DUKE RE-THINKS HIS PLINKING GUNS
Duke’s .32-20 Colt SAA and Cimarron Arms Short Rifle. Duke pronounced them great fun to shoot!
Of all the popular Old West cartridges the .32 WCF/.32-20 has lacked popularity with me. I don’t know why exactly. Perhaps it was because I never had a raging miniature poodle that needed shooting. Or maybe it was because the concept of mating such a tiny cartridge to such heavy guns as Colt SAA revolvers or Winchester lever guns seemed illogical.
Whatever the reason, while I’ve owned dozens of big bore Colt SAAs and likewise with Winchester (and replica) lever guns, I’ve owned precisely four .32-20s. One was a Colt SAA with 4-3/4″ barrel, one was an Italian SAA replica with 7-1/2″ barrel, one was an original Winchester Model 1873 on which someone had shortened the barrel and magazine tube to 20″, and one was a Japanese made Browning replica of Winchester’s Model 53 with 22″ barrel.
All were decent guns. None stuck around very long. Now in 2021 matters have changed. First, in 2020 I found a 3rd Generation Colt SAA with 7-1/2″ barrel made about 10 years ago. As with all Colt SAAs I’ve seen in recent years it’s a beautifully crafted revolver. Because its previous owner decided to “erase” its color case hardening due to some surface rust it was priced very attractively. Its blued surfaces were untouched. I’m going to have it re-color case hardened but that will be a future column.
That Colt has been a fine shooter and just plain fun for popping empty soda cans and chunks of firewood. I shoot on my own property so the cans are policed and the splintered firewood left to make its way back to nature. Over the winter and spring of 2021 I’ve loaded hundreds of .32-20s, all with cast bullets either of my own making or commercially cast. Luckily when I launched on my full auto kick a dozen years back I laid in thousands of suitable primers for each purchase. Therefore current shortages have not plagued me.
This lineup of cartridges contains the Winchester Centerfire pistol size cartridges
that were chambered in Models 1873 and 1992 lever guns in the late 1800s.
From left: .44-40, .38-40, .32-20 and .25-20. The latter one was only in Model 1892s.
Plinkers
Mostly .22 rimfires have been the ultimate plinking guns, but this shortage has raised ammo prices significantly. The .32-20 might actually be cheaper now. A powder charge of 3.0 grains of Bullseye will net 2,333 loads from a 1-lb. can! Another fine load is 3.5 grains of Titegroup. That makes for 2,000 loads per pound. Most .32-20 bullets run from 100 to 120 grains. That’s 70 to 58 bullets per pound of lead alloy.
There was one problem when I returned to .32-20 reloading. My RCBS and Lyman .32-20 molds had disappeared since last used in the 1990s. Have you tried to buy RCBS or Lyman molds during this time of shortages? None available! However, I did find an outfit called MP Molds that had in stock a brass four-cavity “convertible” mold capable of making 115-grain hollow point or 120-grain solid bullets by changing a few parts. Of all places it was in Slovenia! I prepared for a long wait but it arrived in one week. Talk about service! Closer to home in Utah I found a company named Arsenal Molds. They offered a clone of RCBS’s 98-grain SWC so I ordered a brass four-cavity mold there too. It also arrived in a week. I was set to go.
Duke got this four-cavity .32 caliber bullet mold from Arsenal Molds in Utah.
The Bug Strikes — Again
With enthusiasm building for .32-20s I just had to start looking at lever guns. I didn’t want original Winchester or Marlins unless I could examine their bores for condition, and unfortunately Montana’s gun shows have been curtailed severely by COVID-19 problems. So I turned to the Internet searching for Italian Winchester replicas. What I desired was a ’73 carbine because it would be lighter. Even on the Internet they weren’t all that plentiful.
One afternoon while Yvonne was in a store and I was sitting outside with my iPad, I located a few Cimarron .32-20 carbines and short rifles. Before my wife returned I had bought and paid for one. Only when it arrived did it dawn on me I had bought a short rifle instead of a saddle ring carbine. Short rifles are configured as normal length rifles but only have 20″ barrels. When I told Yvonne of my mistake she said, “Duke, sometimes I think you need constant adult supervision.”
Anyway, the Cimarron .32-20 also shoots fine. With the mentioned powder charges and bullets my 7-1/2″ Colt SAA gives about 850 fps and the 20″-barreled lever gun breaks 1,200 fps. I’m having great fun with both.
PS: I haven’t told Yvonne yet but I just ordered a Cimarron .32-20 saddle ring carbine. Shhh …