the 32-20 with a new cartridge case.....PACO

So in the 1970s when I decided to build a 32-20 rifle, brass was problem to get back then, also what there was...was of the old weak design..I wanted something stronger. Ackley's book (vol 2) put me on to the 357 magnum case necked down to 30 caliber. I found an excellent Winchester 1892 action and built the 30/357.

It was built as a 24 inch rifle...with the old timey look. Curved butt plate, drop in the shoulder stock...I don't care about torque translating into recoil...I just don't like straight line rifles of any caliber. I find I aim better with a stock that has drop and I like the looks of it. Besides the 32-20/30-357 doesn't have any recoil even with the cast 220 grain bullets I used as a deer load. It was given a rich deep midnight blue. I had all the internal parts electrolysis coated for one slick operating mechanism.

Clymer built the reamer to my specs which were a little different then Ackley's design...giving me a longer neck for cast bullets. I had peened the bolt blocks and refitted them before the electrolysis, for a tight lock up...and bushed the firing pin hole because the pressure would be in the 357 mag class not the luke warm 32-20 levels. And new springs everywhere rounded it out.

When I bought the barrel...I had ordered a 1 in 8 ½ inch deep cut twist, because I would be pushing the heavy 220 grain cast bullet at moderate velocity and I wanted it to stabilize. As well as get good hunting accuracy from it. The barrel was given the same contour as Winchester uses but it was left a little thicker from breech to muzzle...giving the gun a muzzle heavy point. The fast twist did better than I hoped for. When ReLoader #7 was reintroduced to the reloader one of those happy combinations that sometimes comes along between bullet, powder, and rifle...happened with this rifle.

16 grains of ReL#7 under this heavy cast bullet went into 3/4 inch at 75 yards...and actually gave over 1800 fps! I would melt a 30 caliber pure lead ball pour it into the mold and pour hard lead in behind it for the bullets I would use on game. Giving me a soft nosed cast bullet that would expand well...I practiced and shot small game with 1 in 15 cast bullets the rest of the time. And gave a surprising amount of power for such a small cartridge case.

And the velocity retention and bullet drop out to long range was excellent. I had ordered deep and wide rifling and it worked out very well with cast bullets. Interestingly it scored the jackets on jacketed bullets so well they easily opened out at long range. On some bullets the nose would collapse into the body and the sides of the bullet would expand out creating a good mushroom effect.

Because the action was so slicked up with the electrolysis and the crescent buttplate was deep, holding into the shoulder well, with the recoil of the rifle small, the shooter with a little practice could stay on a moving target and pump rounds out quickly. When my daughter was just a little girl we had surprised a group of coyotes and I was able to clean house on them getting four out of the pack. A pack which had been having dinner on a very young calf.....

The whole project of the rifle was to build a small game gun that was fun. And certainly it turned out to be that. Using my favorite powder of the times Herc/2400 and cast bullets, velocities of 1200 to 1400 fps gave killing power beyond any 22 magRF cartridge and rifle I had used. And it was cheaper to reload then buy 22 magRF ammo. Winchester Western was selling 295 at the time...before it was improved to WW296. It gave excellent velocities with mag primers and jacketed bullets...far above 2400 and the other fast rifle powders like both 4227s. When 296 replaced it, I was never able to get to those velocities again in this cartridge. If memory serves it was 100 to 150 fps difference between 295 and 296 with the same powder charges.

The idea behind a small caliber, light recoiling rifle with a long barrel also allowed silent loads. I would cast dead soft 220 grain bullets and put them over small amounts of Bullseye. Out to about 20 to 30 yards these loads would put oblong holes in paper targets....the bullet needed a little time to stabilize. But it would give accuracy even close and wobbly. It was my turtle load. We started having ducks showing up with one foot missing. The turtles were snapping them off for lunch in the small lake we were near.

One shot with a regular varmint rifle, or even a full load from this rifle, would get you one turtle. The rest would be gone at the sound of gunfire. And wouldn't reappear for hours if at all. But with the silent loads you could get quite a few before they realized they were being hunted and flushed. Even then hunting them on a sunny day, those on one side of the lake might get spooked...but without noise you just had to start on the other side where they were still out on logs and the banks.

I've caught coyotes late in the evenings and early in the mornings, pulling the turtle carcases that finally came to the surface, pulling them out of the water to munch on....those boys don’t miss a trick...don’t think a ‘yote can open a turtle shell? Think again...if they can’t rip them open, and they usually can...they whack them against trees till they split open.

Using the Speer Plinker over WW296 the little wildcat gives very acceptable varmint velocities...a .223 it ain’t...but a fragile 100 grain bullet at 2600 plus fps will do the job nicely out to several hundred yards. Quiet, efficient to a fault, deadly on game up to deer class, no recoil, easy to get on target with fast follow up shots, good for 80% of hunting situations, decent range....I could go on but I’m sure you get the picture. It was a very practical wildcat.

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