H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 I have read that one way to get perfectly good .32 Winchester Special brass is just fire some .30-30's in a gun chambered for the Special. This will properly fireform the brass, but you should still run it through a sizer afterwards before loading it with the proper sized [I am assuming somewhere between .312 and .321". I have not yet loaded the caliber or researched it] bullet and you are good to go with .32 Winchester Special. I also recall reading that .32WS can be loaded equally well with either smokeless or black powder, which was intentional. Apparently the .30-30 doesn't work very well with black. Can anyone confirm all of this? I do have a Model 94 in the caliber, but finding ammo, or even brass, for it has proved to be "elusive." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High Spade Mikey Wilson Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 I have been shooting the 32 Special for decades, and what you said was correct. You can fireform 30-30 brass into 32 Special if you can't find new 32 Special brass. It's just as easy to simply run 30-30 brass through a 32 Special die. Just make especially sure if reformed that they are marked in a way that they wouldn't get put into a 30-30 by mistake. The 32 Special use a .321 jacketed bullet, and they were originally designed with a longer twist rate for black powder. All mine shoot best with 170 grain lead gas checked bullets at .323 diameter. I use 28 grains of H4895 powder. I don't shoot black powder so can't comment there. I just shot mine two weeks ago at a local cowboy shoot that has one long range rifle stage per month that gives you that option with 3 rounds out to about 85 yards, or you can shoot the standard 10 round close targets with your regular cowboy rifle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grass Range Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 .32 Special ammo and brass is available. I like to look at the head of the case and know what it is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tex Jones, SASS 2263 Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 This page from Cartridges of the World, 6th Edition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackson Haller Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 That article writer is pretty negative about the caliber but does confirm what I also have been told regarding black powder; 32 Win special will handle black powder as well as smokeless, unlike 30-30. My understanding is that is what the "Special" designation meant back then and included the 38 special and 44 special. (As for pitted bores being worse for accuracy in 32 Win special than 30-30, I don't buy that. I expect both calibers suffer with such a thing.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie MacNeil, SASS #48580 Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 3 hours ago, High Spade Mikey Wilson said: It's just as easy to simply run 30-30 brass through a 32 Special die. Just make especially sure if reformed that they are marked in a way that they wouldn't get put into a 30-30 by mistake. This. It works along the same lines as making 6x45 brass for an AR out of .223. Lube well and resize. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinola Kid Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 Why isn’t a 30-30 good for black powder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster Ron Wayne Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 I have shot my Winchester 94 in 30/30 with Black powder loads and 170 gr Lee lead bullet for many years with Zero issues. So I dont know where that info come from . But hell they been trying to kill the 30/30 for 100 years now lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tex Jones, SASS 2263 Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 1 hour ago, Sinola Kid said: Why isn’t a 30-30 good for black powder? Tighter twist than the 32 Win Spl and a narrower bore could cause problems. Depends on the rifle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt Dan Blodgett, SASS #75655 Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 Funny the 30-06 with 100 fps faster than a .308 is a vastly superior round in the minds of many gun writers. With 170 grain bullets the 32 Win special shooting 100 fps faster that the 30-30 is neglible difference in the 2 calibers. All I know is I ate 9 elk that were killed with not enough gun. Guess they did not read the proper magazines or Dad could not have killed them. I inherited dads gun and will shoot it once in a while. I have had some success shooting 8MM moly coated bullets with varget. I will not shoot BP from it as I really don't want to learn how to disassemble and reassemble to ensure the action is thoroughly cleaned. Being Dad's gun it is irreplacable. So I tend to treat it gingerly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jailhouse Jim, SASS #13104 Posted April 15, 2021 Share Posted April 15, 2021 Yes you can make 32WS brass out of 30-30 brass. I have purchased new brass and factory ammo over the years for the caliber so keep hunting. The .32WS has a slower twist that works better for BP than the 30-30. My pet load is a 170gr RNFP over 30 grs of 777 since no special lube is required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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