32 Winchester Special BP Reloading

Flattop55555 · July 12, 2011, 03:40:54 PM

I broke down and picked up a 94 Winchester Saddle Carbine in 32 Winchester Special. My limited information would indicate this is a good candidate for Black Powder reloads. I would like to use it for some close range whitetail hunting, coyotes, hogs and some cowboy side matches. To save some time I was wondering if anyone out here has some good information they can share!!!! Sources for lead bullets, dies, brass, etc. This 1908 carbine needs to be shot. Thanks for any help you can give me. The chamber and bore appear to be really clean!! I can also be contacted at Flatlucky55@yahoo.com

cpt dan blodgett · July 12, 2011, 07:10:38 PM

very ot but dad's 1907 26 inch barreled rifle will shoot 4 inches at 200 yards iron sights, my 61 y0 eyes with either reloads varget mid range or the leverevolution hornadys. Rifle is irreplacable so dont push pressures.

Got dies from midway I think. You will need to by a M die to expand the necks to seat casts. Think mine is lyman. cannot remember the dies exacty. Most all mine are Hornady new dimension, but seem to recall the 7mm and .32 spec being RCBS. Can check tonight.

Seem to recall getting the brass from either Midway or Graf and Sons

Have not had real success with cast bullets, may try gas checks if I want to shoot CA Long range with it.

Did get some bear creek 323 180 grainers moly koted, that might work in it. would either need to pan lube or cookie them shooting BP

w44wcf · July 12, 2011, 10:08:26 PM

Flattop, personally don't have any experience reloading b.p. in a 32 W.S. since I don't own one, but I have had some fairly good experience in reloading the .30-30 with b.p.

Basically a multigroove bullet lubed with b.p. lube (SPG, NASA, ect) should work aok. This bullet is made for the 32-40 and is lubed with SPG so it should work well in the 32WS.
http://www.buffaloarms.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=157025&CAT=4136

For repeated shots with no loss of accuracy SWISS is the only b.p. that, by far, worked the best in the 30-30. I used the amount of powder that fit just up to the neck shoulder tuncture + about 1/8" up into the neck for 1/8" compression. Large pistol primers worked better than large rifle primers.

Does your rifle have the special sight that Winchester put on some .32 W.S. specifically for shooting for b.p. loads? It had extra elevation for the slower b.p. cartridges. Otherwise, you may need to mount a tang sight to get enough elevation.

Have fun!

w44wcf

Dick Dastardly · July 13, 2011, 08:23:09 AM

Silas McFee, my sidekick, has a family heirloom .32 Win Spl. I load for that gun. I've found that 8mm cast bullets of the Louvrin design work well. In order to get enough lube for the tube I put a capsule of PL-II under the bullet. I got the capsules from a health food store.

With a full charge of FFFg the gun shoots very well with Schuetzen powder and the lube is sufficient to keep the gun accurate.

DD-DLoS

Flattop55555 · July 14, 2011, 11:39:31 AM

Thanks for the suggestions! I picked up 2 boxes of factory Winchester yesterday. Hope to shoot it this weekend. I looked at the Hornady ammo and decided I might be better off with the traditional bullet and pressures. I think my sights are the BP/Smokeless sights. There is a full leaf and a second fold over leaf that has a really fine notch before it gets folded up. The tallest leaf appears to be missing a detent to hold it in place and the second is real stiff and I have not tried to pry it into place. Any suggestions? I cannot find a picture of the sight so am mostly guessing. I will check out the Buffalo Arms bullets and start with some Swiss BP. Do you just lay the mineral capsules on the top of the powder near the neck? Once again Thank you for the info!!

Lucky

Sir Charles deMouton-Black · July 14, 2011, 01:54:18 PM

The BP backsight is nicknamed the "ski jump" sight. If you saw one you would recognize it.

I have a copy of a snapshot of my Dad when he was a trapper in Northern Saskatchewan in 1933. He is holding one with the very noticable backsight. We don't have that rifle, but one of my brothers has one like it.

Dick Dastardly · July 19, 2011, 08:58:58 AM

I used those lube filled capsules because I don't have a Big Lube®LLC bullet design for the .32 Win. I did have an 8mm design with many lube grove (Louvrin) design that gave an acceptable bore fit, so I used it. Since it didn't carry near enough lube (smaller size bores foul quicker) I chose to put my lube filled capsule under the bullet, on top of the powder. I used only enough pressure when I seated the bullet to make sure there was no air space, but not enough to crush the lube filled capsule.

I was worried that the stuff that was used in making the capsules might contribute to fouling, but it seems to have burned up completely. At least it didn't cause any problems. The lube in the capsule kept the bore wet all the way to the muzzle with a nice lube star on the muzzle. I also ran similar ammo thru my 8mm-06 and found similar results. The round makes a nice low velocity camp meet choice.

DD

cpt dan blodgett · July 20, 2011, 10:38:43 AM

would a vitimin e cap work as well

Dick Dastardly · July 20, 2011, 01:33:09 PM

I'm thinkn' it may work. How big is it? What's it made of? What's in it?

DD

BobinIL · July 28, 2011, 02:34:29 PM

I have an old article from a book on Black powder cowboy guns published by the old Shoot magazine. In the article they use BP in 32 special model 94 Winchesters. The premise is that the 32 has a much slower twist then the 30-30 and is better adapted to cast bullets and BP then the 30-30 is. the groups they shot were ok but not spectacular. I had a Marlin 336 in 32 that I shot smokeless in under an RCBS 170grn FNGC bullet. This combo shot well enough to win our club long range match 3 years strait. I always wanted to try BP in that gun but never got around to it.