms of timing and firing. The only hiccups were the two cartridge cases getting under the ejector star. We suspect it’s a tolerance issue with one spot on the star, since it happened in the same relative position each time. We were able to easily pull the cases out manually. All the other cases ejected smoothly.

Shooter holding Colt Anaconda one-handed. Rick Grimes vibes

Final Thoughts

We liked the Anaconda. It’s fun, accurate, and reliable. We also love the beefy feel. It handled the .45 Colt cartridge’s recoil with no problem and was quite pleasant to shoot. I get that .45 Colt is not .44 Magnum. I don’t have that first-hand experience, but I wouldn’t hesitate to run .44 Magnum in a 4.25-inch Anaconda. The recoil would certainly be heavier but I don’t think it would be unpleasant. This is a solid revolver.

I also like the modern sighting upgrades, including the optic compatibility. I eventually came around to optics on semi-auto pistols, and I have a couple of optic-ready wheel guns. Maybe I’ll do that sometime too. The point is that the Anaconda would give me that option, did the gun belong to me.

Finally, I like the Anaconda’s slick operation. It feels like I expect a quality revolver to feel. The hammer, the cylinder, the trigger. It all just feels satisfying. Were I in the market for a heavy, large-framed revolver, I would seriously consider the Anaconda. I wish I could say I got to keep this gun, but I can’t. But I hate to see it go back, and I sure would consider buying one.

If you’re looking for such a revolver with classic lines and a great feel, take a look at the Colt Anaconda. Snake Guns are pretty awesome after all. You know you want one.

Colt Anaconda exposed on a table with .45 colt ammo

Colt Anaconda 4.25-inch Specifications

  • Calibers: .44 Magnum/.44 Special and .45 Colt
  • Capacity: 6 rounds
  • Action: Single/Double
  • Barrel Length: 4.25 inches
  • Overall Length: 9.75 inches
  • Width: 1.75 inches
  • Weight: 42 ounces
  • Stainless Steel Frame, Cylinder, and Barrel
  • Semi-Bright Finish
  • Fully-Adjustable Rear Sights
  • Tapped for optics or rail section

Right side profile of the Colt Anaconda